AC Cobra How One Roadster Raced Its Way Into America’s Heart

If you are an automobile enthusiast, then it’s likely that you have ogled over a Shelby cobra at one point or another. The Shelby cobra is one of the most popular and highly coveted muscle cars out there. First released in 1962, the AC Cobra was designed to out perform Corvettes, while weighing approximately 500 pounds less than an average Corvette. The custom roadster was invented by a man named Carroll Shelby, a world renowned American race car driver.
Once released the Shelby cobra became massively popular, and effectively helped to change the reputation of American performance driving cars for years to come. When editions were cobras were released, the manufacturer only made a couple hundred or thousand at a time. For example, manufacturers only built 538 of the Mark II models that were released in 1965. This only increased the performance driving car’s desirability.
Because of their limited nature, the Shelby cobra is one of the most common cars to replicate. Car fanatics and expert mechanics acquire cobra car kits, and from there, build authentic replications of the original Mark I model. Building a car is an awfully complicated process, but considering the prestige of the AC cobra, many find the effort to be extremely worth it.
Today, AC cobras are all over popular media. For example, you might have seen the cobra tearing down Sunset Boulevard in the early 2000s action flick, Charlies Angels: Full Throttle
Even more recently, the performance driving vehicle appeared in world famous pop star Taylor Swift’s 2014 music video for “Blank Space”. In the music video, Taylor is depicted as a highly frenzied, scorned woman who proceeds to bash her boyfriend’s AC cobra mercilessly with a golf club.
The music video caused quite a stir from motor heads across the world, and people were in dismay that Swift would destroy such a precious car. It was later confirmed, however, that the bashing was indeed fake, and the man who rented Swift the cobra still had his vehicle intact.
For a car made more than half a century ago, the AC cobra is still revving its way into America’s hearts and minds.