AC Cars began production of its famous AC Ace in 1953. Based on a lightweight chassis designed by John Tojeiro, the Ace was the forerunner of the AC Cobra. The first series of factory-built cars featured a simple Barchetta-style body and AC's aging 2-liter engine, but after 220 cars had been built, a 120 bhp Bristol engine was fitted, which vastly improved the car's performance.
This unique AC Ace resulted from a meeting between Elio Zagato and Hubert Patthey, the Swiss AC agent. The latter thought combining the Ace chassis with a Zagato body would be interesting. The car was sold to John Gretener, a Swiss resident who raced it on hill climbs around Lake Geneva. Later sold to Joe Siffert, the vehicle continued to run in various events and historic races, including the Mille Miglia. Its current owner acquired the car from the Rosso Bianco collection in Germany in 2000 and restored it later that year.
Source: www.supercars.net
Images: Zagato; www.carculture.com
