I stumbled across an interesting article from Classical Drive:

One of my all-time-no-excuses sports car loves is the AC Ace, especially when powered by a Bristol 6-cylinder engine (which led to the type being described as an AC Bristol). I first came upon one at the spring Hockely Valley hillclimb north of Toronto. I was competing in a much-modified VW and between runs seated myself among the trees to watch competitors hang it out on the winding gravel road. Peter Hayes' AC Bristol blew me away with its performance and the Bristol's sweet sound. As almost everyone knows, the Ace was subsequently transformed by Carroll Shelby into the sensational AC Cobra. That might have been the end of it but AC's owners and enthusiast groups have longed for a rebirth without a monstruous American V-8 up front, and now a British firm is poised to do just that. Project Kimber has purchased the rights and tooling for the Smart 2+2 that DaimlerChrysler foolishly abandoned, and as reported by Autocar plans to revive it as an AC Ace. Perhaps I should resent that the Ace will be a front-wheel-driver but who's to say that if the car had progressed normally, it might now be a smaller, front-driven, environmentally-conscious sports car?

Found at: Classical Drive