This AC left the factory on April 16, 1957 and was sold to John Vesvey in London. Vesvey was most likely an American visiting Europe as the car was delivered to him in left hand drive (LHD) configuration. He raced the car at Silverstone on May18th 1957.
By the early 1970’s the car had made its way to California. Jay Oppenheimer found the car in a bank repossession warehouse and purchased it for $950. He than sold it to Leon Mandel the editor of Autoweek in 1974. Mandel stored the car un-restored and un-driven for the next 15 years in his garage in Reno, NV. Mandel wrote about he and his son Dutch’s love of the car in an article that appeared in the August 28th 1989 issue of Autoweek. When Dutch married, Leon gave him the car as a wedding present. In the early 1990’s Dutch contracted AC specialist Jim Feldman of JFW Restorations in Portland Oregon to perform a complete “concours” level restoration on the car. While in process the car was sold to East Coast collector Herb Wetanson.
When JFW started the restoration they found the car to be in remarkable original condition due to the fact it had been in dry storage for so many years and not subject to the wear and tear of road use. All mechanical components including the engine and transmission are original to the car and have been completely rebuilt to original specification. The body and frame were fully restored and refinished to show quality standards. A new blue leather interior was installed. New carpets, top, side curtains and tonneau cover were fitted. The car has only been driven 2500 miles since the restoration was completed in 2000. The car is in spectacular condition, it is totally period correct and drives like a brand new AC Bristol.
AC Background
The new AC was debuted in 1953 at the London Motor Show and was produced beginning in 1954 and continuing through 1963. It had a very modern design courtesy of John Tojiero, with open two-seater coachwork, an aluminum-alloy body, and built atop a lightweight tubular chassis that had a fully independent suspension.
In 1956 the Bristol-engine version was introduced. The Bristol 1971 cc, six-cylinder engine was capable of producing 125 horsepower at 5750 rpm and propelling the light-weight car to a top speed of over 100 mph. The engine was placed farther back in the chassis to enhance the Ace's handling.
The AC Bristol came equipped with front disc brakes, Girling hydraulic shock absorbers, and a four-speed manual transmission.
The 'Bristol' became a popular car in the racing community, even making appearances at LeMans in 1957 and 1958. The Ace would continue to evolve over the years, eventually becoming the basis for Carroll Shelby's Cobra.
