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In the thirteen or so years that I have been contributing
to FSW I have said precious little about Frazer Nash cars,
but all that I am prompted to change by seeing the delightful
looking rendering by Echoes of the Mille Miglia-bodied Frazer
Nash (ECH026) that has recently been released.
The Frazer
Nash car was the brain-child of Archie Frazer-Nash (note a
hyphen in his name when mentioned post 1938 but no such link
in the car's name) who had been developing the famous GN cycle-cars
in the early twenties with H.R. Godfrey (later of HRG fame).
Despite the G.N.'s considerable success, the development of
more sophisticated machines to satisfy the post-World War
1 craving for motorised transport brought about the demise
of the more austere cycle-car and Archie launched into the
production of a developed form of the G.N. as the Frazer Nash
sports car, but still using its 'chain and peg/dog' unusual
but cheap-to-make transmission.
Having formed
A.F.N. Ltd in 1927 Frazer-Nash's business acumen was not conducive
to commercial success and he saw H.J. Aldington ("H.J.")
as the ideal successor. Hence the latter became Managing Director
as from 1st January 1929 and the company moved from Kingston-upon-Thames
to the newly-constructed Falcon Works in Isleworth in early
1930.
Here the 'chain-gang'
cars were steadily developed using at first the Anzani and
then the Meadows 4-ED four-cylinder engine which had been
a source of much success for Lea-Francis, not least in their
victory in the 1928 T.T. at Belfast and their class wins at
Le Mans in 1929/30. The Frazer Nash cars were used, especially
by their owners, in all manner of competition work from trials,
hill-climbs, rallies to circuit racing. Among their particular
successes were the Alpine Cups they won in the International
Alpine Trials which gathered increasing importance in the
early thirties as the breadth of competition improved - these
events are worthy of considerable study in the history of
the sporting car.
H.J. himself was often behind the wheel in all sorts
of events and lent encouragement whenever he could. And so
when two private owners opted to enter their 'chain-gang'
Frazer Nashes in the 1935 Le Mans race, works support was
there.
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One of these
was Fred Wilmot who had bought his T.T. Replica in 1934 and,
owing to business commitments was unavailable to drive himself.
He therefore entrusted the car (race no.23) to Michael Collier
and Hon. Peter Mitchell-Thomson (later Lord Selsdon who was
to drive the V-12 Lagonda to 4th place at Le Mans in 1939
and to share Chinetti's winning Ferrari in 1949). The second
Frazer Nash entry (car no.22) was made by Dudley Folland who
for personal reasons raced under the name of 'Tim D. Davies'
- his was a Shelsley model purchased in April 1935.
Both these
entries used the Frazer Nash overhead camshaft four-cylinder
engine, designed by Albert Gough, and whose major components
were made by Bean Industries of Tipton, Staffordshire, as
AFN lacked the necessary production facilities. Interestingly,
the Folland car was equipped with two Centric superchargers
whereas the earlier car relied on a twin-S.U. carburettor
layout.
Neither car
lasted the distance: the non-supercharged car failed after
77 laps with engine maladies; the 'Davies' car, co-driven
by A.F.P. Fane, a rising star in the Frazer Nash camp, gave
up after some 96 laps as its engine broke - the Nashes did
not have a good record in long-distance racing.
However, in
the meantime the success of the BMWs in the 1500c.c. class
in the 1934 Alpine Trial had made a huge impression on H.J.
and he was in serious discussion with the German company to
market their cars in Britain through A.F.N. Ltd. He could
see that the vintage nature of the Frazer Nash was being quickly
superseded by the more advanced products coming from the continental
manufacturers by the mid-thirties and, lacking the production
facilities to beat them, saw that the future lay in joining
them! Thus did his firm offer Frazer Nash-BMW cars, as the
unmodified imported car was labelled.
And so by Le Mans 1937 (the 1936 race was cancelled owing
to political unrest in France) we find H.J. and Fane invited
to share a 'factory' BMW 328 while David Murray (later of
Ecurie Ecosse fame) entered his private 328 delivered just
in time for himself and the very promising young South African
Pat Fairfield. |
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The British driven
white works cars retired with ignition problems but tragedy
struck early on in the race: the amateur Bugatti driver Rene
Kippeurt lost control of his machine in the notorious White
House corners and triggered off a multiple pile-up. Poor Fairfield
arrived confronted with a blocked track and, seeking an escape,
cart-wheeled end-over-end in the Frazer Nash-BMW. Sadly he
succumbed to his extensive injuries during the night.
Although AFN
pursued a racing programme up to the outbreak of war, Le Mans
was not part of it and we do not see a Frazer Nash at the
24-hour race until its post-war revival in 1949. In the intervening
years H.J. had not been idle and with the cessation of hostilities
in 1945 he was quick to re-establish the close relationship
he had built up with the Munich firm those years before. A
complicated tale boils down to the fact that there was originally
to have been a Frazer Nash-Bristol car, the aeroplane manufacturer
being keen to break into car production to off-set the loss
of military orders for aircraft that peacetime inevitably
brought. H.J. had organised the Filton-based company to undertake
production of an engine based closely on the successful BMW
328 unit (he had managed to get his hands on the factory drawings!)
and, when he saw that his approach to sports car manufacture
was going to be so different from that of a large aircraft
engineering and marketing department, he arranged an amicable
split which nevertheless guaranteed a supply of these new
Bristol engines to Isleworth for the new car he was proposing
to build.
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This was originally named the
High Speed Model and one of the first sold went to Norman
Culpan, a racing motor-cyclist from the north of England.
It was the third of such models produced in 1949, the post-war
Nashes having chassis features very similar to those of the
pre-war BMW cars. With H.J. sharing the wheel, this red-painted
car, race no.26, finished a wonderful third overall, this
success causing the model to be named hereafter the Le Mans
Replica.
Culpan returned
with the car the following year, this time with Peter Wilson
as his co-driver, the latter nursing the car to 20th overall
with clutch slip as the owner was apparently unwilling to
cope with this malady. But alongside this entry was a 'works'
car, a Mille Miglia all- enveloping bodied car based on the
BMW car with Touring body that had run on the 1940 abbreviated
Mille Miglia. This car, registration no. VHX 837 was to have
an admirable competition history and it raced at Le Mans in
1950, race no. 30, driven by T.A.S.O. Mathieson (whose racing
career dated back to 1930 and who competed at Le Mans with
a 4-litre Talbot on 1938/39) and Flight Lieutenant 'Dickie'
Stoop who had purchased the car on the understanding that
it would run at Le Mans prior to his owning it! A good arrangement
this turned out to be - they won the 2-litre class against
Ferrari opposition, finishing 9th overall.
This very
car came back again in 1951 (race no.34) when Stoop had Wilson
as his co-driver and they finished 19th overall. A final appearance
at the Sarthe circuit was made a year later when the same
team were forced to retire the car with transmission failure
but only after nineteen hours of racing - VHX 837 was certainly
a true Le Mans car!
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| ECH001
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Frazer Nash Replica Le Mans 1949 #26
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£39.95
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| ECH002
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Frazer Nash Replica Le Mans 1951 #35
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£39.95
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| ECH003
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Frazer Nash Replica Le Mans 1952 #42
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£39.95
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| ECH004
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Frazer Nash Targa Florio Le Mans 1954 #37
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£31.95
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| ECH005
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Frazer Nash Sebring Le Mans 1956 #23
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£35.25
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| ECH006
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Frazer Nash Sebring Le Mans 1955 #35
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£35.25
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| ECH007
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Frazer Nash Sebring Le Mans 1955 #36
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£35.25
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| ECH008
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Frazer Nash Sebring Le Mans 1957 #24
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£35.25
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| ECH014
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Frazer Nash Sebring street
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£35.25
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| ECH020
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Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica Le Mans 1953 #40
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£39.95
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| ECH021
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Frazer Nash Replica street
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£39.95
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| ECH022
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Frazer Nash Targa Florio street
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£31.95
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| ECH025
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Frazer Nash Mille Miglia Le Mans 1950 #30
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£35.25
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| ECH026
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Frazer Nash Mille Miglia Le Mans 1951 #34
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£35.25
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| ECH027
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Frazer Nash Mille Miglia Le Mans 1952 #41
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£35.25
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| ECH028
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Frazer Nash Mille Miglia street
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£35.25
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| SLM37028
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Frazer Nash (BMW) Le Mans 1937 #28
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£35.00
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| SLM37029
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Frazer Nash (BMW) Le Mans 1937 #29
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£35.00
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