"Given its combination of high performance, almost classic good looks and reasonable price, the car was an instant success. Though often referred to as a 'cheap Invicta', automotive designer Reid Railton favored the description, 'a poor man's Bentley.' All were built on the 117-inch Terraplane chassis. Most of the sixes were powered by the 101 horsepower Terraplane engine."

The comparison that Arch Brown hinted at in his own headline ("Pre-War Cobra") – that between the Railton-Terraplane and the Shelby Cobra – comes close to describing this trans-Atlantic hybrid with its high-performance American power and British body. But the story is more complicated than that, as Brown deftly describes it. The celebrity owner of the car is just an added bonus here.

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