AC Aceca

The AC Aceca was a fixed head coupe that AC Cars built from 1954 until 1963 on the chassis of the AC Ace. It was a hand-built grand tourer in the British tradition, made with ash wood and steel tubing under aluminium body panels, and it was only the second car after the 1953 Aston Martin DB2/4 to have a rear hatchback. Three versions were offered that differed in their engines: the original Aceca with AC's own Light Six, the Aceca-Bristol with a Bristol engine from 1956, and the Aceca 2.6 from 1961 with a Ford Zephyr six tuned by Ruddspeed. Front disc brakes were optional in 1957 and standard from 1958. When production halted in 1963, 151 Acecas, 169 Aceca-Bristols and 8 Aceca 2.6es had been built. Special cars include the Aceca-Aigle bodied by Ghia-Aigle, a single Triumph-engined car and the prototype that Donald Campbell used as his personal car from 1954 to 1956.