The Ace that slipped through the net

Inever tire of telling you that AC Aces make good buys, but here’s one that slipped through the net. At the Gooding & Co April dispersal auction of the Mark J Smith Midland Museum collection in Lynchburg, Virginia (see my column on p43) was a lovely lhd ’59 Ace with Bristol engine finished in white with a nicely patinated red interior and 24,000 miles supported by a considerable history.

At £193,000, this was good value as a largely unrestored example that had been in California since the Seventies. But what made this such a bargain was its early UK racing history. In 1961 BEX 1067 raced at Aintree, Crystal Palace, Mallory Park, Silverstone and Goodwood, and is featured in John Mclellan’s book Ace Bristol Racing with many old photos of the car in action. Triple

Webers and disc brakes fitted in period along with a roll-bar still in the boot added to the halo of British racing provenance. Most Ace racers were damaged in combat, but this appeared to have been neither pranged nor completely dismantled in its 62 years.

In the US, restored Aces with scant history are being advertised at £270,000; and back in January 2022, Bonhams at Scottsdale sold a concours, perfectly restored ’58 (pictured) with AC engine for a world-record £414,800. But to me this original, gently mellowed ex-competition car seemed a much more desirable proposition with its early handwritten service logs, documented ownership trail and sympathetic maintenance over the years. And with a coil-sprung 289 Cobra recently making over £1 million, I’m sure Aces will now get pulled up in that slipstream. Definitely one to keep on watching.