AC 3000 ME


AC quickly gets wind of the car and decides it’s just what the company needs if it is to produce a more mainstream 1973 The 3000ME is first displayed under the AC banner at our Earl’s Court motor show, at which point June 1974 is set as the original on-sale date. But the introduction of type approval would slow things to the point where it would be shown at every subsequent British motor show – before the production-ready car is fi nally unveiled at the 1978 NEC event.

The production-ready 3000ME is unveiled at the inaugural NEC motor show, the cars being produced at AC’s Thames Ditton factory. Incidentally, the red example shown here is the original 1978 motor show display car. When the original prototype had been shown in 1972, it was claimed to have attracted 200 orders; by the time the production-ready car is unveiled, there’s little interest in it. Gone is the Austin 1750 engine, replaced by a Ford 3.0-litre Essex V6, mounted transversely behind the cockpit and driving the rear wheels via AC’s own five-speed gearbox with Hewland parts. But with production underway there’s soon a backlog of cars thanks to a raft of cancelled orders and disaffected dealers.


1981 The 3000ME has barely gone on sale and a reclothed model is shown at the Geneva motor show. Designed by Ghia and using the same mechanicals as the 3000ME, there’s speculation that this is to be a new take on AC’s glass fibre sports car. But AC’s owner Derek Hurlock doesn’t like the car and the concept is pushed quietly into a corner, where it’s forgotten. 1984 Production of the 3000ME stops after just 76 examples have been made, including five prototypes. The project is then sold to a new company, AC Cars (Scotland) Ltd which would go on to build another 30 examples in its Glasgow factory. These cars would sport body-coloured bumpers, air intakes and grille while the previous Hardy Spicer joints are replaced by constant velocity joints.

Prototypes utilising V6s by both Ford and Alfa Romeo would also be produced by AC Scotland, but by the summer of 1985 the 3000ME’s time had finally come and the car would be killed off altogether.