Description
The great Le Mans winning sports racing cars of the 1950s, marques like Ferrari, Aston Martin and Jaguar, marked an era of sports cars that were exceptional on both road and track. One other such marque was Frazer Nash with their Le Mans Replica. With a Bristol six cylinder engine, simple chassis and light body, they have always been considered one of the most versatile road & race cars of their era. Named in honour of Norman Culpan’s success at Le Mans, the model notched up nearly 50 wins and over 40 seconds in a racing career spanning nine years. However, with only 85 examples built between 1948 and 1957 (a number only slightly higher than the production figures of the D-Type Jaguar) today they are a rare car.
In the 1970s, specialist Crosthwaite & Gardiner built around five recreations of the famous Frazer Nash Le Mans Rep, having secured original factory components and drawings from AFN. Today, the engineering excellence of Crosthwaite & Gardiner is globally renowned, notably having restored and recreated numerous Auto-Unions, so it is no great surprise that these Rep Reps were built to an exacting standard. Constructed alongside an original car to ensure their accuracy, they were of course powered by the marvellous Bristol six cylinder.
This is one of Crosthwaite & Gardiner’s replicas built sometime in the 1970s.
The story starts in Australia, when 400/ 1/ 566 was sold by Melbourne dealer John Olde to Ian Macnee, who had a museum collection in Castlemaine, Victoria. It was known by the local Frazer Nash Club from that point, and remained with Macnee until 2002.
Bought by Richard Procter in the UK, he brokered it to a client in the US, where it remained for 15 years. There are US titles showing it on its original registration, KYR 482. Whilst owned by Nick Grewel, he used it in VSCA races and hill climbs, including the Mount Equinox Hill Climb in 2013 and 2014.
Grewel sold it to the current owner in December 2016, when it was registered back in the UK. The period correct registration XMG 617 was fitted at that time. The current owner is a long-term member of the VSCC, and is actively engaged with the club. It has a 2021 issued VSCC Eligibility Document. Initially, in 2017, Oliver Penny Engineering recommissioned the Le Mans Rep. It was then completely repainted in British Racing Green. In 2019, Spencer Lane-Jones stripped and rebuilt the cylinder head, with IN Racing supplying the components. A new radiator was fitted in 2019. All in all, over the past seven years, almost £30, 000 has been spent bringing the car up to the current condition it is in today.
A really nicely presented, great fun example of the Crosthwaite & Gardiner Le Mans Rep.
