Gateway Classic Cars is excited to have a 1979 Kellison Stallion.
The Stallion styled after the AC Cobra was a manufactured car and
is not considered a "kit car". This example number 2 of only 117
was built for Lynda Carter. It was known as the Wonder Woman Car.
It is the only Stallion built without side pipes. Legend has it
that this was to protect her million-dollar legs. Jim Kellison, who
worked at Shelby, designed these cars and they were sold through
select Lincoln and Rolls Royce dealers. The Stallion was designed
with three key features in mind: safety, dependability and
performance. The chassis, which is the foundation of any
automobile, reflects these considerations in every detail. The
basic chassis design has drawn heavily on the lessons learned in
automobile racing by Jim Kellison, which explains the triangulated
tubular steel space frame with a monocoque backbone - something
normally found only in competition cars where maximum strength and
torsional rigidity are achieved with a minimum of weight. The heart
of the chassis is the backbone, which consists of a tubular
subframe that supports a foam and steel "sandwich" - two sheets of
20-gauge sheet steel separated by an inch of structural foam. The
backbone also insulates the cockpit against the noise and heat of
the engine compartment. The backbone and the main rails are the
foundation for the rest of the space frame, which provides the
Stallion with outstanding crash resistance. Both the front and rear
ends have been designed to absorb and dissipate the energy of 30
mph collision. Side penetration resistance is no less impressive:
3" by 4" extensions of the main rails support a network of steel
tubing along the side of the cockpit. Each door has an internal
framework of steel tubing and steel plates, to which the door
hinges and latch mechanism are attached. The chassis was designed
around Ford suspension components throughout. This eliminates the
durability and service problems long associated with exotic sports
cars. The front suspension used in the Stallion was developed by
Ford from the experience they gained at Le Mans, Sebring, and
Daytona with the GT-40 racing program. The rear end was developed
to meet the needs of Grand National stock car racing, and is ideal
for high performance applications. While the technical foundation
of the Stallion is the heart of the automobile, it is the car's
styling that captures the eye. Although the Stallion resembles the
AC Cobra, it is neither a copy or a replica. The original Stallion
body was basically a full-scale sculpture, built by hand over the
prototype chassis and it was from this prototype that the body mold
was made. Fundamentally longer and wider than the original, the
Stallion also differs in a host of other areas. As far as styling
is concerned, the Stallion has the same relationship with the Cobra
that the Cobra has with the AC Bristol; similar in appearance, but
differing in all other aspects. In this respect, the Stallion
follows the traditional pattern of the limited production sports
car - each succeeding automobile evolved from the ones preceding,
incorporating engineering advances as they occurred while retaining
the basic design. The Stallion has drawn on 30 years of automotive
racing and technological advances and integrated them into a
totally new modern sports car with a body style that harkens back
to the early sixties. The Stallion built by the Kellison firm for
Ron Samuels and Lynda Carter is a unique, one-of-a-kind, hand-built
automobile. To view this 1979 Kellison Stallion in greater detail,
including HD pictures and an HD video, visit
www.GatewayClassicCars.com or our Philadelphia showroom located in
West Deptford, NJ. For more information, please call 856-599-4100
or email
[email protected]