Only 149 "Super Sports" would be manufactured
before the company ran into financial difficulties
in 1929...
Frazer Nash cars would continue to use their unique
chain-drive system on vehicles such as this 1932
Exeter, right through to 1939...
The marketing savy Aldington family named Frazer
Nash cars after competition success, such as this
Competition 328 Mille Miglia of 1940...
The “Le Mans Replica” is arguably the
best known postwar Frazer Nash...
Well known drivers such as Sterling Moss would
compete in the Le Mans Replica, this overhead shot
clearling showing the modifications made to competition
specials...
By 1954 it became obvious that development of Frazer
Nash cars was almost non-existent... |
Today we have the ‘micro’ car, but at the
turn of last century the cheap-and-cheerful type car
was the ‘cycle-car’.
Archie Frazer Nash
and partner Ron Godfrey capitalized on the popularity
of the cycle-car by manufacturing a machine known simply
as the “GN”, which had a twin-cylinder
engine in a very rudimentary chassis frame. But what
made the GN unique was the use of a chain drive rather
than shaft drive.
The GN
proved incredibly successful, and was even manufactured
in France. It offered extremely good performance but
only basic weather protection, but both the GN and other
cycle-cars were to meet their match in 1922 when Austin
released the Seven, a car designed for the cheap-and-cheerful
market but now affording the occupants proper weather
protection, greater comfort and most importantly a larger
more powerful four-cylinder engine – indeed it
had most of the 'big car' comforts.
Facing such competition was indeed a very daunting
thought, and Godfrey was not convinced that they could.
In 1924 he decided to go his own way, leaving Frazer
Nash to build his own cars at Kingston upon Thames.
He should have stayed - the first Frazer Nash causing
an overnight sensation! Frazer-Nash had created an out-and-out
sports car, initially fitted with a Plus Power four-cylinder
engine (though shortly a side-valve Anzani would be
fitted instead).
It had a very attractive aluminum body
styling and - like the GN – used a chain drive
transmission. Interestingly every Frazer Nash built
up to 1939 was to retain the chain drive system.
By now the chain drive system was seen as an outdated
oddity, however it provided the Frazer-Nash with a distinct
weight advantage over its competition, not to mention
to extremely quick gear changes possible with such a
system. Early cars were known as “Fast Tourers”
or “Super Sports”, and in total some 149
were produced before the company ran into financial
difficulties in 1929.
The Aldington family came to Frazer-Nash’s rescue
– they having already been involved in selling
the cars through their own business Aldington Motors.
When H J Aldington gained control, he was quickly joined
by his two brothers, set about revitalizing the company
in new premises at Isleworth.
The 'New Frazer Nash.'
was notable for the use of the overhead valve 1500cc
Meadows engine (though the supercharged Anzani was retained
for competition cars), and featured a painted aluminum
or fabric covered steel body called the “Sportop”.
The Aldingtons were born salesman and gifted marketers.
Always ready to change the car's model name to re-invigorate
interest in the marque, often such name changes were
complimented by only a handful of minor modifications
over the previous iteration.
In a stroke of marketing
savy the Aldingtons also decided to name their cars
after competition success - which explains why names
like the Boulogne, Colmore, Exeter, and Nurburg all
appeared in sales leaflets!
The best-known model of the 1930s was the 1932 “TT
Replica”. The TT certainly looked the part, featuring
a fully louvered bonnet, stone guard over the radiator,
a full range of instruments, and the gear lever and
hand brake lever both outside the bodywork.
It had a
characteristic 'bath-tub' style of rear body with protruding
petrol filler. Three different engines were offered
in the TT Replica - the four-cylinder Meadows, the six-cylinder
Blackburne, and a revised and supercharged version of
the Meadows.
The latter variant was often referred to
as the 'Frazer Nash' engine, though it later became
known as the 'Gough' after the man who designed it.
A normal Meadows engine was good for 55bhp at 4500rpm
and gave the car a top speed of 80mph (128.7 kmh).
The cars were very successful in sport, and in particular
they shone in the Alpine Trial. In 1932 two cars were
entered, and both finished without losing any marks.
In 1933 no fewer than seven cars entered, one of which
(driven by Aldington and Berry) being the only car in
the entire entry to lose no marks at all.
In 1934, of
the six cars entered, four finished without loss, one
lost a single mark, and the sixth, driven by the Hon.
Peter Mitchell Thompson, lost 14 due to an engine water
pump problem (resulting in the team prize going to BMW).
H J Aldington was impressed by the performance of the
BMWs, and lost no time in becoming the British concessionaire
for that marque. By 1935 the cars became known as Frazer-Nash-BMWs,
and were sold alongside the chain driven cars.
A total
of 174 'chain-gang' cars were produced at Isleworth,
the peak period being in 1932 and 1933 when 32 cars
were built in each year, but little was done by way
of development of the original and they were quickly
becoming very dated.
After World War II the Aldingtons were instrumental
in bringing the BMW designs over to the UK where they
were revised and put to use by Bristol. Frazer Nash
might once have become a part of the Bristol Cars business,
but escaped, and announced the first postwar Frazer
Nash in 1948.
This was completely different from the
1930s variety, all models now fitted with the new six-cylinder
Bristol (ex BMW) 2 litre engine. Once again the practice
of naming models after competition successes was continued,
thus the postwar range included the Mille Miglia, Targa
Florio, Sebring and Le Mans Replica models.
The latter “Le Mans Replica” was arguably
the best known with 34 being built out of a total postwar
total of only 84 cars. This car was a logical development
of the BMW 328 type, but it used styling elements from
the earlier chain-driven cars such as a narrow two-seater
body shell, exposed wheels with cycle-type wings, and
extremely basic weather protection. It was widely (and
successfully) used in competitions by such well-known
drivers as Stirling Moss, Roy Salvadori, and Tony Crook.
In 1951 a Le Mans Replica won the Targa Florio outright,
and in 1952 another example won the very first Sebring
(USA) 12-hour race. A Mark 2 version was produced in
1952 and Tony Crook used one to take third place in
the “round the houses” 2 litre race at Monaco.
In standard form the Bristol engine produced 110bhp
at 5250rpm, and the car's top speed was 120mph (193
kmh). More power was available with race tuning, and
its superlative road-holding often allowed it to compete
successfully against much larger engined cars.
During the early 1950s, Frazer Nash were appointed
UK concessionaires for Porsche cars, and this soon led
to the running down of Frazer Nash assembly.
The last
Frazer Nash of all was produced in 1957, and fitted
with a V8 BMW engine, but it was never put into production.
AFN, the concern which built Frazer Nash cars after
the war, was finally taken over by Porsche in the 1970s. |
