2.6 Ace replica for sale

[Gus Meyjes]

Rod Leach's car is going to Coys'
   
   http://www.coys.co.uk/auction.php?itemID=1337&auctionID=19

[rstainer]

'Chassis Number: RM28771100596....a period AC chassis number...'
   
   Maybe Coy's cataloger has inside information.

[Gus Meyjes]

The car is a replica by Nigel Winchester and Rod Leach. The chassis number was from a AC Buckland, I believe. Now, how that number can be used for a car built from scratch, I don't know. But that is what happened.

[nikbj68]

It was a 2-litre, and the chassis number was EL1558 if I recall correctly, so just how "RM28771100596" is a period AC chassis number, I`m not sure...and even if it was the 'EL' chassis number, the description only says 'period' chassis number, not 'correct period'(1951, I think)!

[rstainer]

Club registers, covering 1910 to 2001, have no record of this chassis number and it's not in any known AC or standard VIN format.
   KDF 616, a 1951 Gloucestershire registration, precedes Ruddspeed Aces by ten years.  I wonder what the V5C shows?

[SBB]

This car is not by Nigel Winchester or Rod Leach. About 15 years ago Bill Monk had three copies of the  Tojeiro chassis made by someone called  Brady with a view of making replica Aces which he advertised as something he could do. He also had a body buck with inter-changeable noses for the Ace or Ace2.6/Cobra  A few years earlier he had  made two nut and bolt copies of the Aston Martin DB3S. These three chassis were used to make; a 2.6 Ace for himself, an Ace-Bristol for the late Adrian Hall to race, and lastly in 1999/2000 an Aston Martin DB3S lookalike with fibreglass body, Aston Martin 3 litre engine, David Brown gearbox and a DB2/4 identity from a dead car. This went to someone I know. Prior to the last car being started, he had already sold the unfinished 2.6 copy, as he was short of funds so he told me, to a retired policeman, Richard Gargini, (who already owned a Hawk) in Surrey.  Approx 4 years ago he in turn advertised it in Classic and Sports Car,(with a photo), as an unpainted, untrimmed car with no identity. The asking price was about £25K as I recall. I don't know who bought it. The DVLA in the UK operate a points system for a modified car to retain its original identitification numbers. At least 8 must be scored. I think this is this is available via its website. It would appear the latest chassis number has been issued by the DVLA.

[Gus Meyjes]

http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/find/4100_results.asp?lCarID=1814808
   
   
   I looked at my email with Rod Leach and saw he was asking 145 UK pounds for it.

[Chafford]

quote:Originally posted by Gus Meyjes
   
http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/find/4100_results.asp?lCarID=1814808
   
   
   I looked at my email with Rod Leach and saw he was asking 145 UK pounds for it.
   

   
   One and the same car - an error on the Coys website?

[Gus Meyjes]

don't think so, reality demanding a price adjustment...

[Chafford]

Rod Leach has finally got shot of it - now for sale in Shropshire for £116,995
   
   Lovely looking car even if it is a replica.
   
   http://sportsandclassicshrewsbury.co.uk/historic-race-ac-ace-htp-papers
   
   
   
   

[SBB]

There has been recent discussion on the new "period chassis number" desctibed in the blurb. Someone obviously got wise to the 2 Litre Saloon number being used originally when the car was first advertised. The new long chassis number is a Swansea issued number which is the sort of thing which happens to a newly created car, although it appears to have kept the saloon's registration number. Any exact copy can acquire FIA papers.

[Chafford]

quote:Originally posted by SBB
   
There has been recent discussion on the new "period chassis number" desctibed in the blurb. Someone obviously got wise to the 2 Litre Saloon number being used originally when the car was first advertised. The new long chassis number is a Swansea issued number which is the sort of thing which happens to a newly created car, although it appears to have kept the saloon's registration number. Any exact copy can acquire FIA papers.

   
   The RM28771100596 number quoted by Coys appears to be the engine number on the left side of the plate attached to the car - possibly the original engine number on the 2 litre? EL 1558 on the right is the chassis number of the original car.
   
   How does the Owners Club classify this car - replica, rebodied AC or something else?
   
     

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by Chafford:..The RM28771100596 number quoted by Coys appears to be the engine number on the left side of the plate attached to the car - possibly the original engine number on the 2 litre? EL 1558 on the right is the chassis number of the original car...

The original AC 2-litre engine number was UMB1559.
   Taken from the DVLA website: "It is a legal requirement for all vehicles...to have a...VIN...It may be lost when a vehicle is substantially rebuilt or modified, especially where the chassis, monocoque bodyshell or frame has been replaced with a new or used one.If there is not enough evidence of the original VIN your DVLA local office will give you a replacement identity number..."

[SBB]

Looking at the number stamped on the left hand side, it appears to be bright and new and therefore recently added. It is not the engine number of any Ford 6 cylinder Zephyr engine and it is not the number of the  AC engine in the  original 1951 saloon from which this car has taken its registration number.  The engine number of the saloons all began with UMB. In this case it had engine number UMB1559.  This new number is a recently issued Swansea issued chassis number (VIN).
    For a rebuilt car to retain its original identity chassis and registration numbers Swansea have points system on its original components spread amongst the chassis, engine,transmission, steering etc. A car has to score at least 8 in order to meet the requirements. This can be checked out on Google. Perhaps the lack of these has caused the new chassis number to be issued and the registration number transferred to this new car. However, I surmise.
   Since no one has tried to join the ACOC with this car, it is not known how it would be viewed. I don't see how it could be added to the Ruddspeed Ace 2.6 Register. It is really only a copy (and it looks a very nice one), built in the past 15 years by Bill Monk and the only original part as far as I am aware is the chassis plate.  Hawk Cars do a nice copy of a 2.6 too. Should this car have been a "Monk", or perhaps a "WAM" as he calls his Aston Martin DB3S copies. I assume it would have had to have gone through the Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) process.

[Chafford]

Well at least someone likes it as it appears to have been sold.