1933 FRAZER NASH TT REPLICA

CAMPAIGNED IN PERIOD AT BROOKLANDS BY FLIGHT LIEUTENANT J.D. GREAVES

With pre-war competition history at both race meetings and trials, the delightful Frazer Nash TT Replica, chassis no. 2080 offered for sale here, epitomises the ethos of the famous “Chain Gang” and the Frazer Nash Car Club in general. It’s first owner, a Flight Lieutenant J.D. Greaves raced both this Frazer Nash and an Aston Martin at Brooklands before the outbreak of the Second World War. Tragically, like so many, Greaves is thought to have lost his life during the hostilities. No doubt he would be delighted to know that his wonderful ‘TT Rep’ survives and continues to be enjoyed in competition by members of the Frazer Nash Car Club to this day.

Introduced in March 1932, the Frazer Nash TT Replica, as the name suggest, replicated the cars entered for the 1931 Tourist Trophy Race. Only around 85 of the TT Replicas were made and as with all chain-drive Frazer Nashes there were various engine/body options available, but the most popular was undoubtedly the four-cylinder Meadows engine with two-seater coachwork by either Compton, Elkington or in-house at Frazer Nash. The high-revving four-cylinder engine was set back from the front axle and allowing for sharp turn in and handling matched by a blistering performance due to the low weight. The bodies (both similar in style except for the omission of a passenger door in the Compton bodies) have to go down as one of the prettiest designs of the 1930s. With the whole body sloping back from the radiator and a curved tail the overall package is a car with an incredible stance that looks fast standing still. The real beauty, of course, is that the looks are matched by the performance. With the superb power to weight ratio and aforementioned sharp handling, the overall package was a huge success. In the hands of the quasi-works drivers, such as Fane and Adlington, together with their loyal troop of successful privateer racers, the TT Replicas proved almost unbeatable in their class in both racing and most famously on numerous Alpine Trials.

With The Frazer Nash Car Club going from strength to strength and the cars going quicker and quicker, the “TT Reps” continue to prove themselves to this day. The overall package of a sublimely good-looking car with performance to match is unbeatable.

According to both From Chain Drive to Turbocharger by Denis Jenkinson and The Frazer Nash 1923 – 1957 by David Thirlby and Tony Bancroft, this short-chassis model TT Replica, chassis no. 2080, was completed by the Falcon Works in May 1933 and supplied with a body by Elkington finished in black and Meadows engine no. 10298. The first owner is noted as a Flight Lieutenant J.D. Greaves. Records show that Flt Lt. Greaves competed at Brooklands aboard a Frazer Nash on the 22nd July 1933 at the L.C.C. Team Relay Race in a team together with M.A. McEvoy on one of his specials and H.J. Hooper on a Morgan. It is thought that this car, registered AMF 446, lapped Brooklands at a rapid 91.38mph but it is not clear if Greaves was piloting the car at the time. Greaves certainly went on to compete alongside Henry Laird at the 1934 Brooklands 500-Mile Race with a 1½-Litre Aston Martin. As well as his racing exploits Greaves evidently employed the TT Replica for trials and a wonderful period image of him competing in ‘AMF 446’ at the Sunbac Colmore Trial near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire in 1934 is also included in the history file with the car. As an aside, Flight Lieutenant also raced a 1½-Litre Aston Martin at Brooklands as part of an RAF team fielded by one Squadron Leader W.A. Bowen-Buscarlet who was stationed here at R.A.F. Bicester, now Bicester Heritage.

Contained within the history file offered with ‘AMF 446’ is a charming account (presumably copied from a Chain Gang Gazette) of the purchase of chassis number 2080, by one J.R. “Bob” Fletcher from AFN’s Hugh Cundy, just after the end of The War. Bob Fletcher was well-known to the FNCC and his account tells of how he wrote to AFN with a view to purchasing a motorcar and that they wrote back offering two TT Replicas, one a Blackburne-engined car and the other a Meadows-engined car (AMF 446) “that had belonged to a Flight-Lieut, who had been shot down and killed and whose widow had asked the works to sell it for her.” To this end it is possible that Greaves had retained ownership up until that point, but it could equally have been sold to another gentleman of the same rank by then as some accounts have it that Greaves sold ‘AMF 446’ in August 1934.

The post-war ownership history is well accounted for and there are some wonderful early post-war images of Fletcher and his chums with the TT Rep and other pre-war motorcars purchased post-war. Fletcher retained ownership and restored ‘AMF’ before passing it on to his friend Peter Kelly in 1952. From Kelly, the car passed to T. W. H. Brown in c.1957. Brown retained ownership for some considerable time and had the car restored again by Ian Lock during the mid-1990s. In 1997 ‘AMF 446’ was offered for sale by Brooks auctioneers where it featured on the front cover of their Auction Catalogue (copy included in the file.) Roy Brittain purchased the TT Rep at this point and continued to research the car’s fascinating history.

The current owner acquired ‘AMF 446’ around three years ago and has had the car expertly maintained since then by Blakeney Motorsport in Hertfordshire, a company, that it is fair to say, knows a thing or two about Frazer Nash motorcars! A fabulous short-chassis- Meadows TT Replica with period competition history, the new owner of ‘AMF 446’ is sure to receive a warm welcome from the FNCC and be encouraged to utilise the exciting performance on the plethora of fantastic events organised by The Club, including the famous Raids. It is also, of course, eligible for a plethora of events run by other organisations including the Flying Scotsman, Alpine Trial and Goodwood Race Meetings and is offered with recent FIVA documents. The current owner has certainly enjoyed European motoring in the TT Rep, taking the car to watch the historic racing at Angoulême in 2018. Offered for sale only to make way for another chain-driven car, ‘AMF 446’ is available to be viewed at our showroom, together with the extensive history file.

Genre

Historic Race Cars