 Wednesday 13 May is a date to put in your diary because Brightwells are holding their next auction in Herefordshire with buyer's premium at just 10% plus VAT, excellent on-site café, free wi-fi and they are happy to look after your car for weeks after the sale (terms apply). With such a buyer-friendly introduction let us have a look at what’s on offer. How often do you find a Frazer Nash come up for sale outside the ‘Chain Gang’ Club? Lot 100 is a 1937 TT Rep which left the works with a Meadows engine and has an interesting continuous history, including winning the VSCC Lakeland Trial and successfully taking part in the 1972 Mille Miglia Storica. Recent work includes a new radiator, hood, stainless exhaust, re-sleeved block and pistons, crank re-ground with new bearings and a new twin carburettor ‘deflector’ head with both carbs rebuilt. It now goes ‘extremely well.’ The Nash will be expensive but do not despair, there are cars for every pocket. Perhaps now is the time to put your DIY skills to the test and embark on a major rebuild? Estimated at £6-8,000 is a 1928 Delage DM rolling chassis which could fulfill your dreams of owning a grand sporting tourer ( with a few thousand hours in the workshop) or perhaps you prefer a Renault ME rolling chassis, (whose front wheel brakes suggest a date of 1928 ) and bring to life that striking Renault poster we all know and love. If you want a rare sporting tourer ready for the road, then how about the 1929 HE 16/60 Short Chassis Sports Tourer, believed to be the sole remaining short example and good for 80 mph with its 2.3 litre straight six cylinder engine (now bored out to 2.5 ), triple carbs and close ratio gearbox. The vendor has enjoyed using this car for 25 years and since it looks almost as good ‘hood up’ as it does ‘hood down’, he invested in a new double duck hood to continue to enjoy his year-round motoring, along with new tyres on the balanced and re-spoked wheels. Another rare car is the 1938 Triumph 14/65 Dolomite Roadster which was found in a London garden beneath a tarpaulin. After completely stripped down to its component parts, a thorough rebuild occupied the next 6 years and the cream bodywork with green upholstery help this distinctive Art Deco gem cause a great deal of interest wherever it goes. There are two Rolls Royce cars offered – a beautiful, elegant 1928 Phantom 1 Tourer in perfect condition, or a 1928 20hp Park Ward Weymann Landaulette which still has its original full four-seat Landaulette ‘owner driver’ body built by Park Ward ( under the Weymann licence) using lightweight fabric skin in place of the usual heavy metal bodywork. Because the car was so well-preserved, the vendor went to great lengths to retain as much originality as possible, restoring and reviving original materials and components wherever he could, and keeping a log charting the 3,000 hours that he has so far invested in the project. “Remove 9,000 tacks that attach the fabric covering to the wood framework, replace sections of wood that are damaged. Install new fabric covering using the existing tack holes, install 9,000 tacks”, runs a typical entry. (Text Robin Batchelor, pictures courtesy Brightwells) |
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Resting racers and rusty rollers
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