Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica History

The post-war Frazer Nash story began when H.J. Aldington negotiated the British rights to the pre-war BMW 328 design and persuaded BMW's chief engineer Fritz Fiedler to come to England. The result was a family of lightweight sports cars powered by the Bristol 2-litre inline-six — a direct development of the BMW 328 engine built under licence — mounted in a tubular A-frame chassis with front and rear suspension also derived from 1930s BMW practice.

In 1949 one of the new cars, driven by H.J. Aldington's brother, finished third overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The achievement was sufficiently remarkable for AFN to name the production model the Le Mans Replica. Producing around 120–150 bhp from the Bristol engine breathing through three downdraught Solex carburettors, the car exceeded 120 mph and could complete a standing-start quarter-mile in 16 seconds — extraordinary performance for a road-legal sports car of that era.

Approximately 34–50 Le Mans Replicas were built between 1949 and 1953 (sources vary slightly). The first 26 cars used an A-shaped tubular chassis with a Bristol rear axle; the final eight adopted a revised parallel-tube chassis developed for the 1952 single-seater competition cars, with an Austin rear axle on most and a de Dion unit on the last two. They were sold ready to race and competed successfully at Goodwood, Sebring, the Targa Florio, and club circuits across Britain.