I just got the strangest call. William Campbell, in the little town
of Flat Rock, Ala (near the AL/TN/GA corner) bought a car, but he's
not sure what it is. The seller told him the car is a 1956 AC
Bristol. However, the VIN plate has been removed. There is no
title, Alabama didn't require them until 1975. There are no other
identifying marks on the car.
The car resembles the Bristol/Ace/Cobra, but the body is all steel.
William doesn't think it is any of these, since they all had aluminum
bodies. William's exact description to me was that it "looks like a
Cobra, without the fender flares."
I should have asked him about the grill and taillights, but didn't
think to.
Also different from other ACs are the frame rails. On William's car,
the rails are farther out than on these other ACs. The rails are also
straighter. Also, the rails pass under the rear axle, like on some
Triumph TRs (I think).
He knows for sure that it has a Biltmore A130 engine (4 cylinders).
There is also a serial number on the front frame cross-member: Z24.
(Gack! It's a rebodied Chevy Cavalier :^)
The frame makes an X under the floorpan, and the driveshaft and
exhaust pipe go through holes in this X. Nothing unusual here, my
Alpine has the same configuration, but it's one more data point to
help with the idenfitication.
William is afraid that it is some kind of kit car. However, I don't
think so, since the body is steel; most kit cars use fiberglass
bodies. Perhaps it is some sort of low-volume rebody, along the lines
of Doretti/Gilbern/Peerless/Warwick/etc.
William said that someone else he talked to thought it might be some
sort of Austin-Healey. Did Healey ever use the Biltmore engine?
I realize this is not much to go on, especially without a picture,
but the man is grasping at straws trying to find out what he's got.
I told him he was definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel if he
was asking me!
William stumbled across the car in Scottsboro, AL. He got lost
looking for a barber shop and saw it under a tarp in someone's
driveway. Turns out it had been sitting there for 8 years, belonged
to the ex-husband of the daughter of the woman who owned the driveway
(whew!), and the asking price was $3500. William didn't say how much
he paid, but he did say he talked them down quite a bit.
William is also looking for the address & phone number of the A.C.
Owner's Club in England. Anybody have it handy? Roland?
Thanks is advance,
--
T.J. Higgins | tjhiggin@ingr.com | (205) 730-7922
Intergraph Corp. | Mapping Sciences Division | Huntsville, AL, USA
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