Frazer Nash Fast Tourer / Super Sports History

When Archie Frazer-Nash established his car company in 1922 and began selling cars in 1924, the first production models were designated Fast Tourers or Super Sports — the names used almost interchangeably, the chief distinction being that the Super Sports received a slightly more highly tuned 1.5-litre four-cylinder Anzani or Meadows engine and came without running boards from 1928 onward.

The cars used the unique multi-chain transmission that became the Frazer Nash trademark: individual chains drove each rear wheel through separate dog-clutch sprockets, giving instant, clutch-free gear changes by simply engaging a different sprocket — crude by conventional standards but brutally effective on a car weighing well under 900 lb. Around 149–165 examples were built before the model was superseded.

When H.J. Aldington acquired control of AFN Limited in 1929 he retained the chain-drive layout that would distinguish the marque until the eve of the Second World War, continuing to develop the formula through increasingly competition-focused variants.