The histories of Frazer Nash and BMW were deeply intertwined both before and for more than a decade after WW2. H.J. (“Aldy”) Aldington of AFN Ltd (AFN stood for Archie Frazer-Nash) was at the centre of this relationship. During much of this time it revolved around the 328 and its engine.
The Aldington brothers (Aldy, Don and Bill) had taken over control of AFN Ltd at the end of 1928, after continued financial problems at the company. Aldy Aldington (originally an apprentice at the predecessor company GN) becoming managing director, with Archie Frazer-Nash later being given a small shareholding [Tarring and Joseland, 2011].
HJ Aldington had raced Nashes very successfully in the International Alpine Trials in the early 1930s. He won a Glacier Cup in MV 3079 in 1932. The Frazer Nash team came second overall in 1933, with HJ Aldington finishing with a clear sheet (but no cup as this time he was a team member). [Pfundner, 2005]
HJ Aldington and Tim Ross winning the Glacier Cup in 1932. Copy of a painting by Martin Wright. Car and painting owned by the Cundey family.
However, the victory in the Alpine Trials of 1934 by three BMW 315/1s in the 1500 cc class over the Nashes, gave HJ Aldington cause to reflect. On the principle if you can’t beat them, join them, and, knowing that BMW was unrepresented in the UK, AFN moved quickly. Aldy’s brother Bill Aldington wrote to BMW on behalf of the directors of AFN Ltd in September 1934, to suggest local production of the BMW 315 for the UK market. Just two months later Aldy visited BMW in Munich, he was met by at the station by their English-speaking head of export sales, Fritz Troetsch. They struck up an enduring friendship. An exclusive UK sales agreement was signed on the 19th November. The right-hand drive cars in the UK were to be sold under the Frazer Nash – BMW brand. The deal was secured with a bank guarantee that was financed by an affluent customer, the soon to be famous motor racing driver A.F.P. Fane. He did this by paying for a 20% shareholding in AFN Ltd.
It seems H.J. Aldington had his sights on broadening AFN’s market beyond the Nash-driving sports enthusiasts with the first imports of BMWs. Notwithstanding, both AFN and BMW shared an interest in competing for its own sake, as well as in the commercial benefits that accrued from race publicity. On the launch of the 328 two years after the BMW – AFN agreement, H.J. Aldington became the driver of the third 328 prototype (chassis number 85003). It was made with right-hand drive, it was the first 328 badged Frazer Nash-BMW and was painted British Racing Green.
He drove it at the 328’s second race, in the 1,000-kilometre sports-car race at Montlhéry. His co-driver was A.F.P. Fane. The other two prototypes were driven by Ernst Henne and Fritz Roth, although for all three cars the race didn’t end well.
After intensive engineering work by Rudolph Schleicher and his team, the next race was the Munich Triangle Race on 9th August 1936 on BMW’s doorstep. 85001 was the sole 328 entered for the race and as H.J. Aldington was in Munich on business, he drove the car, characteristically wearing his jacket and tie. He won, with both the fastest lap and an average speed of 84.1 mph.
The next outing of the three prototype 328s was in the RAC Tourist Trophy in Northern Ireland on 5th September 1936. All three were entered as Frazer Nash-BMWs and were in British Racing Green livery. The prototypes were driven by H.J. Aldington, Prince Bira and A.F.P. Fane. Fane won the two-litre class, was third overall and Frazer Nash-BMW won the team trophy. An emphatic introduction to the British Isles.
In April 1937 S.H.C “Sammy” Davis, the celebrated racing driver and sports editor of The Autocar, took 85003 to Brooklands for a timed trial conducted by the RAC. He covered 102.226 miles in an hour. It was described in the press as a sensation: it was the first mass production sports-car to exceed 100 mph.
The same year BMW invited A.F.P. Fane to race 85002 in that year’s Eifel Trophy Race at the Nürburgring, again he won the 2 litre sports-car class. In UK events, H.J. Aldington, Fane, Prince Bira and John Flint became regular and successful competitors in BMW 328s. In the 1938 Mille Migilia, A.F.P. Fane and Bill James, an AFN mechanic won the 2 litre class.
The first shipment of production 328s came to the UK in June 1937. In total 46 right-hand drive 328s were imported, with the last shipment arriving in September 1939 just as the BBC was broadcasting the declaration of war. It was immediately impounded by customs [Simons, 1996]. The Aldington brothers HJ and Bill went into the Army and Navy [Jenkinson, 1985]. A.F.P. Fane famously discovered the Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord, before later losing his life due to low cloud cover over Cambridgeshire, when returning from another photographic mission in his Spitfire.
Shortly after the war ended, Aldy and Don Aldington were flown in an eventful trip to Germany in a Sterling flown by a Shorts test pilot. They re-established contact in an emotional reunion with their pre-war friends at BMW [Jenkinson, 1985]. They returned not with Aldy’s prototype 328 (chassis number 85003), but with the Mille Miglia 328 chassis number 85032 and blueprints for many of the pre-war cars. They were later joined in the UK for three years by Fritz Fiedler. The reforged working partnership, with the 328 engine and designs, became the foundation for the very attractive range of post-war cars produced by Bristol and AFN into the later 1950s – but that is another story.
References
Jenkinson, Denis (1984) From Chain Drive to Turbocharger, The AFN Story , Wellingborough, Partick Stephens Ltd
Simons, Rainer (1996) BMW 328 From roadster to legend, Munich, Bruckmann
Tarring, Trevor & Joseland, Mark (2011) Archie Frazer-Nash …Engineer, The Frazer Nash Archives
Thirlby, David (1965) The Chain Drive Frazer Nash, London, MacDonald & Co
