COhen GN & AC

COGNAC Frazer Nash Special

Aqueous Friday

Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic

GALPOT Weekly #04/13

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #04/13 a review of the last seven posts at "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres". The week started with a look at the 40" tall Elva GT160 with bodywork designed by Trevor Fiore, that came along to late to impact on Elva's fortunes from a new coperate strategy. This MG KN University Motors Speed Model Magnette was the subject of Tuesdays blog, if it looks familiar that is because I originally incorrectly identified the car as an MG Type NA. A visit to the Sinsational Autosport International held at the NEC in Birmingham recently was the subject of Wednesdays blog, above the Sin 01 was one of several new cars to make it's public debut. Featuring 23 detail improvements over the previous model this 1950 Nash Airflyte Ambassador was the subject of Thursday's blog. Ferrari Friday featured an example of the very first road going Ferrari model a Ferrari 166 Inter Coupé with Superleggera bodywork by Touring of Milan built in 1949. Yesterday's I looked at some of the improvement introduced to the Lotus Excel models introduced between 1982 and 1987. Panels gaps were not a big concern in the late 1950's but a top speed of 120 mph made this Daimler Majestic Major a sports saloon and it had new fangled disc brakes to match it's potential for speed. Thanks for joining me on this GALPOT Weekly #04/13 edition of "Gettin' a li'l psycho on tyres" I hope you have enjoyed catching up using the links and that you will join me daily during the week ahead. Don't forget to come back now !

Meridian Date - Bristol Concours d'Elegance

Yesterday I travelled 2 degrees, 35 mins 45.25 seconds East to the Meridian line at Greenwich in London with Florian, my guest from France, to see the Bristol Concour's d'Elegance, where a fine selection of Bristol Cars and a single Fraser Nash BMW, representing over 60 years of automotive history was accumulating in the grounds of the Old Naval College.



Oldest car at the show was this 1939 Frazer Nash BMW 321, Frazer Nash were in partnership with the Bristol Aircraft Company when the latter diversified into the automotive market after WW2.



Several Bristol 400's, the manufacturers first model, were present all in immaculate condition, this 1971cc, 120 cui six cylinder being maintained by Bristol Owners Club (BOC) member Derek Hughes.



Among many Bristol models I saw for the first time was the 402 of which only 23 examples were built, this one belonging to Richard Weale.



I know the father of one GALPOT regular used to race an Arnolt Bristol so it was a particular thrill to see and above all hear this car being started up by Kenneth Andrén who brought this car over from Sweden.



There were several Bristol 406's, which featured roof mounted indicator lights, present this one belonging to Edward Anderson.



Chrysler supplied the motor's for all Bristol models starting with the 407 in 1961, this is the 6277 cc / 383 cui big block Chysler B series V8 fitted to the 411 Series 2 belonging to Jamie Davenport.



In 1976 the 603 model was introduced a car that owed no heritage at all to the Bristol 407 that had been continually upgraded from 1961 and formed the basis of a succession of new models. This is the cockpit of the 603E belonging to Fergus Taylor-Gregg.



Newest of the Bristol's present was the 2009 Blenhiem (603 Series 4) of Richard Levine.



91 year old Bristol Works Director, until the factory closed earlier this year, the sprightly Syd Lovesy was amongst those who handed out the prizes at the end of the day. Syd is seen here with Richard Vaughan and the unique 1963 Bristol Viotti 407 styling exercise that once belonged to comic actor Peter Sellers.



Concours d'Elegance award winning cars included the 400 of Ashley James, the 403 of John Manley, the 405 of Cyril Milward, the 411 Series 2 of Jamie Davenport, a 412, the Arnolt of Kenneth Andrén, and the last one I can positively identify in the line the Fraser Nash BMW 321.



Car of the day for me was definitely the Arnolt, hats off to Kenneth bring this car over from Sweden, thanks to everyone at the Bristol Owners Club who made this a day for Florian and I to remember.

Thanks for joining me on this Meridian edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you'll join me again tomorrow to see how the Aluminium Buick 215 V8 came to impact the British motor industry. Don't forget to come back now !

Off The M4 - Atwell Wilson Motor Museum

For several years now every month I have been making a trip up to London to go and see my folks, on the way back no matter what time of day I frequently find myself in a traffic jam some where around J18 on the M4 which could add anything up to an hour on my normal 2 hour journey time.



About 18 months ago forewarned, by a big new electric message board on the M4, of an impending jam between Junction 18 and 20 I took a detour and followed the A338 from Junction 14 down to Upper Eddington and then followed the A4 west to Bristol.



Going through Calne I passed a sign for a Motor Museum, 18 months later with a little time on my hands I managed to follow the sign about a mile down Stockley Lane and on the left I found the Atwell Wilson Motor Museum.



Entrance is an unbelievably low £5 and within were over 100 2, 3, 4 wheeled vehicles, and one soon to depart 6 wheel World War 2 AEC RAF Refuelling Tanker.



The collection can broadly be divided into vintage and classic mass production vehicles with a particularly interesting collection of Limousines both British and American which are available at very reasonable rates for wedding hire.



The Atwell Wilson Museum was founded by Richard and Hasel Atwell, who lived in Wiltshire all of their lives, in 1962 they started collecting vehicles with a local connection and maintaining them in a road worthy condition. Richard passed away last year, the Museum that has grown out of the collection is run by 15 volunteers.



On the weekend of July 9th and 10th the museum will be hosting a classic car weekend, if you have a classic car, or even if you don't but would like to attend call 01249 813119 or e-mail enquiries@atwellwilson.org.uk for details. I shall look forward to attending on one of the two days.

Thanks for popping by today's Atwell - Wilson edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a closer look at the Atwell - Wilsons 1962 Plymouth Fury. Don't for get to come back now !

Mission Accomplished - Bristol Cars Ltd

Bristol 411

On Saturday I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Geoff Hawkins, Chairman of the Bristol Owners Club, informing members that the future of Bristol Cars Limited which was in administration has been secured by Kamkorp Autokraft which also owns Frazer Nash Research Ltd.



Italdesign Frazer Nash Namir (Photo Italdesign)

It should be noted that Frazer Nash Research which made the 2009 prototype Italdesign Frazer Nash Namir is



Frazer Nash Colemore

not directly related to the company that made pre WW2 Frazer Nash chain drive vehicles,



Frazer Nash BMW

Frazer Nash BMW's and



Left F Thwaits Fraser Nash 100/163 (Picture Ed Arnaudin)

post WW2 Frazer Nash Bristols from 1927 to 1957.

That company, AFN Ltd, was sold by Archie Frazer Nash to the Adlington brothers when it ran into financial difficulties.

Under the Adlington's stewardship in 1946 AFN were briefly partners with Bristol Aeroplane Company in Bristol Cars, however BAC bought Adlington out of Bristol Cars when it became clear the two companies had differing visions of the future.

After AFN Ltd ceased manufacturing in 1957 it became a successful Porsche dealer which along with the Frazer Nash trademark was sold in turn to Porsche.

In 1929 after Archie Frazer Nash had divested himself of his interests in AFN Ltd and motor vehicle manufacturing he set up Nash & Thompson which specialised in manufacturing hydraulic gun turrets for aircraft, this led to the development of a variety of 2 and 4 gun turrets used on WW2 Beaufort, Blenheim, Halifax, Lancaster, Manchester, Sterling, Sunderland and Wellington bombers.

Nash & Thompson which in 1996 was acquired by ML Aviation and later defence contractor Cobham spun off Frazer Nash Research Ltd which specialises in Electric and and Hybrid Power Trains, automotive multiplexing, advanced composites and mass transit systems.

It is this engineering branch of Archie Fraser Nash's post vehicle manufacturing business that is now connected for the first time with Bristol Cars Ltd.

Kamkorp Autokraft a private limited company with offices registered in Mytchet, Surrey, is majority owned by chairman Mr Kamal Siddiqi, who like Archie Frazer Nash appears to have been born in India, and who has / had interests in Cicco Holding AG, Lithium Technology Corp, Electrosource Inc and Think Nordic, prior to acquiring Frazer Nash Research and Bristol Cars Ltd.

Spokesman for the Kamkorp Autokraft group and Director of Operations at Frazer Nash Research Mr 'William' Tet Hin Chia issued the following prepared statement :-

"Bristol Cars is a British institution and an important part of our national motoring heritage. Over the next few months we will start to reveal the details of our plans to combine Bristol Cars' tradition and iconic marque with Frazer-Nash's pioneering technology to showcase our cutting-edge electric and range-extended powertrains.

British engineers are globally recognised for their inventions and the quality of their innovation - and these attributes are inherent in all our systems and products. Mindful of Bristol Cars' rich heritage and our responsibility as custodians of the brand, we are certain that our technology will blend seamlessly and successfully with the Bristol Cars tradition of engineering integrity.

Owners and enthusiasts of the cars should be assured that, even though these are early days in our tenure of the brand, we are committed to providing them and their cars with the highest levels of quality, technology and service".

Geoff Hawkins e-mail suggests that Samuelson Wylie Associates, who represented TVR from 1993 to 2003, will be handling the PR and Marketing of Bristol Cars Ltd.

It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store for my local automotive manufacturer, with the prospect of all fossil fuelled vehicles being phased out of Europe by 2050, Bristol Cars may be well placed to become a leading edge manufacturer in the decades to come.

I hope you will all join me in wishing Bristol Cars every success.

My thanks to Geoff Hawkins of the Bristol Owners Club, James Trigwell a trustee of the Frazer Nash Archives, and bristol 7527 also known as Claude for the detailed information in this blog.

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres and that you'll join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Was one of these Fraser Nash BMW's an antecedent of the AC Cobra ?

At the August VSCC Prescott meeting one of the things that stood out was that the car park was almost as interesting as the Paddock.



For example pictured here in the car park is what I believe to be a Fraser Nash (UK BMW importer and assemblers amongst many other things for those not in the know) BMW 315/1.



Amazingly the car above is also a Fraser Nash BMW 315/1, dating from 1935 according to the VSCC programme, but the bodywork stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the traditional VSCC fare in the paddock at Prescott.

My first thought was that it might be a Tojerio body or AC Ace body, or at least a copy of either of those two vehicles dating back to 1952 and 1953 respectively, I also wondered how this car could possibly qualify to run in a VSCC event which generally caters for pre WW2 vehicles.

Thanks to Tim Murray at the TNF Forum I found out what the story behind the aluminium (English pronunciation please) bodied BMW 315/1 special, though there are many question marks around this vehicle, not least who actually commissioned it in the first place ?

It turns out this vehicle was originally supplied with body work by Abbots of Farnham and then after the War turned up, sans body, in the hands of a chemist who took it to Williams & Pritchard of London, a small sub contracting bodywork shop before WW2, a Spitfire fuselage workshop during WW2 which returned to doing repairs and bodywork after WW2.

The owner of the chassis took with him a pile of motoring magazines and sat down with Williams & Pritchard and pointed out all the features he wanted incorporated into the new bodywork for his old BMW.

When did this happen you may well ask ? 1965 ? 1960 ? 1955 ? after the Tojerio and AC Ace had been around ? 1950 ? none of the above amazingly the aluminium body work dates back to 1948 four years before the Tojerio which famously morphed into the AC Ace !

The Fraser Nash BMW 315/1 is allowed to compete in VSCC events because the body sits on a prewar chassis.

More information on Williams & Pritchard and the story of this car can be found here.

Hope you enjoyed today's blog and will join me again tomorrow.