1956 AC Aceca Bristol

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION

The AC Aceca is one of the finest sporting GT cars of its time, and the beautifully restored example being offered for sale here is one of only 169 that were built new with the powerful Bristol straight-six engine.

Chassis number BE576 left the factory on 22 September 1956 as the sixth Bristol-engined Aceca, and its early build date means that it’s eligible for the modern-day Mille Miglia. It was finished in blue with cream leather seats and blue piping, and was sent to the Eastern Auto Company in Singapore. There it was bought was a WS Cowie, who was from Kuala Lumpur and went on to drive his Aceca in a support race for the 1960 Johore CoronationCup. 

The AC was later acquired by Richard King, an American businessman who lived and worked in Singapore. The car’s history file even includes some of his old insurance certificates from the Automobile Association of Singapore. When Mr King returned to the USA in 1972, he took the Aceca with him to his home in Carmel, California, where he was a neighbour of Clint Eastwood. 

By that time, the car was in need of restoration, but having bought some engine parts from Bristol’s Chiswick-based service department in April 1973, the work unfortunately went little further and the unfinished Aceca remained in Mr King’s garage for the next 40 years. 

It was then acquired in 2015 by an English enthusiast via Gullwing Motors of New York. Having been shipped across to the UK, the AC was treated to a full restoration, which included having the Bristol 100D engine rebuilt to fast-road specification by Coltec Racing Engines in Suffolk. 

The restoration is fully documented within the car’s comprehensive history file, and the owner used the Aceca on the Mille Miglia before selling it in 2018. Since then, it has been fastidiously maintained and has benefited from the fitment of an aluminium radiator and an electric cooling fan. 

With its combination of fabulous styling and that crisp, powerful six-cylinder engine, this AC Aceca Bristol is a rare and extremely attractive car that is still superbly presented after its rebuild.

MODEL HISTORY  

During the early 1950s, AC needed a new model with which to replace the aging Two Litre. The bodies for the Two Litre tourers were made by Buckland in Hertfordshire, and based next door to Buckland was John Tojeiro, who produced a two-seater that was proving to be successful in competition.

One of Tojeiro’s cars was owned by Vin Davison, who’d had it bodied by Eric Gray in ashape that evokes Ferrari’s 166 MM Barchetta. When Davison showed it to the Hurlockfamily, who owned AC, they immediately saw its potential and set about turning it into their latest production car. 

The Ace was unveiled in late 1953, and was followed a year later by a coupé version called the Aceca. The chassis was largely unchanged from the Ace – which meant independent suspension front and rear – but one modification was the addition of flexible rubber mountings for the final drive in order to reduce noise levels inside the car. 

As with the Ace, the Aceca was initially offered with AC’s six-cylinder engine. Then, from 1956, the company fitted Bristol’s 1991cc straight-six. This BMW-based unit had achieved great competition success, and was offered as either the 105bhp 100B or the 125bhp 100D.Shortly before the end of Aceca production in 1963, AC switched to the 2.6-litre Ford Zephyr unit because Bristol had stopped making its ‘six’.

A four-speed gearbox was offered, with synchromesh on the top three ratios, and braking was initially via drums all round. There was later the option of specifying Girling disc brakes on the front. 

When it tested an Aceca Bristol in 1960, The Autocar neatly summed up the model’s versatile appeal, calling it ‘an excellent choice for the owner who sometimes needs to arrive unruffled at a formal occasion or to transport an elderly relation sedately to the shops, but who, much more often, wishes to enjoy sports car performance and character on open roads.’