Ac · 1979–1985

AC 3000ME

The AC 3000ME is a mid-engined sports car originally sold by AC Cars. The two-door coupé debuted at the 1973 London Motor Show. Sales did not begin until 1979 and lasted until 1984. Rights to the 3000ME and tooling were transferred to a second company which produced a small number of additional cars before going into receivership themselves in mid-1985. A third company acquired the rights to the car with plans to begin selling a revised version under a different name, but only a single prototype was ever produced.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: AC Frua · Successor: Ecosse Signature

All Ac 3000ME data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →

History

=== Origin === The AC 3000ME was based on a prototype called the Diablo built by the Bohanna Stables company and shown at the London Racing Car Show in 1972. Peter Bohanna was an automotive body structures engineer. His experience included working with fibreglass structures as a boat engineer and a stint with Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations in the UK doing bodywork for the Ford GT40. In late 1967 Bohanna was at Lola cars working on the T70, where he met Robin Stables, who prior to his arrival at Lola had been a racing mechanic and Lotus dealer. In 1968, Bohanna and Stables won a design contract for a new sports car tendered by a young aristocrat named Piers Weld-Forester. The partners designed a two-seat mid-engined car to be powered by the 2.2 L inline six version of BMC's newly announced SOHC E-series engine, code-named ARO25. Production problems would delay release of this engine until 1972. In late 1968 Weld-Forester partnered with Ernie Unger to form a new company named UWF (for Unger Weld-Forester), and bought the Unipower GT production line from Universal Power Drives. Bohanna and Stables' subsequent work for UWF was to design a car to replace the existing Unipower GT, but this design would not reach production. Instead the partners started the Bohanna Stables company and resumed development of the earlier mid-engined design, which would become the Diablo. The 1972 Diablo prototype was built with the 1.5 L inline four version of the E-series engine and 5-speed manual transaxle that was used in the Austin Maxi. Bohanna Stables had sought interest from both AC and TVR before the Diablo was shown at the Racing Car Show, but neither company committed to the project. After the car's debut AC's Keith Judd drove the Diablo to the company's Thames Ditton headquarters

Technical features

=== Running gear === The chassis of the 3000ME was a perimeter frame whose central tub was made of folded sheet steel with an integrated roll-over bar. Some reviews of the car call the central tub a monocoque. Subframes were fitted at the front and rear. Bodywork was made of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). Weight distribution was 40/60 front/rear. The car's suspension comprised upper and lower A-arms with coil springs and telescopic shock-absorbers both front and rear. The configuration incorporated anti-dive/anti-squat geometry. The suspension arms and uprights were fabricated by AC. No anti-roll bars were fitted to production 3000MEs. The braking system used dual hydraulic circuits to activate a Girling caliper operating on an AC-made rotor at each wheel. Early tyres were 195/60VR-14 Pirellis, which later grew to 205/60VR-14 size mounted on 7 in (178 mm) wide alloy wheels from Wolfrace. Engine and transaxle. The engine used in the car was the 3.0-litre Ford Essex V6. In the 3000ME this all-cast-iron OHV 60° V6 produced 138 bhp (102.9 kW) and 192 lb⋅ft (260.3 N⋅m). It was installed transversely in the car behind the seats. The transmission was a 5-speed manual that, like the engine, was installed transversely. The transmission was an AC design, using an aluminium case produced by AC and a gear-set from Hewland. The engine drove the transmission via a triplex chain supplied by Renold. The driver selected gears with a Ferrari-like gated gearchange. Other. The 3000ME was equipped with electric windows, a sunshine roof panel, Pilkington Sundym laminated glass, an adjustable steering column, and a radio with a powered antenna.

Technical data

== Variants == Ecosse Signature. Former racing driver and Ford technical sales specialist John Parsons and Ecosse Technical Director Aubrey Woods purchased the assets of AC (Scotland) with plans to resume production of the 3000ME. By this time the name and intellectual property of the original AC Cars had been bought by Brian Angliss of Autokraft, so Parsons and Woods incorporated their company as the Ecosse Car Company Ltd., and renamed the car the Ecosse Signature. The company was based in Knebworth, Hertfordshire. The exterior of the Ecosse Signature was restyled by Peter Stevens. Working from the AC (Scotland) Mark II prototype, the Alfa V6 powertrain was removed and a turbocharged Fiat Twin Cam engine and transmission from the Fiat Croma were substituted. The revised Ecosse Signature was shown at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Show. While it garnered some interest, the company was unable to secure the £350,000 in financing needed to restart production, and the project went no further. The prototype was rediscovered in an abandoned industrial storage unit in 2017. In unrestored condition it was offered for sale for £8000. AC Ghia. In July 1980, Ford of Europe chairman Bob Lutz and vice president Karl Ludvigsen were in Turin at Carrozzeria Ghia checking on some ongoing projects. Ghia's chief designer at the time was Filippo Sapino. Sapino mentioned that Ghia was looking for a mid-engined Ford platform as a base for some future studies, and the Ford-powered 3000ME came up. Ludvigsen, whose responsibilities included overseeing Ford's European motorsports programs, saw this as a possible replacement for the recently retired Mark II Escort rally car. Ludvigsen involved both Ford's directory of rallying Peter Ashcroft and Ford's chief designer Uwe Bahnsen and on 22 September c

Motorsports

Chassis 119 was progressively converted into a "Lightweight" special suitable for use in hill climbs and sprints. Much of the conversion work, which included first a single- then twin-turbo engine upgrades, was done by Robin Rew. The car was later returned to a road-legal state, but kept many of the performance upgrades. This car appeared on the cover of the September 1986 edition of Sports Car Monthly magazine. Chassis 156 was imported to Australia, where it was converted for rally use. Extensive work was done to prepare the car for racing, including adding an F.I.A.-compliant roll cage, and complete overhauls of both the suspension and engine. Consideration was also given to using the car on the Historic racing circuit. A special tube-frame car with a heavily modified 3000ME body was built for the Supersports series. This car is powered by a Cosworth BDA engine driving through a Hewland transaxle. It was featured in the February 1992 issue of Cars and Car Conversions magazine.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: AC 3000ME
Manufacturer: AC Cars, AC (Scotland) plc
aka: AC 3 Litre, AC 3000, AC ME3000
Production: 1979–1984 (AC Cars), 1984–1985 (AC (Scotland) plc)
Assembly: England: Thames Ditton, Scotland: Hillington
Designer: Peter Bohanna, Robin Stables
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door coupé
Layout: MR layout with Transverse engine
Platform: Custom steel perimeter frame
Engine: 2994 cc Ford Essex V6
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Wheelbase: 2300 mm
Length: 3988 mm
Width: 1651 mm
Height: 1143 mm
Kerb weight: 1085 kg
sp: uk
Top speed: 193 km/h

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q288911CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_3000MECC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1376881806 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AC_ME3000_yellow.jpgCC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Charles01 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.