|
"Sure, I know what kind of car that is..." But almost no one ever really
does know. For more information on the chain-drive and other pre-WWII Frazer Nash cars, please visit the web site of the Frazer Nash Car Club. The Club also supports the postwar cars and publishes the excellent "Chain Gang Gazette". If you have any information on the postwar cars (any project of AFN after 1946), contact James Trigwell directly. He is the registrar of the postwar Frazer Nash cars and a trustee of the Frazer Nash Archives. News - 2024 Our Frazer Nash Mille Miglia will appear in the Bonham's September 7 auction at the Goodwood Revival. The Bonham's listing, with a lowered Estimate, is on the following link: 1952 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia Sports Roadster Our Frazer Nash Mille Miglia was consigned to the Bonham's July 12 auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Bonham's webpage for the car was this: 1952 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia Sports Roadster Although there was decent interest, the final bid did not reach the reserve price. This is a photo below
A complete history of our ownership is here: http://frazernash-usa.com/afn168.htm Although we have had many grand New Zealand adventures with this Frazer Nash Mille Miglia since acquiring it in 1975, it is time for a new owner to enjoy it. We celebrated Errol Flynn's 125th birthday on June 20 by visiting his grave at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. He is buried next to his wife, actress Patricia Wymore.
Mr. Flynn owned a Targa Florio which disappeared during a lawsuit in Italy and remains missing. A Carhuna auction
of our 1952 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia was held on March 11. The
complete history of this Frazer Nash (421/100/168) can be found on this
section of this website. Jasper
Dardashti (Carhuna)
sent a message on February 13 - "Your 1952 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia will be consigned to our upcoming
'Racecar' sale (dates TBC)..." The reserve was not
met, so our Mille Miglia is still available! News - 2023 After a five-year absence, we recognized Errol Flynn's birthday on June 20 by visiting his grave at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. Mr. Flynn owned a Targa Florio which disappeared during a lawsuit in Italy and remains missing.
Errol Flynn and his Targa Florio 421/200/169 at the Elstree Film Studios News - 2022 In December, I found the 1975 classified ads in the Honolulu Advertiser and Star-Bulletin that eventually caused me to buy our 1952 Frazer Nash Mille Miglia. Images of these September 1975 ad are below.
On November 4, our Frazer Nash Mille Miglia 421/100/168 was part of the London RM Sotheby's auction: https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/lf22/london/lots/r0023-1952-frazer-nash-mille-miglia/1301015 The photos and description are very accurate. Here's a video of the auction of the Mille Miglia. The result was a bit short of the reserve price. News - 2021 On August 4, our Frazer Nash Mille Miglia 421/100/168 was shipped on the MV Majestic from New Zealand to England for a future private sale. The Majestic was scheduled to arrive in London on September 8. Due to port congestion, the Frazer Nash did not arrive in London until September 24. It is now at a motorsports business. November 1, 2021
Very good news to learn that the Le Mans Replica (421/100/160, engine FNS 1/37), 1952 Sebring winner when owned by "Duke" Donaldson has been found! It was considered "lost" because there was very little status reported since mid '50s until 2020. The second owner traded it to a Boca Raton sports car repair shop owner for Mille Miglia 421/100/168. Unsigned emails were sent to this website in 2014 inquiring about the potential value of this car. These continued until this year when the current owners sent photos of the car in very "unrestored" condition. Their messages and photos were sent to a marque expert who had searched for the cars for many years. He purchased it and shipped it to England for a restoration. Only three Frazer Nash postwar cars remain unaccounted for! News - 2020 Just discovered in November! Road tests of all the postwar models: A Drive-My report. In July, Mike Wilson (Cartel.Works, Nelson, New Zealand) sent current photos of Frazer Nash Mille Miglia 421/100/168. It is For Sale! Thanks, Mike! Lee Marshall sent updates on the Le Mans Replica "replicas" YHV23 (from C+G) and a WOK "spare chassis" in April and the webpage for these cars was updated. Larry Berman, a Cunningham Motorsport historian, is looking for a scale model of a Frazer Nash Targa Florio to add to the Briggs Cunningham museum. He wrote that he located a photo and details of the "Echoes No. E04" – 1:43 scale resin model. See this model here. If you know where this model can be purchased, please email Larry directly.(March) In February, John P. Crowson wrote that he is selling his LMRr:
Mille Miglia 421/100/168, restored in New Zealand, is also "on offer". Email here for more info. News - 2019 Geoff Dowdle (Australia) sent updates on the Le Mans Replica "replicas" in September and our webpage for these cars was updated. Riverside Records was major record label with "all that jazz" in the early '50s. Its artists included Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, Art Blakey, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins and Cannonball Adderley. Additionally, founder Bill Grauer and many of his staff became sports car enthusiasts, soon venturing to Sebring and other race tracks to record the sounds of race and sports cars. This resulted in 40 LP albums which captured the sounds of now-historic cars and their drivers, such as Phil Hill, Stirling Moss and Juan Manual Fangio. The Riverside sales manager, Robert Richer plasced his Le Mans Replica on the cover of a Randy Weston LP - Robert was sent a photo of a signed album by Miles Morris, who received it from Neil. All new to me! There is a great article on Riverside Records by John Heitmann in the Society of Automotive Historians Journal, issue 298, May-June 2019. Chain-Gang! Although this website focuses on the postwar Frazer Nash cars, there is a prewar chain-drive Frazer Nash which is located not far from this website's author - see Jay Leno's Frazer Nash TT Replica on You Tube - after a long and careful restoration. Early in 2019 we renewed our memberships in the Frazer Nash Car Club and the Bristol Owners Club in January. We visited our Mille Miglia in Nelson, New Zealand during the last two weeks of February. Here is a report with many photos and videos of our visit from February 10 to 24. News - 2018 Archie Frazer Nash's birthday was celebrated on June 30 and July 20. Archie is reported to have two birthdays, both listed in his recent biography. Page 18 states July 20, 1889. Page 213 states June 30, 1889. Fortunately both agree on Hyderabad, India. The correct date will be reported when it's known! We recognized Errol Flynn's birthday on June 20 by visiting his grave at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California and left a "fighter pilot's" tribute. Mr. Flynn owned a Targa Florio which disappeared during a lawsuit in Italy. News - 2017 Long overdue is a report with photos of the November visit to our Mille Miglia in Nelson NZ. Pending this report, two videos can be downloaded - from Nelson to the Classic Car museum/Cartel and from the museum/Cartel to points north! Archie Frazer Nash's birthday was celebrated on June 30 at a nearby car collection, where the restoration of a 1934 Frazer Nash TT Replica has been completed. Watch for photos and a video!
We again recognized Errol Flynn's birthday on June 20 by visiting his grave at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California and left a "fighter pilot's" tribute. Although Errol was not an actual fighter pilot, his role In "Dawn Patrol" is classic. The June 2017 issue of "Classic and Sports Car" has an excellent article by Simon Taylor describing the history of the postwar Frazer Nash, with profiles of seven different models:
The same issue has a classified ad for Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica 421/100/112, by Brian Classic & Co. Their website, www.brianclassiccars.com, also has Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica 421/200/210 for sale. S/N 421/100/112 has an interesting history. It was sold to Ital Clarco, the Milan-based Italian distributor and shown at the 1950 Turin Motor Show. Then it was re-bodied for its first owner with a coupe body by Rocco Motto. It became a Le Mans Replica again in 1979 when it had a new owner in England. In February, we received a photo of a painting done in Madrid, Spain showing a Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica at the 1953 Goodwood 9 Hour race entered by Melvin and Kenneth. It is titled "Iron Butterfly" and measures 42 x 30 cm:
The painting is offered for sale; for more information, visit their website PaintWork Guillermo Coll. News - 2016 Late to the party? I recently discovered a very good YouTube documentary on Frazer Nash, released earlier this year. Highly recommended! Search YouTube for "Frazer Nash" on YouTube for other videos. We again recognized these two birthdays in June related to Frazer Nash. June 20 is Errol Flynn's birthday; we visited his grave at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California and left a "fighter pilot's" tribute. Although Errol was not an actual fighter pilot, his role In "Dawn Patrol" is classic. Archie Frazer Nash's birthday was celebrated at a nearby car collection, where the restoration of a Frazer Nash TT Replica is very close to completion. Our Mille Miglia 421/100/168 joined the Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring in Dunedin (South Island, New Zealand ) in January 2016, driving from Nelson. Rainy, very cool weather and few mechanical issues disrupted plans for participation in the many scheduled events, but we logged 1,100 miles between January 13 - 27. Dunedin remains a favorite city to visit. Here is a link to a report with photos and video! News - 2015 News came through in July of several Frazer Nash cars for sale. all in England. Two are authentic Le Mans Replicas. One is a Le Mans Replica "replica" (see Index, below for a webpage on these cars). And one is a chain-drive car, the Bill Bradley Special. We saw this car on the Club's "Raid to New England" in 2013 - it's nice car, assembled over many years. There are two birthdays in June related to Frazer Nash. June 20 is Errol Flynn's birthday. He was the owner of Targa Florio 421/200/169. He is buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in nearby Glendale, California. The photo below of his headstone, with two photos of Mr. Flynn's car, was taken on his birthday. These photos are on the Post-War Models webpage under "Targa Florio".
More Postwar Frazer Nash photos are in both the June and July issues of Vintage Roadcar/Vintage Racecar! The April issue of Vintage Roadcar/Vintage Racecar has a road test of the only left-hand drive Frazer Nash Le Mans Coupe. Nice photos also! A report on a February-March tour in New Zealand, including a drive to the Southward Car Museum open house with a Frazer Nash Mille Miglia is here. This report includes links to videos of the Frazer Nash, a drive in a 1923 Mercer Raceabout and walk-throughs of two museums. News - 2014 Considerable improvements were made to the Frazer Nash Digital Library in May. At the same time, a "virtual exhibit" of Frazer Nash cars and documents was created with a trial version of the PastPerfect collections management software. Note the virtual exhibit webpage also links to the digital library with a tab on the upper right. And to this site! Mille Miglia 421/100/168 toured a small part of New Zealand's South Island but did not succeed in joining a small Frazer Nash "and other cars" tour on the North Island. An uncertain ferry schedule was part of the cause. The car is pictured at New Zealand's oldest pub, the Moutere Inn, on February 27.
News - 2013 The Frazer Nash Car Club Raid to New England, starting September 25 for two weeks, was much fun and a great adventure! We did not join with the Mille Miglia, which remains in New Zealand. However, it will be ready for the "informal" New Zealand Raid starting February 10, 2014. Photos of the Raid are here. In August, Louise Bunting (Captain of the Frazer Nash Car Club) and her husband, Richard Parsons, arrived in California with Richard's 1930 Frazer Nash Interceptor to participate in several events in the Monterey area from August 9 - 18. This is a rare prewar model, and the exact car tested by "Motor Sport" magazine in 1931. After Richard raced at Laguna Seca, they set off across the U.S. to bring the car to the New England area for the Club's "Raid" starting September 25. Reports of this amazing journey are here! Explore this page for the separate reports. The digital Frazer Nash archive was enhanced with new indexing and metadata techniques in July, to better align with archive "best practices". There is no change in appearance but old and new material will be better related to the prewar and postwar cars for improved searching and browsing. These improvements are explained on a CarLibrary.org webpage. We are saddened to hear late in January that George Waltman, a very successful amateur racer, Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica owner and WWII B-29 pilot, passed away on January 8. We corresponded with Mr. Waltman over the years and he had a great appreciation of the Frazer Nash postwar cars. See this webpage for a photo of Mr. Waltman with his much-cherished car, a photo of the car during the 1953 Sebring race and others taken at the June Hershey concours. Also this website has a tribute and more stories about Mr. Waltman. Our condolences to his family and friends. Mr. Waltman's Frazer Nash was auctioned at Bonham's Monterey event at Quail Lodge in August. Results were good! More sad news followed at the end of March, when we learned that John Kerridge, the avid owner and racer of his pre-war Abbott Frazer Nash passed away in Del Mar, California. We frequently saw John and Carol at the vintage races. Again, our condolences to Carol and all John's friends. In May we received notice that a Le Mans Replica "replica" is for sale at In Racing, New Basford, Nottingham, England. This is a car built by Crosthwaite & Gardiner with registration number MNU 894. News - 2012 In mid July we received a report on upcoming competition events from the FN Car Club Competition Secretary, David Leigh. The great, long-needed biography, "Archie Frazer-Nash, Engineer" arrived on May 18. Bill Pollack interviewed a Frazer Nash owner to make this video review in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2. The Frazer Nash Club (UK) was initially looking for U.S. distributors but later assumed the transactions for all sales. It is available from the Club directly or through Amazon-UK. More progress on the Digital Car Library Project and the Frazer Nash collection. A list of all the Frazer Nash cars (prewar and postwar) was assembled in Excel and successfully imported to use as the metadata in the Greenstone digital library software. A sample/trial collection was sent to the Frazer Nash Archives. This is a general description of the project and the progress through August 2012. For specific information on the Frazer Nash collection, go here. The Digital Car Library has been online 7x24 since May, 2012 but access may be limited to business hours, US Pacific time. A "recee" of New England for the planned 2013 U.S. Raid was made during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of May. News - 2011 Full Membership Great
news in December, as announced by James Trigwell, the Post-war
Registrar
after
the December 10 Frazer Nash Car Club meeting:
"I am pleased to
inform you that last Saturday, at the club's AGM, the membership
(i.e., the chain-drive owners) voted overwhelmingly in favour of
admitting post-war owners into the club as Full Members with full voting
rights. The only point where chain-drive and post-war owners now differ
is that The Captain of the club must be the owner of a chain-drive Nash.
After so many years of being associate members (similar to any member
with any car other than a chain-drive Nash or GN) this is quite a
breakthrough. I believe the only dissenting voice was one proxy vote. ....Currently,
out of 75 remaining post-war cars, 50 are owned by club members."
With this new membership status, there's little
reason for the remaining 25 owners not to join up! Raid
to New England Also
announced, though percolating for a while, is a Raid and a tour.
The Raid, to New England in the fall of 2013, is being planned by John
Sheard and Alastair Pugh. As of December 16, 25 Club members have
signed up to participate in some manner. This should be the largest
group of Frazer Nash cars, especially the chain-drive ones, ever seen in
the United States. Contact me or check this site, or that of the
Frazer Nash Car Club, for more news. Return
to New Zealand Also being planned, though not an
official Club event, is a mid-February 2014 tour in New Zealand, starting
in Auckland and promised to "seek out more by-ways and lesser-known
destinations". The planners are now John St. Julian, Bob and
Andrea Mellors, Bill and Melanie Fone and John Snook. I've signed
up! The Frazer Nash Digital Library Project What
to do with hundreds of photos, documents, Internet references, etc. about
the postwar Frazer Nash? And the many still in paper or other
physical format (for example. a Frazer Nash and/or spare parts)? A
database is one computer-oriented approach, but with many caveats.
Doesn't a Frazer Nash "digital library" sound like a great idea?
Especially using open-source (free) software from New Zealand, a country
that has done so much for my Frazer Nash? The digital library has
been started and it works! Also a database that can tie all the
cars, all the owners and all the events together. Here's
the progress in 2011 and Frazer Nash will be the exclusive focus for
2012. But our plans already exceed our talents and we would like
volunteer help both with the Greenstone and Access software (technical)
and digital-age library skills, which implies knowledge of terms
such as "Dublin-Core" and "controlled vocabulary". Two Le Mans Replica replicas For Sale
In October, another Le Mans Replica
"replica" was listed as for sale by John Peter Crowson. He is the
owner of "WOK 7" registration number FNA 436, having owned
the car for two years. He writes: "I intend to sell the car
having retired from racing (Chevron B40 F2 and Abarth PA1). The Nash
was never raced, just used as a fun car." Email me for more
details or Mr. Crowson's contact data. We
had a note in June from the owner of a Le Mans Replica
"replica" that the car is being offered for sale. It is a
stunning car, as you can see on
these photos. Inquire directly to the seller list on that web
page. In May,
Coys auction house sold the ex-Briggs Cunningham Targa Florio for a
"very resonable" price. The
Bristol Car company was acquired by Kamkorp Autokraft, part of the Frazer-Nash
group, on April 20, 2011. As noted above, this company does not
have any relation to AFN, Ltd, which manufactured and sold Frazer Nash
cars from 1929 to 1957. In
April, there were three postwar Frazer Nash cars on offer - two Targa
Florio models and one Le Mans Coupe. This is a link to a Le
Mans Coupe in California and this is link to a Targa
Florio MkII for sale in Germany. A Targa Florio being offered in
London has been sold. In
February. I drove Frazer Nash Mille Miglia
421/100/168 from Invercargill, New Zealand to Auckland to join the
Bristol Owners Register at the Intermarque Concours on Sunday, February 13
at the Ellerslie Racecourse. On February 12, it was (mostly) on the "fun run" #5 to
Matua Valley with many other classic cars. For an early and partial
report on this adventure, just click here!
The Frazer Nash Car Club has
organized a "Raid" to Sicily in early May for the 60th
anniversary of the outright win by a Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica of the
Targa Florio. More than forty prewar and postwar cars will drive
through France and Italy before taking the ferry to Sicily. Great
fun! The FN club has also
started a project to digitize (or digitise) the archive files, starting
with volunteers reviewing and organizing the material before professional
scanning. An excellent project and we hope to report progress in the
future.
News - 2010 The postwar Frazer Nash
again appears in the October 2010 issue of "New
Zealand Classic Car" magazine, but perhaps not so glamorous!
The last page has a cartoon by artist Steve Richards, in which the
"brute American muscle cars" are kicking sand in the face of a
Mille Miglia and its driver! It seems to have used my car for the
caricature. Great
fun! Also in September. we
heard of two cars coming up for sale, a very historic Le Mans Replica now
in England and a well-known Le Mans Replica "replica" (WOK2) now
in Belgium. Contact me for further information. Scheduled
for July was the "1000 Miles in 24 Hours", Saturday and Sunday,
July 10-11, with great participation by GN and Frazer Nash cars! See
the "News" page of the Frazer
Nash Car Club web site for
details. Although
there are regular Frazer Nash email exchanges and research on nearly a
daily basis, my highlight of May was meeting Frazer Nash owner Robert
Yung twice while vacationing in Honolulu. Mr. Yung was the original
owner of Mille Miglia 421/100/124, which was built to his specifications
in 1951. After several years of extensive east coast racing and use,
he sold the car and (probably) instantly regretted the sale. This
was remedied in 2001 when he found the Mille Miglia at an auction in
England and bought it back. Mr. Yung has great stories of his east
coast and European automotive adventures, so check again in a few weeks
for a few stories and rare photos.
Michael Elsom sent a status report on the "Ring project" in May,
see it here. And
a few
interesting bits of news items from January and February... First,
Michael Elsom is looking gauge interest for the "Eifel Raid 2010",
as announced on the Frazer Nash Car Club website
news:
"... the plot is to spend
approximately a week in the area - including the weekend at the Ring.
Plans include taking a tour of the circuit at Spa - the original version
not the modern one and viewing the area generally which would needless
to say take in a vineyard or two on the Mosel. Travel to and from the
region is easy - a day's drive from a Channel or North Sea port. The
arrangement whereby everyone found their own way to Reims seemed to work
well and I would think that should be the aim here as well. ...The
international Vintage Nürburgring will take place on either October 2-3
or 9-10. You will be heartily welcome with your troop. We have added
your address to our distribution list and will keep you up to date. As
soon as entry details and timetable are in place we will send you these.
News can be found also on the internet under www.vintage-nuerburgring.de"
Contact Michael Elsom by e-mail
at michael.elsom "at" btopenworld.com Next,
we heard from Matteo Bosisio, director of the Historical department of
Ruote Borrani in Milan, "I’m approaching you
because we are evaluating the manufacturing of special wheels for the
BMW 328. Recently, we received several requests from Frazer-Nash and BMW
owners, that are experiencing some difficulties in finding replacement
wheels for those vehicles. In the past, we used to
manufacture wire wheels for BMW 328 as aftermarket options to the
original steel disc wheels, but always keeping the original studs-drive
and not our traditional spline-drive. The reason why I’m
contacting you is to understand if there is a real need for this item,
and I’m not talking about wire wheels (that we still are offering to
the market), but for a bi-metal wheel. To be more clear about it, we
are studying a replacement wheel with a little improvement,
consisting in adding a light alloy in the place of the traditional steel
one. So, the project will consist
of re-manufacture the original centre-disc in steel with the addition of
our traditional “Record Rim” in alloy 6082 - this will improve the
quality of the wheel by less rotating mass and adding a more elegant
look given by the Hi-polished alloy. We just achieved a success
with the re-edition of our historical bi-metal wheel for the Lancia
Aurelia, this project was coordinate with the Lancia clubs world wide.
We would like to repeat this wonderful experience with the BMW clubs to
see if working together with enthusiasm, we will be able to offer a
service that could help to keep safely on the road those beautiful
vehicles. Looking for your kind answer." Contact Mr.
Bosisio directly by email.
News - 2009
Frazer Nash on Magazine
Cover! "New
Zealand Classic Car" magazine has 1952 Mille Miglia 421/100/168 on
the cover of the September 2009 issue. This issue can be ordered
through the magazine website. "New
Zealand Classic Car" has extremely high production values -
high-gloss, heavy stock and equally high-quality photographs. The
story is very good and accurately describes this car and its
history. Many thanks to writer Mark Wright, photographer Sean Craig
and editor Allan Walton. "New
Zealand Classic Car" also is offering "wallpaper" of this
Frazer Nash, a
high-resolution photographic collage - highly recommended for a download!
New Frazer Nash Book!
Announcement in mid-August from
James Trigwell:
...for the last few
years I have been working on a book on the post-war Frazer Nashes. It is
now completed and will be published in November. Apart from covering the
development of the cars and their racing history, half the book is
dedicated to the Register of Cars, where each of the 86 chassis produced
from 1948 to 1957 has a 2-page spread giving the individual history and 2
or 3 photos. The publishers, Palawan Press,
are well known for their high quality, limited edition productions on
Aston Martins and other cars. Unfortunately the price reflects the high
quality and limited quantity and all their books are similarly
‘exclusive’. The price is £300 for the clothbound edition, £700 for
the leather-bound number. A saving of £50 can be made if the book is
ordered and paid for before October 15, 2009.
A
description from the publisher's website is here. If you are interested in buying a copy, please contact Palawan Press
via www.palawan.co.uk Another book includes the Frazer Nash British Sports Cars, by Rainer W. Schlegemilch and
Hartmut Lehbrink includes a 4-page segment on the post-war Frazer Nash,
with Mille Miglia YMC 81 as the example. Excellent photographs and a
good short summary of this marque. The book is a great summary of
British cars and a good value in the high-quality paperback edition, 440
pages. (ISBN978-0-8416-0276-2) Arnolt-Bristol Racing Tips Bill Watkins, who owned and raced four different
Arnolt-Bristols, assembled a collection of recommendations, primarily for
the Bristol engine. Either click directly on "Preparing
and Racing Arnolt Bristols" or look for this in the index under
"Frazer
Nash Technical Data - items with tuning and technical
specifications." These tips are applicable to any car with a
Bristol engine (all the post-war Frazer Nash cars except one!) Thanks,
Bill!
Archibald Frazer Nash - his
120th Birthday If my
sources are reliable, Archibald Frazer Nash was born in India on June 30,
1889. A toast to the man who made all these wonderful cars possible,
if not in deed, certainly in spirit!
Errol Flynn's 100th Birthday
June 20, 1909 was the date when
former Frazer Nash owner Errol Flynn was born in Hobart, Tasmania.
Here's a great tribute from Wayne Chambliss at coilhouse.net
"We all know the tales of
Errol Flynn’s excesses (the man had his own chapter in "Hollywood
Babylon", after all). We all know how he wound up: flabby, dissolute,
and dead of a heart attack at fifty. But for his hundredth birthday,
let’s choose to remember him at his acme: swinging from ship to ship
with a sabre in his fist, England on his lips, and a sparkle in his eye.
There has never been a worthier object of matinee idolatry."
His
car, a Targa Florio, is missing and we miss his heroic style!
Bolzano Raid
As reported by the Frazer Nash
Car Club on their website:
"On 17th June, eighty-five
Nashes and one GN will be on their way to Bolzano, in the centre of the
Dolomites. The first great Raid took place in 1969, organised by David
Thirlby in commemoration of Frazer Nash achievements before the war in the
Alpine Trials, and was such a success that it has been repeated every ten
years ever since. Oldest participant will be Dorothy Geoghegan, tackling
the Stelvio and other great passes at the age of 93; youngest will be
Patrick Teague, aged five. Many passes will be stormed, much rubber will
be burned, and a good deal of wine will be drunk. Regular reports on the
Raid will be on the Frazer Nash website."
Frazer Nash Namir?
Always great to see Frazer
Nash in the news - especially on the April 20, 2009 cover of Autoweek!
It is the "Frazer Nash" Namir, an electric hybrid claiming
incredible performance, styled by Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro.
But the link between the current Frazer-Nash and the car made by AFN Ltd
(both pre and post-war) is not clear, though the sidebar to that article
helps a bit.
It states the Frazer Nash
"brand" came about because Frazer Nash Research Limited is owned by
KamKorp
(not spelled "Kamcorp" and
probably not "Group").
The Frazer Nash Research
Limited website states the company was "Founded in the 1920s by
Archie Frazer-Nash, a renowned engineer and innovator..."
It would be surprising if
either company started by Archie Frazer Nash after he sold AFN, Ltd. to
the Aldingtons retained the right to make cars under the Frazer Nash
brand. Here's a photo from Luc
Blokhuis, taken
at the Auto RAI 2009 in Amsterdam.
News - 2008
In November we received some
very nice photos of the "ex Dickie Stoop" Sebring and the unique
Austin-engined Targa Florio from owner Jonathan
Procter. These photos were added to "The
Postwar Frazer Nash Models" site page as great
examples. Thanks Jonathan!
We also updated ownership of Le
Mans Replica replica WOK 8 to Rob van Wegen.
James Trigwell, postwar registrar of the Frazer Nash Car Club, reported that he's organized 20 - 25 postwar FN cars to be on display at the
Silverstone Classic, July 25-27. This was mark the
60th anniversary of the 1948, first appearance of the postwar Frazer Nash car at
Geneva and the London Motor Show. An early report from James:
" ...we had 27 post-war 'Nashes and 3
chain-drive cars on display at the Silverstone Classic meeting,
celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Bristol-engined 'Nash. The
(formerly) Robert Richer Le Mans Replica was there of course and it was the debut of my
(formerly Frank Twait’s) Mille
Miglia. Frank Allocca from New Jersey
was there with his Targa Florio. It was a very good gathering."
Photos from James and Andrew Hall from both 2008 and 2009 are on this
album.
Although
it is news not normally within the "charter" of this website, in
July we heard from Dan Rose that he is selling his GN, the famous "Akela". Probably not best suited to US interstates, but
just the car for club events on single-track roads in Scotland or New
Zealand.
Also in July we learned of a
"barn-find" 1936 Frazer Nash-BMW 319/55 for sale in the Seattle
area. Send an email if you are interested. Andrew
Blow has a Le Mans Replica "replica", one of the Werner Oswald
cars, for sale at his business in Marlborough (UK) - a very
attractive car for an entry to the "Frazer Nash experience".
See other photos on the "replicas"
page and one for this car. The
Frazer Nash Car Club published "Chain Gang Gazette" issue #144
in April - always a great selection of stories, history and technical
advice. There
was an early February bulletin from the Frazer Nash Car Club postwar
registrar:
"This year is the 60th anniversary of
the Post-War Frazer Nashes, as built by the Aldingtons and designed by
Fritz Fiedler. The first public showing was at the Geneva Show in March
1948 and then at Earls Court in October 1948. It would be fun to
celebrate this milestone and an obvious opportunity to do this would be
at the Silverstone Classic weekend of July 25-27th where the
BMW 328s had such an impressive gathering two years ago for their 70th
anniversary. If you have not been to Classic Silverstone before, it is a
huge race meeting, mainly for Classic cars of the 50s and 60s, but also
for pre-war cars and 80s Group C cars. Motion-Works has been contacted (organisers of the club
sites for Silverstone) to reserve parking for 15-25 cars. Tickets booked
before March 31 are £5-10 less expensive than after that date and £15
cheaper than on-the-day prices. Also, if booked in advance,
"buy-one-ticket-get-one-free" tickets are available for those
bringing a friend or family member." Contact me or
the Frazer Nash Club if this is of interest to you! Click
for a Silverstone 2008 advertisement.
News - 2007
In mid-September, we learned that
the first post-war Frazer Nash, a High Speed (forerunner of the Le Mans
Replica) is for sale at Hall &
Hall. We also received photos from Robert van Wegen, racing his Le
Mans Replica "replica" at Speed on the Tweed in Australia.
The Frazer Nash Club's
publication, the "Chain Gang
Gazette", issue No. 142 arrived in mid-August. In addition to a great centerfold
photo of Archie Frazer-Nash in "Akela" (a GN) for the Centenary
of Brooklands, the "Post War Patter" column reported that 75 of
the 84 post-war cars are accounted for. 46 are owned by members of
the FNCC, so if you are one of the 29 holdouts, please join up! The
June issue of "Thoroughbred and Classic Cars" (UK) had a great
article on Mille Miglia S/N 421/100/166 in which author Glen Waddington
states: "The Frazer Nash is fantastic fun
to drive from the word go". I agree strongly and highly
recommend this article! In
February and March, we received great information on Frazer Nash cars and
owners from Tom Householder, James Harrington (a former Isleworth
resident) and William HP Meredith, a former AFN employee. Look for
their stories in April on the website pages about the AFN
"factory" and the Frazer Nash owners and drivers.
Mille Miglia 421/100/163 has been restored to its original glossy black
glory by owner James Trigwell and is expected to be fully licensed during
March. Here is an early
photo on a scenic lane.
Mr. Trigwell also sent me a short product of his
research on Mille Miglia 421/100/168 from Autosport, July 11, 1952 edition
("...no doubt written as a press release by Bill Aldington..."):
“J. Stuart Donaldson, owner of the Sebring 12 Hours
Race-winning “Replica” Frazer-Nash, has ordered a Mille Miglia model
as well. Car left these shores on 8th July on the Queen Mary.” New
Zealand's "Classic Car" magazine gave a fifth place award
to this same car in their "2006 Classic Car of
the Year" feature. See all ten cars on pages 28-29 of the
January 2007 issue. Total points awarded were 487.4, which was .4
points shy of fourth place. The
car below is this Frazer Nash Mille Miglia, at Arthur's Pass, New Zealand, February
20, 2005. Our trip with the "Frazer Nash Raid to New Zealand" included 1200 miles of driving on the South Island. Many thanks to
Barry Leitch, Leitch
Motorsports and Restoration, and the the Raid organizers. Here is the story, with
photos, and many more Raid
photos are posted here. Although there is no competition history for
this car, it is well-traveled, from England on the Queen Mary to New York,
later to Florida, then Hawaii. Much later to California, then
Arizona and finally back through California to New Zealand! We believe
it's been further south than any Frazer Nash when it went to Slope
Point in November 2005, the southernmost point of New Zealand South
Island.
For older news of Frazer Nash
cars and a history of this website, visit the "Frazer
Nash News" page.
The data on the ninety Frazer Nash
postwar projects show that all have a known location or
disposition except the following three cars:
Today! (The authors and
owners of all material on this web site retain all their rights to their
material.) The Frazer Nash - USA Table of Contents This page was last updated on August 26, 2024 History: This Frazer Nash site started in 1997 as a PacBell "home page" and segments of this Frazer Nash site were originally split between different subdirectories and ISPs. Unification to the "FrazerNash-USA.com" URL was completed in March, 2001 and the website is now hosted by 1&1. |
The faithful WebCounter man says that you are visitor number:
