> A refinancing package for a classic British sports car manufacturer has
> come from an unlikely place – Australia. AC Motor Holdings Ltd, a
> new holding company in Malta, has announced that it has bought the whole
> of Britain's oldest car maker, AC Cars. Famous for the classic Cobra
> muscle car of the 1960s, AC Cars has suffered under a nine million pound
> debt and last year made only 35 cars. AC Motor Holdings secured
> longterm finance for the deal from Volkswagen Financial Services
> Australia Ltd. The driving forces behind the new company are the
> chairman and chief executive officer of AC Cars, Alan Lubinsky, and
> Australian Lamborghini importer James Smith, who will head AC Motor
> Holdings' Australian operations. Smith is also a partner with Lubinsky
> in the Verte Automotive Group, the company set up to distribute
> rebadged, LPG-powered Ford Falcon utes in Britain.
Shades of Jensen and Kjell Qvale!
Kjell Qvale, a Norwegian, was a car dealer in San Francisco in the
1960s and '70s specializing in British sports cars. When he heard
Jensen was going bust in the early '70s, he bought the company and
then arranged a deal with Donald Healey to design the Jensen-Healey
roadster. The company survived for a few more years before going
completely bust in '76.
Wonder if the new AC ownership will work with Carroll Shelby, or one
of the Healey descendants, to produce a 4-cylinder roadster? :^)
--
T.J. Higgins
tjhiggin@ingr.com
Huntsville, AL
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