The business began in West Norwood, south London, in 1901, when the Weller brothers started building cars; with financial backing from John Portwine it became Autocars and Accessories, whose first success was a three-wheeled delivery vehicle called the Autocarrier. As Auto Carriers Ltd it moved in 1911 to Ferry Works at Thames Ditton in Surrey, which remained its home for more than seventy years, and the cars were soon sold simply as ACs.
The company went through financial trouble between the wars and was bought by the Hurlock family, who ran a haulage business and restarted car production in the 1930s. In 1953 AC launched the Ace, a lightweight two-seater with a chassis designed by John Tojeiro, later offered with Bristol and Ford engines.
In September 1961 the American racing driver Carroll Shelby approached AC about fitting a Ford V8 into the Ace, and the result was the AC Cobra, which appeared in 1962 and became one of the most famous sports cars ever built. The Frua-bodied AC 428 grand tourer followed in 1965. Thames Ditton closed in 1984, and AC later moved to Brooklands and Weybridge under new owners; it still builds Cobras today.
