> To: Roland Dudley <cobra@snakebyte.cdc.hp.com>
> Cc: jkaidor@synoptics.com, twakeman@apple.com, british-cars@autox.team.net,
> Subject: Re: Leaf-spring Cobras
> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 12:51:10 PDT
> From: What was the question again? <sfisher@wsl.dec.com>
>
>
> To help visualize this if you've never seen it, there is one leaf at each
> end of the car, mounted transversely; each end of the spring forms the upper
> [rest of excellent description deleted]
Yes, I think I can see it.
>unsprung weight made each wheel respond very quickly on bumps. This
>suspension system, by the way, was used even on the Daytona Coupe version
>of the Cobras, at least on one of them.
Yup, there were four Mk II based Daytona Coupes: CSX2286, 2287, 2289,
and 2300. Two others (CSX2601 & 2602) may also have been Mk II based
but I'm not absolutely sure. They were the last leaf-spring chassis
built and, unlike the others, were designated as coupes from conception.
There was also one 427 coil-spring chassis Super Coupe built: CSX3055.
> nest-of-snakes headers. The Daytona Coupe was my favorite car for many
> years, and still isn't far from the top of the list. But then, I like
> the 289 Cobra's looks much, much better than the 427's.
Ah. A man with truly elegant taste. I've never cared for the bulbous
shape of the 427 Cobra myself.
> Ummm... After being referred to so nicely, I hate to offer even the
> smallest of corrections, but the transverse-leaf suspension used on the
> Cobras (and also cribbed by John Cooper for his first 500cc formula cars
> in the mid-Fifties) was originally designed by Fiat, and used on the
> Topolino. I can't recall now whether the Topolino was introduced in
> 1936 or 1937, but its simple transverse-leaf suspension with lower
> A-arms revolutionized small-car handling in the Thirties.
>
I cheerfully stand corrected. Make sense too. It's cheaper to adapt
someone else's successful design than to start from scratch.
> That's right, AC never got bought out by a soul-deadening corporation
> that would have refused to make any change that nobody could see...
AC continued to build specialty cars clear into the '70s including the
interesting ME 3000, a small mid-engined car somewhat similar to the
MR2. AC Cars still exist today but only builds the limited production
Cobra Mk IV (known as the AC Mk IV in the US).
>
> --Scott "Wishing I had an aluminum V8 and a de Dion rear" Fisher
>
Roland
|