SECTION: ESCAPE ROAD; Pg. 56

LENGTH: 1083 words

HEADLINE: Postwar Frazer-Nash/Bristol;
British sports cars with a German (BMW) heart

BYLINE: By Roger Barlow

BODY:
An automotive event of some interest, though not often commented upon: It is hard to realize that almost 60 years have passed since BMW took a quite conventional inline 1971 cc OHV six-cylinder engine, modified it with an alloy cylinder head having hemispherical combustion chambers with inclined valves (that were pushrod operated from a camshaft low in the iron block), and put it into a light and rigid tubular chassis to create the remarkable 328 sports car that was the dominant 2.0-liter competitor from 1936 to the start of WWII.

Eighty hp in a rather clean-lined two-seater weighing only 1680 lbs resulted in a machine with impressive acceleration and top speed of near 105 mph. In the hands of Autocar's Sammy Davis, it put 102 miles into the hour at Brooklands. In 1939 a team of 328s won the 2.0-liter class at Le Mans and placed 5th, 7th and 9th overall. With more aerodynamic coachwork, even lighter construction and more highly tuned 130 hp engines, a team of them took 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th in the 1940 war-shortened Mille Miglia. The English connection began in 1935 when the Aldington brothers took on BMW cars for their company, long noted for its decidedly unique Frazer-Nash sports car (with a chain-drive transmission) that was nearing the end of its days in production. The 328, carrying the name Frazer-Nash-BMW and converted to right-hand steering, was a success in England despite its high price of $ 3,500, almost the same as a Bugatti Type 57 and near twice that of the soon-to-be-introduced Jaguar SS100.

At least one of these "British Bimmers" soon crossed the Atlantic, having been purchased by the noted California architect Donald Parkinson Sr., who kindly gave me my first opportunity to sample this superb road and competition car in 1938.

Immediately after the end of WWII, H. J. Aldington made an effort to bring BMW engineers and tooling from Eisenach in East Germany to England to set up production but, for various reasons, failed. However, he must have obtained most of the drawings and blueprints needed to duplicate the 328 engine, as well as BMW suspension components, for he very quickly persuaded the giant Bristol Aeroplane Company to utilize these designs for its new car program and make the needed engines available to him for a new Frazer-Nash sports car.

By '46 this automotive heart transplant was successfully completed when Aldington announced his car seen to have the fluid lines of the 1940 Mille Miglia-winning BMWs, and Bristol unveiled its sleek four-passenger coupe/sedan which would be known as the Bristol Two Liter or 400. By 1950 it was the 401. The 403 and 404 came in 1953.

The German heart of both of these sporting British cars was little changed from the 328 engine of 1936. Still the basic 1971 cc inline six (bore/stroke 66x96 mm) with the inclined inlet valves operated by pushrods and rockers and the exhaust valves by an additional set of rockers and made for good breathing. The exceptionally well-balanced crankshaft still ran reliably and smoothly at 5000 rpm in only four main bearings.

The four-speed gearbox was unique in that, while only the three upper ratios had synchromesh, low gear had a special freewheel device that rendered it easier to engage than a synchromesh unit whether the car was stationary or in motion.

Power of the Bristol-built Frazer-Nash engine was first 100 hp, then 115, 132 and, ultimately, with 10-to-1 compression, 140 hp at 5750 rpm. The Bristol 400s began with 85 hp which, regrettably, was not increased to 105 until 1953; then 125 the next year.

Both the Frazer-Nash two-seaters and the Bristol sedan were outstanding road cars because of an excellent independent front suspension, taut rack-and-pinion steering and a conventional rear axle unusually well located by a clever combination of torque arms and radius rods. Rear springs were long, fore-and-aft torsion bars. Unsprung weight was substantially reduced and adhesion in choppy turns was appreciably better than any conventional Hotchkiss layout.

Now a 2.0-liter, even an effective one like the Type 328, was up against tough competition as it developed in the postwar years. Aston Martin had a 2.5-liter and Jaguar certainly put the Coventry cat amongst the automotive pigeons with the 160 hp twin-cam 3.5-liters for the XK and Mark VII.

Frazer-Nash performance was, nevertheless, impressive: not by sheer power but lighter weight. The aerodynamic "Mille Miglia" weighed only 1624 lbs. and the cycle-fendered "Le Mans" two-seater a mere 1484 . . . or more than 1000 lbs. less than an XK120; which should have given the Frazer-Nash an edge in acceleration (if not top speed) and a real advantage in braking, the XK's major weakness. The four-seater Bristol, too, at 2630 lbs., was commendably lighter than similar cars, most of which weighed near half-a-ton more.

I never got to drive a postwar Frazer-Nash though I greatly admired them. However, I did have considerable experience with the Bristol, both in standard factory form and an Italian-bodied convertible that Stewart Granger brought with him to Hollywood and I drove for a month (after he traded it for a left-hand-steering Jaguar). Bristols were exceptional cars for their time; superior to their competitors in chassis rigidity, steering, road-holding and build quality but handicapped by their high cost, even in England, and effectively priced right out of the U.S. market at twice their larger-engined Jaguar equivalents.

One wonders if things might have been different had Bristol only insisted upon building the 328 engine as a 3.0- or 3.5-liter unit with 140-175 hp. It would surely have cost little if any more to have made it a larger-displacement unit. Installed in cars only 350-450 pounds heavier and no larger than the 2.0-liter ones they did build, their superior performance, with greater flexibility, might have gone far to offset a high price in all markets. But many postwar British carmakers seemed horrified at the very idea of building cars with engines larger than 2.0 or 2.5 liters; even expensive models. They should have paid more attention to what Bill Lyons was doing.

In 1952 a Bristol exec came to the States with a small batch of 401s looking for a distributor. Unable to interest anyone on the West Coast, they were left with my company for disposal and we eventually sold them with, I fear, little profit to either of us. But we certainly enjoyed demonstrating them!