Return to MarkOastler's garage

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Published on 27 November 2015

I was always a fan of Shelby's original AC Cobra with Ford's very light and compact 260 cid small block V8. So I wanted to follow that British-sports-car-with-American-V8 theme by shoehorning a 289 cid (4.7 litre) version of the same engine into an Austin Healey Sprite Mk II. Sort of a 'Son of Cobra' or 'Mini Cobra' with the engine mounted as rearward as possible with a proper space-frame chassis etc. Not sure if I could have got engineering approval for road use, but it would have been wickedly fast. And I fear dastardly difficult to drive in the wet given its wheelbase was not much longer than a kid's pedal car!