Rare Frazer Nash Mille Miglia took the Peter Collins Trophy by storm

One of just 12 models built, the Mille Miglia we saw at Members’ Meeting is now owned by Philip Champion. He’s collated detailed records about the history of his car, chassis 421/100/161, and he shared them with us in conversation at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

The car was built in late 1951, a few years after Frazer Nash started producing its most prolific model of that decade, the Le Mans Replica. Originally conceived as the High Speed Competition model, it wasn’t until the fourth car to be produced placed third overall at the 1949 Le Mans 24 Hours that the name was changed in honour of that achievement.

Designed by Fritz Fiedler, the Mille Miglia was an extension of its older sibling. Chassis 421/100/161 was the first of six models built using the last of the Mk1 Le Mans Replica chassis — where the previous four cars had been built on a chassis that extended beneath the rear axle, this Le Mans-influenced batch had a chassis that extended up and over for a more aerodynamic effect.

By November 1951, the keys were handed over to its first owner, F. Wyndham Hewitt. Chairman of Chalwyn Ltd, a company that dealt in lamps, it was perhaps no wonder that he had it fitted out with Marchal head, fog and driving lamps, as well as bumper bars, a header and windscreen washer.

Hewitt was preparing to take the car out on the rally stage, and in the duo’s first event in April 1952 he finished runner-up in the 1,501-2,500cc class at the Rallye du Soleil-Cannes, beaten only by the overall winner — a Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica.

Next on Hewitt’s travels was a trip to the Circuit International de Vitesse at Bordeaux, where he again was second in the 1.5-3.0-litre class. At this time Frazer Nash had a strong competitive reputation that it was keen to share with potential buyers, and Hewitt’s success sold the capabilities of his Mille Miglia as car fit to drive the distance to a meet, put in a performance and set off again.

With his permission, Hewitt’s private correspondence following his trip to Bordeaux was shared in an advertisement targeting “owner-drivers” in the May/June 1952 edition of the BARC Gazette. He reported that he averaged a lap time of 1:44, “only 14 seconds behind the times of Formula 1 cars on the same circuit last year.” In the wet he was two seconds slower but affirmed that “the Frazer Nash behaved magnificently and handled superbly, and I had enormous confidence in the car.” 

From France, Hewitt then headed off for the Rallye Aix-Madrid-Aix — “2,500 kilometres day and night driving […] car magnificent,” — where he won outright the first-class award and the 2.0-litre class, something Frazer Nash was very happy to add to its advert in postscript.

Only enhancing the allure (albeit quite a contrast), that same year chassis 421/100/161 also won the Val d’Esquiers Concours d’Elegance, the sleek lines of the bodywork irresistible to any judging panel. This was a car that could tick every box.

It’s here that Hewitt’s involvement came to an end. The car was sold to a Miss Barclay-Milne in 1954 and that same year twice competed at the Bo’ness hillclimb in Scotland. Betty Haig was another owner, acquiring the car in 1957 and changing the paintwork to her preferred light metallic blue. It then exchanged hands another seven times across the next 40 years, with stints in New Zealand and the United States, and with further paint changes here and there, until Champion purchased it in October 1998.

Under his ownership, there’s no sign of rarity stopping this car from competing at historic motor racing events, as it was built to do. The Mille Miglia has featured at plenty of historic race meetings, including regularly here at Goodwood. It was the sole Frazer Nash representative in last year’s Freddie March Memorial Trophy at the Revival, where Martin Stretton and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards drove it from 21^st to an impressive 11^th.

Seven months later, Stretton and the Mille Miglia returned to the Motor Circuit, this time joined by several Le Mans Replicas and Targa Florio models, as well as Jaguar XK120s and other 1950s sportscars for the 83^rd Members’ Meeting’s Peter Collins Trophy.

Despite him anticipating that “it doesn’t really, in most races, threaten the front of the grid,” Stretton qualified second for Sunday’s finale. Although looking likely that he had secured the final win of the weekend, a late surge from Gary Pearson’s Jaguar XK120 Mistral saw him pipped on the line, the deciding margin was 0.160seconds.

It was a thrilling conclusion to Members’ Meeting, but certainly not to the racing days of chassis 421/100/161. With Champion we look forward to seeing the Mille Miglia compete at Goodwood for many more years to come.

Tickets for the 84th Members’ Meeting will be available immediately after this year’s event for Members and Fellows of the GRRC. Admission and Grandstand tickets will go on sale on Monday 20th April for Members, and Tuesday 21st April for Fellows. If you haven’t already, you can  join the Fellowship today.

Photography by Joe Harding and Jordan Butters.