1926 Frazer Nash Super Sports
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION
The ‘chain gang’ Frazer Nash models have earned a cult following over the years and have long been a mainstay of Vintage Sports-Car Club events. This particular Super Sports was built with VSCC trials in mind, the owner wanting something that would not only be competitive on the hills, but which would also be ideally suited to fast-road use – as well as to the famous Frazer Nash Raids.
The basis for the project was a rolling chassis that featured original Frazer Nash components such as the front axle, springs and bevel box. The car was then built up by JR Vintage Services using other original parts that had been sourced, plus new spares from the Frazer Nash Car Club.
Considering the sort of use that the owner had in mind, a 3.3-litre Ford Model A engine was specified thanks to its simple, robust nature and plentiful reserves of torque. An engine was duly sourced and rebuilt by renowned specialist Belcher Engineering, complete with a pressure-lubricated crankshaft. It was also decided to fit a twin-port, overhead-valve Riley cylinder head to improve the engine’s breathing.
A Super Sports body was then fabricated in aluminium, along with an ash frame, and finished in satin green. The simple interior features Smiths gauges and leather bucket seats, while the windscreen and tonneau cover provide a little protection from the weather. A discreet heater has also been fitted.While it would, as intended, make an ideal trials machine, this Frazer Nash Super Sports is being offered for sale complete with VSCC buff form, which makes it eligible for a wide variety of different events. With its short wheelbase, lightweight nature and powerful engine, it’s an exciting road car that drives exactly how a good Nash should.
MODEL HISTORY
The Frazer Nash marque built a name for itself during the 1920s and 1930s thanks to a series of distinctive, exhilarating sports cars that performed well in competition.
Captain Archie Frazer-Nash formed his eponymous company after parting ways in 1923 with HR Godfrey, with whom he’d previously built GN cyclecars. GNs had used chain-drive transmission and ‘AFN’ carried over that system to his new Frazer Nash models, giving them their ‘chain gang’ nickname.
The cars were built in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, initially with a three-speed transmission. This was upgraded to four speeds in 1927, and the chain-drive was not only light, it could easily be swapped to give different ratios for different types of motorsport event.
Weight-saving was a theme throughout, and even the chassis frame was very light and free from complications, simply comprising two steel side members and three crossmembers. Quarter-elliptic springs were fitted all round, and while the very earliest cars featured a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder Plus-Power engine, this was soon replaced by a side-valve Anzani unit of the same capacity.
It’s thought that only about 115 Super Sports and Fast Tourers were built between 1924 and 1929, the year in which Archie Frazer-Nash sold the company to his sales director, HJ Aldington.
‘Aldy’ steered Frazer Nash through the 1930s, the cars benefitting from new engine options such as the overhead-valve Meadows, overhead-camshaft ‘Gough’, and a six-cylinder Blackburne. It also became BMW’s UK importer, starting a new chapter in marque history, but Frazer Nash remained best known for appealing to the uncompromising enthusiast driver.
When The Motor tested one of the earlier ‘chain gang’ models, it summed up its appeal by stating: ‘To say that the car handles delightfully is to give a poor idea of the sheer joy that one derives from driving it.’