Frazer Nash was founded in 1922 by Captain Archibald Frazer-Nash, who in partnership with H R Godfrey had been producing the GN cyclecar. Designed by Godfrey and Frazer-Nash, the GN was Britain’s first and best-known cyclecar. The two young engineers set up shop initially in Hendon, North London, whence the first GN emerged in December 1910. By the outbreak of the Great War, GN had sold approximately 200 cars.
After the war, GN was bought by the British Gregoire Company and production moved to larger premises in Wandsworth, South West London, in 1919. In 1922 both Frazer-Nash and Godfrey left the firm, the former to set up under his own name while the latter went on to co-found HRG. Between 1924 and 1954, when production effectively ceased, approximately 450 Frazer Nash cars were produced, of which 350 were pre-war “Chain Gang” models.
This Interceptor is a fabulous benchmark example which emerges from nearly four decades of ownership and adhering in every way to the way in which it would have been delivered. Viewed now even after many years of inactivity, the ’Nash is a remarkably good and honest example.
It retains an overhead-valve Meadows engine, which corresponds with its original chassis plate as the number with which it was born (although records suggest that it may later have been powered by unit 10251). Its bodywork does not have a coachbuilder plaque but is known to be original to the car and corresponds with the way it was originally delivered, and so is likely its Wylder-built 3/4-seater format, which retains original wood wherever evident. Its original undertrays are also present, as well as full weather protection with side screens, top and tonneau covers. Most probably the subject of an older restoration, the fabric and interior have a pleasingly authentic and aged look to them.
Believed to have been on the road last in the early 2000s, the car nevertheless responded well to a check-over and has been made to run. A more-thorough check-over would be recommended before being submitted to the aggressive sporting use to which it lends itself.
Unquestionably a rare car to find on this side of the Atlantic, a “Chain Gang” Frazer Nash is a truly legendary automobile built by one of the schools of engineering that boisterously carved its own path in the day and has always been appreciated by a succession of equally individually minded enthusiast collectors. Anyone who has ever experienced driving one of these machines knows that they’re onto something that is incredibly charismatic, esoteric, but above all, fast and fun.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1931 Frazer Nash Interceptor |
| Years Produced: | 1925–37 (all Chain Gangs) |
| Number Produced: | 345 |
| Tune Up Cost: | $150 |
| Chassis Number Location: | Plate on bulkhead |
| Engine Number Location: | Varies with fitment |
| Club Info: | Frazer Nash Car Club |
| Website: | http://www.frazernash.co.uk |
| Alternatives: | 1924–30 Bugatti Type 37, 1927–33 Alfa Romeo 6C-1500/1750, 1934–35 Riley MPH |
This car, Lot 26, sold for $224,000, including buyer’s premium, at Bonhams Cars’ Newport, RI, sale on September 29, 2023.
Ah, Frazer Nash. Chain Gang. Wriggly monkey. What’s it all about?
Well, first off, Archie Frazer-Nash’s surname carries a hyphen, but the cars don’t. I think that sets the tone nicely to lead us into the mystique of these unique automobiles.
As the catalog alludes, these are sports cars of a distinct makeup and character, which engender a fierce loyalty among owners, who are “a different breed,” as we sometimes say in that kindly way to describe a slightly odd uncle. In the U.K. at least, these cars are well supported by a network of specialists and an active Frazer Nash owners’ club. Its members tend to be “highly individual,” refer to their tours to foreign parts as “raids” and view getting their hands oily at the roadside as part and parcel of normal motoring.
The original drift machine
The defining feature of these cars is their unusual transmission, driving through a row (hence “gang”) of chains, one for each ratio. This precludes the use of a differential, so every corner taken in a Nash is some form of controlled drift. It has been said that “Frazer Nashes never go ’round corners, they merely change direction.”
With the solid rear axle, the chains all revolve all the time, with drive to each selected by sliding dogs. The “wriggly monkey” is an ingenious pivoting mechanical lock-out preventing the selection of more than one ratio at once, though who actually invented it is lost to the mists of time, just another layer in the legend.
The chains don’t break often, but they are whirling around inches from your fundamentals, and they’re very messy. However, they are an efficient means of energy transfer, and for this reason, Frazer Nashes have formed the basis of many of the most famous English hillclimb specials. The other advantage of the transmission layout, apart from lightning-quick gearshifts, is that the ratios can easily and independently be changed by swapping sprocket sizes.
Each car would have been finished to individual specifications, but generally they were offered new with the 1,496-cc Anzani side-valve or Meadows OHV fours (as this one), the 1,500-cc overhead-cam Gough, or the 1,660-cc (sometimes 1,499) Blackburne six — though many different engines have been fitted by enthusiasts since. Coachwork was always minimal, and naming reflected events that the cars had won, including 83 with the most-popular TT Replica style of bodywork, offered between 1932 and 1939. Colmore, Exeter, Boulogne, Nurburg and Ulster model names also nodded to glories past.
The Interceptor model, as here, bucked that trend, but still sounds jolly potent and racy. This was the lowest-priced model, shorn of some frills, though this one was supplied with twin Amal carbs and four forward speeds instead of the standard three. Only about a dozen were built, some as 2-seaters, some as 3- or very occasionally 4-seaters (such as our subject car), on the longer chassis. Standard length was 105 inches, with 108 for the “long” and also some 99-inch 2-seaters. Price when new was £350.
Coming to America
Many ’Nashes still carry their original bodies, or proudly distressed parts thereof, but our subject car is unusual in that its body is fabric, and from a little-known coachbuilder, Wylder of Kew, which was local to Frazer Nash. The car still features the Meadows engine as-delivered, though the catalog suggests it might have at one time had a different motor. Like many Frazer Nashes, it was first registered near the Works’ address in Isleworth, hence the MV prefix of its British registration number, which was allocated to Middlesex from 1931 to 1965.
With relatively few made, their histories are usually known. Our subject’s original owner was Miss Cynthia Sedgwick, who appears to have been an active sportswoman and serial ’Nash racer. She also owned a TT Replica in the early 1930s and was known as one of a handful of successful women at Brooklands and a variety of speed trials. She chose this car, presumably, as a road or touring car.
It stayed in the U.K. with various owners until 1983, when the vendor, on the hunt for a British sportster and intrigued by these legendary devices, found 2033 advertised with Vintage Bentley trading guru Stanley Mann (now sadly departed and sorely missed). After arrival in the U.S., it appears to have had little use. Perhaps as a result it remains in good order, and pretty much untouched, though it may have been freshened up before or after arrival from the U.K.
When opportunity knocks
It’s hard to value such a rare and unknown thing on American soil, but luckily, the collector-car market is global. The money paid here is about right for provenance, originality and condition. Even at home it’s hard to find a Chain Gang ’Nash for much under $200k and a real TT Replica is around $300k in Europe.
So, this was, as real-estate agents say, “a rare opportunity” in the U.S. What it might lose in the desirability stakes by being a “lesser” model than the TT Replica or Super Sports, it gains back in originality. Bonhams Cars Group Motoring Director Rupert Banner confirms it’s not leaving the U.S., so hopefully more folks will get to appreciate this spidery British oddity with its weird transmission. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Bonhams Cars.)
