A racer’s dusty Lotuses emerge from hibernation, back in component form
Pair of Lotus Elevens and rare Aceca-bristol emerge from late enthusiast’s garage
An AC Aceca has emerged from a garage that also held two genuine Lotus Elevens – or the remains of them. They were the property of the late Terry Harrison, an ex-rally navigator, keen amateur racer and authority on motor sport history. Harrison navigated for BMC’S Mini Cooper S and Austin 1800 ‘Landcrab’ works entries during the Sixties but was a keen driver himself, acquiring the Aceca-bristol in 1969 and a Lotus Eleven S1 ‘Le Mans’ two years later. He briefly hill-climbed the AC while using it as everyday transport, and campaigned the Lotus under the ‘Team Woodbine’ banner. A prang at Thruxton in 1975 resulted in the Eleven being sidelined.
This, the more complete of the two Lotus Elevens from Harrison’s garage, is thought to date from around 1956. It comes with the Coventry-climax engine listed on the green logbook (FWA 6577) that previously served aboard the ex-gérard ‘Jabby’ Crombac Lotus Eleven (‘152’) and the ex-le Mans 750cc Lotus Eleven (‘519’). The car has been known to the Historic Lotus Register for more than four decades, and has been awaiting restoration since the 1975 shunt. A second Series 1, perhaps acquired to aid that restoration, consists of a chassis, a Coventry-climax FWE 1.2 litre engine, MOWOG four-speed gearbox and desirable 5.3:1 rear differential.
The 1960 AC Aceca is thought to be one of only 12 right-hand-drive Aceca-bristols built with the more powerful 100D2 engine, overdrive and front disc brakes. It too was taken off the road in the Seventies and sidelined as other projects came and went. Harrison began work on the car again in 2009, repairing old impact damage he discovered in one corner of the chassis. Work stalled in 2014 but not before many other areas were refurbished.
H&H’S founder Simon Hope grew up in the house across the road from Harrison and was fascinated by his diverse range of exotic machinery, ‘Terry was always keen to share his knowledge – but oblivious to any financial gain it may have brought him. He never hesitated to contact H&H if he could add to the history of a car going under the hammer.’
The sale on March 24th fetched winning bids of £46,000 for the ‘Le Mans’ Eleven, £28,750 for the incomplete Series 1 and £101,200 for the Aceca.
Tom Letourneau is a regular contributor to our Barn Finds pages, sending us discoveries he makes around New England. He was surprised to come across a multi-car hoard in the enormous basement garage of a near neighbour in Cumberland, Rhode Island – his home town.
‘The owner and his father previously owned a large German car specialist in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and over the years they accumulated the inventory that’s still growing today,’ says Tom.
‘When his dad retired from the business, the owner decided on a change of career to make use of his teaching degree, and now plays with his cars in his spare time. Many of the cars you see he does hope someday to restore.’
Tom says the owner is not one of those dreamers who can never complete a project – he’s apparently just finishing off the task of refurbishing a Porsche 356 Cabriolet from the ground up.
The collection has two parallel themes – old, small and German, or old, large and American. We spotted Herbie from The Love Bug (or a nice replica…), but also a 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, a ‘59 or ‘60 Cadillac hearse, a VW ‘Samba’ bus and a VW crew-cab pickup, a ’56 Chevy on a lift, a Benz 319 van, a VW Karmann-ghia coupé, a BMW 600 bubble car, the shell of an Isetta in the VW pick-up and yet another one in pale blue, another nice early Bug, a VW 181 ‘Thing’, a 1948 Oldsmobile, and that Porsche 356B Cabrio. There are also numerous bikes and scooters.
‘His dad is equally as bad, if not worse,’ says Tom. ‘He lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island and has a large barn on his property with more than 30 cars in it, many of them restoration projects.’
Hopefully we’ll get to see those one day too.
None for ages, and then…
Last month we told the story of a stash of Lancia Aprilias and Augustas. Such cars are hardly common in the UK in project condition, yet in late March Bonhams revealed two more owned by a collector who had acquired them in 1974. Planned restorations began but made little progress and both cars were offered for sale after 47 years indoors, following loss of storage. The red one, a 1938 example, came to the UK from Kenya in 1971 and hence is almost rust-free. The green car is also from 1938 and was Uk-supplied from new and though partly dismantled, was apparently complete. Perhaps the sudden influx explains the low prices: £2925 and £2250 respectively for these advanced, appealing, pocket-size thoroughbreds.