AC Cars is UK’s oldest ‘active’ vehicle maker
Niche British sports car firm AC Cars is heralding a victory in its battle to protect the AC Cobra trademark after successfully defending a case brought by Clive Sutton Limited, a well-known luxury and exotic car dealer based in London.
Clive Sutton Limited, which has been importing vehicles based on the AC Cobra design and that use the Cobra name, alleged that the AC Cobra trademark held by AC Cars was invalid as the Ford Motor Company had previously claimed rights to the name for international use.
American racing driver Carroll Shelby and his engineering firm were responsible for the development and production of the original Cobra in cooperation with Ford and AC Cars. Carroll Shelby International today includes a manufacturing division, Shelby American, which produces component automobiles including replicas of AC Cobras, as well as Shelby Licensing, which licenses the name and trademarks associated with Shelby to other companies. The firm has been involved in legal challenges in the US since the 1980s to the rights of replica manufacturers to use both the Cobra’s shape and its name.
Carroll Shelby Licensing Inc and Superformance LLC, an American car maker specialising in replicas, both supported the Clive Sutton Limited case in the High Court of Justice, seeking to have the AC Cobra trademark expunged from the register.
However, these claims were rejected by his Honour Judge Richard Hacon and AC Cars retains the right to the AC Cobra name in the UK.
Clive Sutton’s legal case was itself a counterclaim in a dispute brought by AC Cars relating to the importation of Cobra imitations from December 2012 to April 2022 by the dealer. These were advertised as 1965 Cobras, though they were manufactured much more recently.
This was made possible by US kit car legislation, which allows registration of an imitation vehicle in the year of the car it represents. In fact, these cars featured new bodies made in South Africa and exported to the USA, where engines were fitted. In the UK, cars are registered to the year they are first manufactured, while the rules surrounding taxation and certification are different for imported historic vehicles.
The development of the AC/ Shelby Cobra
With a history that can be traced back to 1901, it’s no wonder that the current business iteration of AC Cars, which is based in Donington but also has facilities in Germany, is determined to protect its trademarks. The distinctive AC roundel logo has been in use since 1911, but it’s the AC Cobra of the 1960s that is its most famous and most-copied product.
AC Cars’ breakthrough model was the pretty two-seat Ace roadster of the early 1950s. It was in production for over a decade in various configurations and its curvaceous form can be clearly seen under the more muscular bodywork of the AC Cobra.
Carroll Shelby contacted AC Cars in 1961 to ask about fitting a V8 in the Ace and the resulting car was to become the Cobra, first produced for sale in 1963. The 1965 AC Cobra 427, so named because it featured a 427 cubic-inch (7-litre) V8 engine, with up to 485bhp, is perhaps the most copied shape with its more muscular design.
The Cobra was also used as the basis for the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupé, a GT class winner at Le Mans.
Mechanics on the production line at Shelby American Inc. in Los Angeles, September 13, 1965, working on Cobra and Mustang GT 350 sports cars. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
AC Cars ‘heavily invested in new products’
Following the court victory yesterday (August 10), David Conza, chief executive officer of AC Cars said: “We are delighted with the judgement, as it vindicates our desire and commitment to protecting our trademarks and intellectual property, and not to allow imitators of our products to benefit from our heritage.
“However, more importantly we are protecting our customers who own genuine AC Cobra cars. We have invested heavily in the development of new products, including the recently announced AC Cobra GT Roadster, and there will be other models following this car.”
In recent years, AC Cars revealed electric versions of the Cobra, though the only model offered for sale on its website today — accars.eu — is the AC Cobra GT Roadster (pictured). This is a modern interpretation of the AC Cobra powered by a choice of 5-litre V8 petrol engines and costing from £240,000.
- If you were interested in the legal battle between AC Cars and Clive Sutton Limited, you might also want to read about the electric version of the AC Cobra
- Read how another historic American nameplate, the Ford Mustang, may soon no longer use petrol power
- Or check out the ‘world’s most luxurious black cab’ revealed by Clive Sutton
Keyword: AC Cars retains UK trademark of AC Cobra name following legal battle with Clive Sutton Limited