1937 Frazer Nash Single Seater

Lot details
Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: 2164
Mot Expiry: N/A

Justifiably topping our bill today at the Pavilion Gardens Octagon Theatre is an historic 1937 Frazer Nash `Monoposto', a single-seater owned and raced in period at Brooklands, Crystal Palace and the prewar Donington circuit by the Honourable Peter Aitken. Beautifully restored, as salegoers can see for themselves, to the original supercharged specification, this is one of the four `chain-gang' open-wheeled racers built or converted by AFN, only two of which are known to have survived.
These racers were based on the Shelsey model, which was a typical two-seater Frazer Nash, but with a revised chassis and a new engine. The major change to the chassis was the employment of a straight front axle on cantilevered, semi-elliptic leaf springs and lower radius rods with cable-operated 14ins diameter brakes.
The four-cylinder engine was designed by AFN's Albert Gough, who had joined the company in 1932. Having considerably increased the output of the Meadows engine by designing the deflector head and then strengthening the various components to withstand the strain, he was asked to design a new Frazer Nash engine. From the outset, the new 69 by 100mm, 1496cc four-cylinder power unit, usually referred nowadays as the Gough, was to be available in supercharged form so it was designed to be pretty strong.
Given the high boost pressures to be used, it was thought necessary to water-cool the upper main bearings by a system of steel pipes let into the casting. This was to prove troublesome over the years, however, and has been deleted on this and many other Gough road car engines as being unnecessary with modern bearing materials. In-line valves were operated via finger followers from an overhead camshaft driven by a secondary chain. The first stage was used to drive twin Centric superchargers mounted on the front cover and a side-shaft for the water pump and dynamo.
For the single-seaters, the chassis was given an additional tubular crossmember and the usual solid back axle used Duplex chains on all ratios. Inevitably, the engine was given a higher state of tune and each of the superchargers had its own SU carburetor. The then Chief Engineer, Tommy Doman, claimed 148bhp on 16psi. A postwar test bed figure on the works engine was 151bhp at 5250rpm on 23psi. Whatever its output, the new engine, with heavily finned superchargers and manifolds, certainly looked - indeed, still looks - the part.
This car, chassis number 2164, was the last of the quartet to be built. The Honourable Peter Aitken of Leatherhead had purchased a Shelsey road car, number 2146, in March 1935, but then decided to have one of the slim new single-seaters powered by his existing engine. Although heavily involved with Maserati racing cars, Aitken did find time to compete in his new Frazer Nash Monoposto, running it at the first two 1937 race meetings in the grounds of the Crystal Palace in south London, until the outbreak of war intervened and all motor sport ceased. The racer was advertised for sale in 1942...but there were no takers...and when Aitken died shortly after the war, the car was sold by his brother Max Aitken.
Next, via dealer and racing driver Charles Mortimer, ownership passed to Robert Kempe-Roberts who, in turn, moved it on fairly quickly to Mirlees Chassels, who campaigned it in Scotland with his friend Joe Hendry. Following an accident at Bo'ness in 1951 with Chassels at the wheel, however, the unrepaired car, together with a spare engine sourced from Bertie Bradnack who had broken up one of the other single-seaters, was acquired by John Grice in 1959.
Having started but not completed the rebuild, in 1961 Grice then sold the project to Arthur Gibson, who did a superb job and had the car running again by 1963. Gibson's most noteworthy result was to finish third overall, and first on handicap, in the Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or at the historic Rouen circuit when the ACF were celebrating the 50th French Grand Prix.
The car was owned by John Charles in the late 1970s, though following a shunt at Spa in 1981, the Nash was rebuilt by Ron Foottit and, the following year, went to its then co-owner John Seber in Canada. It passed into current Midlands ownership in 1988, since when it has been treated to a major rebuild. As a result of this renovation work, chassis, suspension, wheels and blue painted bodywork are all described by the vendor as being in good condition. We are told that the supercharged Gough four has been freshly rebuilt, while four-speed manual gearbox and transmission as well as magneto and other electrical equipment are reportedly in good order.
Potential buyers should also be aware that this car was issued 30 June 2003 with the current and all-important FIA Historic Vehicle Identity papers, which are included in the documents file and confirm eligibility for `Period D' of the `Single-Seater Racing Car' category.
The marque, which has captured the imagination of the discerning collector, was founded in 1922 by Captain Archibald Frazer-Nash, who had previously made GN cycle cars with Ron Godfrey. Indeed, in 1924, the chain-transmission system employed on the GN was adopted for early Frazer Nash `chain-gang' production, although this only accounted for just one handbuilt motor car per week leaving the Kingston-on-Thames facility. The first cars were constructed in an overcrowded workshop and then in a larger factory across the road, before the Aldington brothers - H J, WH and DA - took the firm over and moved production to their AFN premises at Isleworth where Frazer Nashes were produced until 1957, after which importing Porsches was to become more profitable.
H&H are once again indebted to Michael Bowler, the Editor of `The Automobile' and a leading authority on this marque, for his assistance and historical researches, which have been invaluable in the compilation of this catalogue description.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a list of spares available with this vehicle in the history file. Also we were informed by a previous owner this car had a relatively poor circuit race history until his ownership and he suffered many set-backs, while achieving a number of pole positions, but, eventually, he got it right - to the extent that the car won it's class in the 1980 FIA European Championship.