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by John Deveson, IAM Newbury Group
After fifty years of active motoring, almost all of the cars which I have owned or driven bring pleasurable memories flooding back, beginning with the 1938 Austin Ten in which my father taught me to drive (very much according to the ‘system’, though he didn’t call it that).
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But head and shoulders above all of them is the 1956 AC Ace-Bristol bought by an uncle in 1960 to replace his ageing MG TD. The AC was 4 years old (my uncle was its third owner) and I was 22. He drove it until his death in 1982 and I have owned it ever since. A word of explanation – AC stands for Auto-Carrier, a company which began manufacturing motorised delivery tricycles in 1903 and which celebrated its centenary in 2003. Ace is the model name (a 2-seater sports car) and Bristol refers to the engine option. Three different engines (all straight sixes) were fitted during the Ace’s 10-year production life – initially AC’s own engine, then the more powerful Bristol and finally a tuned version of the Ford Zephyr engine. |
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So what is so special about this car? First is its style – with an aluminium body similar to a Ferrari 166 Barchetta, it’s a very pretty car even today, 50 years after it first appeared at the 1953 Motor Show. Second is its rarity: only 465 Ace-Bristols were built and about 50% of these were exported, but 40 years after the last one left the factory more than 350 are known to be still in existence.
Third, and most important, is the driving experience. With 125 bhp under the bonnet and a weight of 16 cwt (810 kg), the Ace will reach 60 mph in just over eight seconds, with only one change of gear! When this is allied with all-round independent suspension, precision steering and hugely powerful brakes it is possible to make real progress and have a great deal of safe fun. But think of how this compared with the cars of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s – in those days it was really awesome. I have vivid memories of two trips with my uncle. On one occasion we were out on a Sunday morning when we came up behind a Sunbeam Alpine doing about 95 mph. My uncle dropped back a couple of hundred yards and then put his foot down. We were doing 115 mph when we passed it (quite legal in those days, and safe in the prevailing conditions) and the young driver’s face was a picture – he had obviously been showing off his fast new car to his girl-friend. The other was when he was going to Scotland for Easter and he gave me a lift to Glasgow where I was to spend a few days with my fiancée and her family. We covered the 400 miles in 7½ hours, including a 45-minute breakfast stop and an hour when mist limited our speed to no more than 45 mph. “That’s a nice little buggy” remarked my future mother-in-law when we arrived.
But what makes this AC really special is the little adventure it had in 1959. The owner then was Jane Waugh, a young married woman in her early 30s, who was a motor sports enthusiast. In June of 1959 she flew her precious Ace across the channel and drove it to Le Mans, where it took part in the world’s most famous and gruelling sports car race. The AC factory had entered Aces at Le Mans in the previous two years and Jane had been one of the volunteer pit crew. So when she heard that there wasn’t to be a works car in 1959, she loaned her Ace to Ken Rudd (a Worthing garage owner and well-known amateur racing driver) who prepared it for the race and hired two professional drivers (I believe that they were paid about £15 each). 53 cars started the race and Jane was hoping for a finish. The car was still running after 24 hours. It won its class at an average speed of over 95 mph and was seventh out of only 13 finishers.
The Ace’s history has led to some interesting encounters. One of its first outings after seven years of extensive restoration was to the International Sports Car show at the NEC, where it was exhibited on the AC Owners’ Club stand. Through a chance meeting with a visitor, I discovered Jane Waugh’s address. After an exchange of letters she invited us to visit and of course we took the Ace. After a fascinating hour looking at her memorabilia, I took her out for a drive and even persuaded this 72-year old lady to take the wheel (I had already learned that her current car was an MGB).
Soon afterwards I became involved with the Le Mans Classic Cavalcade. This is a group of some 25 cars which makes a 5-day tour to Le Mans every year. All the cars taking part (from Bentleys of Britain’s early wins there to cars of the ‘60s and early ‘70s) have either competed in previous races or are sisters of participating cars. The climax of the trip is driving to the circuit on the Saturday morning with a police escort followed by three laps of the 8.9 mile circuit just before lunch – our cars are the last on the circuit before the race starts. It is impossible to convey the thrill of driving at racing speeds on such a historic circuit in the company of such amazing cars.
My involvement in the Cavalcade led to another interesting meeting. In 1999 we started from The Royal Sun Alliance headquarters in Horsham. While we were waiting to depart my wife noticed someone looking closely at the Ace and, on speaking to him, discovered that it was John Turner, one of the two 1959 Le Mans drivers. John had come to see off a friend who was also taking part in the Cavalcade that year and was amazed to find the Ace there as well – for him it was clearly an emotional reunion. Naturally we invited him and his wife to visit later in the summer and he drove the car again and told me that the years just melted away, and that the car felt as taut and responsive as it had done in 1959.
So, of all the cars I have known there are many reasons why the Ace just has to be my favourite. Oh, and by the way, it has covered over 300,000 miles!