As summer launches, thusly roadsters. Or dreams of them, anyway.

Lucra’s LC470 convertible roadster springs to mind as spring transitions into summer, so we’re taking a look at the newest incarnation of this uniquely hands-across-the-pond sportscar. It looks a lot like a Shelby Cobra, mid-1960’s vintage, a model which itself owed much to British sports design ethos.

Evoking AC, Jag, and even MG in its chassis, the Shelby was born, but with American muscle. And the Lucra seems to take many of its chassis design cues from Shelby, forming the next link in the chain of influence. Owner Luke Richards grew up in both England and the United States, so it’s easy to see how his love of graceful British lines and U.S. muscle found expression in the LC470.

If it looks like a manual-transmission-equipped roadster, well, that’s because it is; the gearbox comes by way of Tremec: the TKO 600 5-speed known to devotees of American RWD manual speed-oriented machine the Mustang. Said gearbox is connected to an optional GM LS7 7.0L V8 engine that produces over 500 horsepower. The stock engine is the somewhat smaller GM LS3, which delivers 430 horsepower, but most buyers will naturally be drawn to the possibilities of the LS7.

Because of its astonishingly low curb weight—the car as pictured weighs only about a ton, with a carbon fiber body, and lots of aluminum in the design—the LC470’s power-to-weight ratio is very skewed toward the former, giving the car a blistering 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds. This is a car for people who love to drive; the cabin interior is a beautiful and simple statement of four-wheels-on-pavement fundamentals: wheel and stick controlling a whole lot of power.

Handmade in California, the 2017 LC470 is available to order from Lucra, with an eight-week lead time.