The AC Ace Bristol is back from the dead, and it's wearing a carbon fiber suit!That's right, the car that made Enzo Ferrari spit out his espresso and had Stirling Moss grinning like a schoolboy is making a comeback. AC Cars, those mad hatters of the British sports car world, have decided that what the world really needs right now is a 1950s roadster with a 21st-century heart transplant. And you know what? They might just be onto something.We covered this in our news-section post a couple days ago, and I figured that since a lot of us are rather young, we might not know what an AC Ace Bristol is to begin with. So, I thought I'd take the liberty to explain.Righto-tighto then: the history of the AC Ace Bristol. It's got more twists and turns than a Alpine pass, and it's just as thrilling.Let's set the scene: it's the 1950s. Winston Churchill is back in Number 10, rationing has finally ended, and British sports cars are hotter than Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch." The country might be broke, but by God, we're going to build some fantastic cars.Enter AC Cars, a company so old it probably remembers the invention of the wheel. Founded in 1901 as Auto Carriers Ltd, AC had been puttering along making invalid carriages and the odd sports car. But in 1953, they decided to shake things up. They took a look at the sports car market and thought, "You know what? Let's give Ferrari a run for their money." Image Credits: Supercars.net, available at [link]The result was the AC Ace, a car so pretty it could make a grown man weep. It had a tube-frame chassis that was more advanced than most race cars of the time, and a body that looked like it had been shaped by the wind gods themselves. But here's the kicker: under that gorgeous bonnet was an engine that dated back to 1919. Yes, you read that right. 1919. It was like putting a steam engine in a spaceship.Now, the Ace wasn't slow, mind you. With about 100 horsepower, it could hit 60 mph in about 11 seconds. That was quick for the time, but it wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. AC knew they needed more oomph if they wanted to compete with the big boys.Enter Bristol Cars, stage left. Bristol, for those who don't know, was a company that made cars for people who found Rolls-Royces a bit common. They also happened to have a cracking good engine. It was a 2-liter straight-six that Bristol had, ahem, "acquired" from BMW after the war. And by "acquired," I mean they took it as part of war reparations. Talk about spoils of victory!This engine was a gem. It had an aluminum block and head, hemispherical combustion chambers, and a short, stiff crankshaft. In layman's terms, it was lighter, more powerful, and could rev higher than AC's old lump. It was like swapping a carthorse for a thoroughbred.In 1956, AC stuffed this Bristol engine into the Ace, and voila! The AC Ace Bristol was born. It was a match made in automotive heaven. The Bristol engine bumped power up to about 125 horsepower, which doesn't sound like much today, but in a car that weighed about as much as a modern day Mazda MX-5, it was plenty.The AC Ace Bristol could now hit 60 mph in about 9 seconds and top out at over 115 mph. That might not sound fast by today's standards, but back then, it was enough to make most other sports cars look like they were going backwards. But it wasn't just about straight-line speed. The AC Ace Bristol handled like a dream. Its lightweight body and advanced chassis made it nimble and responsive. It was the kind of car that made you feel like Stirling Moss, even if you were just popping down to the shops for a pint of milk.Now, let's talk about racing, because that's where the AC Ace Bristol really showed its mettle. In 1957, an AC Ace Bristol finished tenth overall at Le Mans. Tenth! That's like a Sunday league football team making it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. But they weren't done.In 1958, they came back to Le Mans and finished eighth overall. And then, in 1959, they did even better. An AC Ace Bristol finished seventh overall and first in its class. Remember, this is Le Mans we're talking about. The toughest, most grueling race in the world, and this little British sports car was mixing it up with the big boys from Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Jaguar. Image Credits: Supercars.net, available at [link]But it was in America where the AC Ace Bristol really found its groove. It dominated the E Production class in SCCA racing, winning the national championship three years running. It was so good that it became the car to beat in its class. If you showed up to an SCCA race in the late '50s without an AC Ace Bristol, you might as well have stayed home.The AC Ace Bristol also took class victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1957, 1958, and 1959. Three years in a row! That's not winning; that's bullying. It got to the point where other manufacturers were probably thinking about filing a complaint. "It's not fair," they probably whined, "The AC Ace Bristol is too good."But here's where the story takes a turn. All this success caught the eye of a certain Carroll Shelby. Yes, that Carroll Shelby. The man who would go on to create the Cobra and help Ford beat Ferrari at Le Mans. Shelby looked at the AC Ace Bristol and thought, "Hmm, that's a nice car. But you know what would make it better? A great big American V8."And thus, the seed of the Cobra was planted. But that's a story for another day. Image Credits: Supercars.net, available at [link]Back in Britain, AC was riding high on the success of the Ace Bristol. But they knew they couldn't rest on their laurels. The automotive world was changing rapidly, and they needed to keep up. In 1961, they introduced a new version of the Ace with a 2.6-liter Ford Zephyr engine. It was more powerful than the Bristol, but it lacked some of its character.By 1963, production of the AC Ace Bristol was winding down. In total, only about 466 AC Ace Bristols were ever made. To put that in perspective, Ferrari builds more cars than that in a month these days. The AC Ace Bristol was always a rare beast, and that rarity has only made it more desirable over the years.After the Ace, AC went on to build the Cobra for Shelby, and later their own version called the AC 289. Image Credits: Supercars.net, available at [link] But they never quite recaptured the magic of the Ace Bristol. It was lightning in a bottle, a perfect combination of British chassis design and German engine technology.Over the years, the legend of the AC Ace Bristol has only grown. It's become one of the most sought-after classic sports cars in the world. At auction, pristine examples have sold for over a million pounds. Not bad for a car that originally cost about £2,000 when new.But perhaps the greatest testament to the AC Ace Bristol is its enduring influence. Image Credits: Supercars.net, available at [link] Its design DNA can be seen in countless sports cars that followed, from the Jaguar E-Type to the Mazda MX-5. Its combination of lightweight construction, advanced chassis design, and potent engine set a template that sports car manufacturers are still following today.And now, in 2025, AC is bringing it back. The new AC Ace Bristol is a homage to that brilliant original, a modern interpretation of a timeless classic. It's got big shoes to fill, but if it can capture even a fraction of the original's magic, we're in for a treat.So there you have it, folks. The history of the AC Ace Bristol. It's a tale of British ingenuity, German engineering, American muscle, and a whole lot of racing success. It's the story of a car that punched well above its weight and left an indelible mark on automotive history.
