Hampton Court Concours, British and Other

Wilhelm Schmid’s 1956 AC Ace-Bristol chassis BEX 148 was shipped directly from the Thames Ditton factory to Venezuela for Dr Oscar Lupi and was one of the first group of five models sent to the country through the importer and racing driver Juan ‘Jack’ Fernandez. Lupi planned to race the Ace so entrusted it to Karl Pentz, a German garage owner based in Caracas, who modified it, together with two other examples, to improve their aerodynamics, each example differing slightly from the next with BEX 148 gaining a lower Ferrari-like nose with cowled headlights. Wearing the racing number 139, Lupi campaigned the Ace extensively over four seasons, finishing fourth in the under 2.0 litre class at the 1956 Estado Carabobo Trophy in Valencia and ninth at the La Montana hillclimb in 1957. In 1958 he finished seventh at the Trofeo Shell and second at the same event in 1959. In 1960 he retired BEX 148 from racing haveing purchased another AC Ace-Bristol.

From the ‘Golden Age Collection’, designed by Federico Formenti, this is the 1966 Aston Martin DBSC chassis 266/2/L the left hand drive example of the two DBSC prototypes created by Carrozzeria Touring and developed under the internal code MP226. Shown at the 1966 Paris Motor Show in September and at the London Motor Show at Earls Court a month later, 266/2/L was to be powered by the forthcoming V8 but as that was not available the car was instead fitted with the 3995cc twin cam straight six rated at 325 bhp. Following a further showing in 1967 at the New York International Automobile Show, 266 was sold to a private customer.

Entered by Bentley Motors, this 1962 Bentley S2 Drophead Coupe with coachwork by HJ Mulliner is one of only 15 examples built.

From a UK based private collection, 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, chassis DB4GT/0182/R is perhaps better known by its registration number 1 VEV which was constructed in 1961 for John Ogier’s Essex Racing Stable. Its first major outing was that year’s Le Mans where, wearing the race number 2, it was driven by Jack Fairman and Bernard Consten but a head gasket failure forced a retirement. However the rest of the season proved to be more fruitful with Roy Salvadori finishing third at the RAC Tourist Trophy Race at Goodwood behind the Ferrari 250 SWBs of Moss and Mike Parkes. Tony Maggs then took second at the Coppa Inter-Europa at Monza which was followed by a sixth place finish for 1 VEV at the Paris 1000 kilometres in the hands of Jim Clark and Innes Ireland.

Ralph Bunger’s 1923 Rolls Royce 20hp Barker Barrel-sided Tourer, chassis 66H9 was commissioned by the Nawab of Pahasu and specified with polished aluminium coachwork by Barkers & Co in the form of a barrel-sided open tourer. Following completion and factory testing in July, the car was shipped from Tilbury to Bombay arriving in September. The Rolls was to remain in India for several decades and its early custodians include Nawab Moin ud Doula, a minister in the Nizam’s administration and founder of the Hyderabad State Cricket Association, and Mir Alam Ali Khan, later Nawab Alum Jung, a judge of the Hyderabad High Court who is believed to have retained the Rolls for around 40 years.

Ross & Beth Myers’ 1927 Aston Martin LM1. Built under the direction of Augustas ‘Bert’ Bertelli, LM1 was the first competition car produced by the newly constituted Aston Martin Motors. The car’s first major race appearance was the 1928 Le Mans 24 Hours entered as number 25, and driven by Bertelli himself and George Eyston, it performed well in the opening stages of the race even earning an award for the fastest 1.5 litre car over the opening 20 laps. However, Bertelli was forced to retire shortly after having to take to the grass to avoid another car whilst overtaking on the Mulsanne Straight, breaking the rear axle. Later the car came into the ownership of motoring journalist Sammy Davis who turned the racer into a road car and is understood to have covered more than 100,000 miles in her.

Marc MK Fischer’s 1933 Aston Martin Le Mans, chassis H3/305/S in Blue Bird Blue was acquired via Page Motors of Epsom by Sir Malcolm Campbell and whilst he considered its performance to be modest, he did retain the car until 1935. In June 1935 the Aston Martin was purchased by AES Curtiss who used the car extensively in competition, often at Brooklands, covering around 30,000 miles in it in a very short period of time before selling the car to William Martin Archibald in 1937.

The ex-Malcolm Campbell Aston Martin.

Neil Pickstone’s 1935 Aston Martin MK2 Sports Saloon, The Sports Saloon body was designed by Enrico ‘Harry’ Bertelli and of the 22 examples constructed, it is understood that fewer than a dozen remain.

Gregor Fisken’s 1932 Frazer Nash TT Replica, The Frazer Nash Register lists this chassis (2057) as having the Meadows engine, short chassis, Compton Body and Deluxe equipment from new. Registered as MV2989 it was originally supplied to a Mr Parker who retained the car for 20 years.

Brendan Carne’s 1939 Daimler DB18 Drophead Coupe by Carlton. Daimler had planned to construct 23 DB18 Drophead chassis but only eight were completed before Daimler switched to war production. In 1940 the company’s factory was damaged during the blitz with five of the eight chassis believed to have been destroyed. This example, chassis 49531, is believed to be the sole survivor of the three remaining pre-war DB18 Drophead Coupes. Rather than being immediately sold after construction, 49531 was retained by Daimler until 1950 and used for special duties and also placed at the disposal of Sir Winston Churchill, first in 1944, and again in 1949. Churchill would use the Daimler for political campaigning and would travel seated on the rear deck so that he remained visible to crowds lining the route. Large loudspeakers were temporarily mounted on the bonnet allowing him to address the crowds.

Stephen Bauer’s 1967 AC 428 Frua Convertible chassis CFX 37, one of only two left hand drive examples built with a four speed manual gearbox and possibly the sole remaining example.

Mr M Holmes CBE’s 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT chassis DB4GT/0117R was delivered on the 17th July 1960 but, unusually, was supplied without a warranty by the factory as the first owner had ordered the car for racing rather than as a road car. Harry Epps was a Kent-based Ford dealer and experienced club racer who, despite only having one arm, campaigned Elvas and other lightweight sports cars alongside the DB4GT.

Christopher Wainwright’s 1963 Alvis TD21 Series III Graber Super Cabriolet chassis 26895 is one of only four Super Cabriolets produced by the Swiss coachbuilder. First displayed as the sole car on the Alvis stand at that year’s Geneva Motor show its companion Graber Coupe appeared on the Graber stand at the same show. The Super Cabriolet was more luxurious than Graber’s more sporting Specials and featured Marchal headlamps, restrained rear fins, a broad horizontal grill, chrome wire wheels and a fully concealed folding hood.

Rarely seen and very beautiful…

Inside, the Super Cabriolets ditched the wood facia of the Park Ward bodied cars, going instead for a painted dash and door cappings with this, the show car, also having a special steering wheel and a braille gear knob with little metal studs clustered in small groups to represent the different speeds the car was driving at.

Anthony Maclean’s 1961 Bentley S2 FHC by HJ Mulliner. Chassis BC54LBY is the 15th of just 26 examples constructed in left hand drive to design number 7514 and was supplied via Garage de l’Athenee of Geneva to Max Dubuis, who retained the Bentley for 40 plus years.

Jo Tolhurst’s 1961 Jaguar E Type Series 1 3.8 Roadster chassis 850015 was the 15th example built in right hand drive and formed part of the first 18 hand built ‘priority list’ cars. It was dispatched from the works in July 1961 and passed through the hands of Henleys of London and Coombs of Guildford to 23 year old Bruce McLaren.

E Type dash

David and Marion Martyr’s 1955 Aston Martin DB3S chassis DB3S/104. Registered as OXE474, it was one of three customer DB3Ss acquired by Australian drivers Tony Gaze and David McKay’s Kangaroo stable. Six days after completion OXE was entered in the Hyeres 12 Hours in France, drive by Les Cosh and Dick Cobden. The pair finished third, with the Kangaroo stable cars also placing second and fourth. OXE was later sold to Californian racer Rod Carveth who raced her frequently between 1956 and 1958 including at Pebble Beach, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock, and Watkins Glen.

Michael Speh’s 1952 Aston Martin DB3 chassis DB3/5 is one of three surviving Works team cars, and the most raced. Starting with the 1952 BRDC meeting at Silverstone, where Lance Macklin finished fourth overall and third in class. He then drove it in the Monaco Grand Prix sports-car race as car number 76 but retired with mechanical issues. At Le Mans he shared the car, numbered 25, with Peter Collins, but retired after 20 hours again with mechanical issues after having run as high as fourth overall. Reg Parnell then drove DB3/5 to fourth place in the Jersey Road Race. The car’s best finish during the 1952 season was to be first place in the Goodwood Nine Hours where Peter Collins shared the car with Pat Griffith. In 1953 Reg Parnell and George Abacassis finished second overall and first in class in the Sebring 12 Hours. Abacassis and Griffith then entered the Mille Miglia as car 612 but retired in the final stage just before Brescia.

Darryl Mark Flint’s 1952 Aston Martin DB2 Drophead Coupe by Graber chassis LML/50/97 is one of three DB2 rolling chassis sent to Carrosserie Graber for bespoke drophead coachwork and is possibly the only known surviving example. Completed for the Geneva Motor Show and then sold to Eugen Steinmann of Zurich.

Thierry Dehaeck’s Mercedes Benz 300SL Roadster was completed towards the end of 1957 then shipped to California to a dealership in San Diego where the car remained on display for about a year before being sold in 1959 to its first private owner, the Hanes family of Paseo De La Playa, California, remaining the Hanes family ownership for the next 45 years.

Simon Kidston’s 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing was ordered new by Lieutenant Commander Home Kidston, the younger brother of Bentley racer and Le Mans winner Glen Kidston. Simon started searching for his uncle’s Gullwing in 1988 and was finally able to purchase her at the end of 2018, an endeavor that took 30 years.

Paul van de Velde and Wilfried Reymaert’s 1957 AC Aceca Bristol left the Thames Ditton factory in December 1957 and was shipped to France and sold through Chardonnet, ACs French importer, before being first registered there in March 1958.

Albert Hitchcock’s 1971 Monteverdi 375L High Speed is one of nine, out of a total of 66 examples, built in right hand drive and is believed to now be the only roadworthy right hand drive example and the sole car delivered new to Australia. Completed in early 1971, the 375L was dispatched on the 15th February to Monteverdi’s UK concessionaire, Simpsons of Wembley, before being shipped to Dennis Gowing in Melbourne, the co founder of Kevin Dennis Motors. In March the car was displayed at the Pace Age International Motor Show at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Centre where it carried a price tag of AUS 32,000. In August 1972 Modern Motor ran a feature on the car and later the car passed to solicitor James Webster of Sydney.

David Stanley’s 1950 Jaguar XK120 Alloy chassis 670143 was delivered new to California and remained there for approximately 65 years during which time it only had two owners. It was imported into the UK in 2015 by its next owner who planned to restore it but the project was not begun.

Mr Stanley obtained the car in 2017 and after having the car inspected by marque specialest Peter Skilleter, it was discovered that the car retained a remarkable degree of originality with major components still present and many apparently never previously removed. During the subsequent rebuild the surviving original components and details were used to establish how the finished car would have been assembled back in 1950.

James Calladine’s 1949/60 Bristol 400 Zagato, known as ‘Eleanor,’ started life as a standard Bristol 400 Saloon, but following Anthony Crook and George White’s acquisition of Bristol Cars Ltd in 1960 it was one of three, possibly four, examples shipped to Zagato where it was rebodied in the style closely related to the later Bristol 406 Zagato. The new bodywork was both lighter by 250kg and shorter, which together with the instillation of a Bristol 2.2 litre motor improved the performance markedly.

400 Zagato