Frazer Nash

The Frazer Nash has always been a bit of a 'holy cow' with British enthusiasts. Its origins were in the GN cycle-car, a fairly horrid contraption. The GN was the brainchild of a partnership between A Frazer Nash and HR Godfrey. They split and went their separate ways; Godfrey to create the HRG and Frazer Nash the series of 'chain gang' cars. Both marques only built a few hundred vehicles under the ownership of the founders. Frazer Nash, however, enjoyed more success in competition.

The marque was bought and effectively became a shop to convert BMW cars to right hand drive. Later models had a good race history, usually fitted with Bristol engines, and the tradition continued to call the latest road model after the racing wins. The name struggled on to 1960.

I have never been a great fan of these cars. For sure, the TT rep chain gang was a stunning looking vehicle, but I always thought that real quality and design was a tad lacking. I owned a Blackburn engined 'chain gang' which I found fell short in every aspect compared to the HRG. I personally hated the much vaunted chain drive and resented the additional maintenance it needed. Driving the car in the wet was interesting to say the least. As far as build quality was concerned, I would describe it as 'tacky' at best.

Some of the later sports cars I would agree were very good although I feel that they were also rather fragile.