1959 AC Formula 2 Monoposto

To be offered by Silverstone Auctions on the 25th February 2023 at the Race Retro sale. 

Guide price: £70,000 - £80,000

It would be fair to say that the history of this fabulous, AC-based, Monoposto although fascinating, is by no means crystal clear. Its origins lie in a standard 1959 AC Aceca that was shipped to France and sold through AC's Paris agent. At some point later, it was severely damaged in an accident, and its owner at the time was faced with the choice of trying to find a new Aceca bodyshell and starting an expensive rebuild or perhaps building a single-seater which might be more fun. The racer option obviously won the day and we believe that it was built by Christian Mullaert. Although the little 2-litre Bristol-engined car would have been no match for the big over-square 2.5-litre cars produced by the big contenders in '58-59, Grand prix racing wasn't on the agenda just some club racing in which the car would probably have been very competitive.

At some point, a few years later, the car was chopped in two and that's where it starts to get interesting. The front end, including chassis plate, stayed in France until apparently resurrected, possibly re-bodied by Rod Jolley. The chassis from the firewall back may have spent some time in the USA and Canada before returning to France, and that's what was purchased by our vendor. We quote from Chris at Bristol Engineering;.

"We were commissioned to rebuild this car by the current owner Nick Upton who bought the remains about 10 years ago. It was incomplete and had the beginnings of an AC Cobra body being built on to the chassis but utilising Triumph suspension uprights. Nick discovered its heritage from the chassis also confirmed from the remains of the original ACECA which were also with the kit of bits. On finding out its history, he decided to return it to its single-seat configuration originally built, as far as I am aware, by Christian Mullaert early on its life. We at Bristol Engineering rebuilt the car from some photos made available to us using as many of the original components we had with the kit of bits. The main missing component was the original bodywork. We know that a sister car has also been rebuilt from the other components that we did not have and re-bodied by Rod Jolley. That car now resides back in France. It would be sensible to surmise that the original single seater was broken up or at least dismantled at some point and components separated hence the existence of two cars, in my belief both with equal title to the original single seat format, Nick however has the identity of the original ACECA both cars were derived from."

The quality of this build is very impressive having been carried out by James Harris. Looking every inch the late 50s Grand prix car, there are styling cues from the BRM P25, Maserati 250F, Ferrari 156, Cooper T45 and even a bit of Vanwall all enhanced by its blue and yellow finish, reminiscent of Grand Prix cars from Belgium. The standard of engineering and race preparation is equally as high and we encourage interest parties to come along and view this fabulous '50s racer for themselves.

Since the build was completed, the car has been raced three times at the Goodwood Members meeting, twice with the late Simon Diffey at the wheel and once with James Harris. It has competed with the HGPCA at Silverstone, Donington & Oulton Park, raced with the VSCC in their pre-1966 Front Engined Grand Prix race at Mallory, Donington, Silverstone, Oulton Park and Cadwell and has been hill-climbed at Chateau Impney, Loton Park, Prescott and Shelsley Walsh. More recently it was raced by our Sales Director, Rob Hubbard at Donington and qualified mid-field. Maintained by James Harris during this time and raced by himself and brother, Crispin, for owner Nick Upton. It's is a high compression engine so MUST run on 105+ octane fuel.

This is a very good looking car, gently patinated from a few years of competition and delightfully evocative. A fun and exceptional value entry into Historic Grand Prix racing.