Over to the next step in Alexander 'Sandy' Fraser's career as a motor manufacturer. After the AF Spider (click here) came the AF Grand Prix. That car was built in the same spirit but slightly differently designed and more cost-effectively made, making it also cheaper in price. Where the Spider had been offered for £850, the Grand Prix came at £650.
Fraser: "I did not redesign the new car very much. It was just a matter of keeping the costs down by making a few subtle alterations. I was really trying to aim for a younger type of market than before. Previously it was really a rich man's fun car". The most notable changes were the round cycle wings, the rounded-off back, a different hood design and a bench seat rather than two separate bucket seats.
Sandy told me he made four Grand Prix three-wheelers plus one four-wheeler variant. The second three-wheeler was a customer-built car and he told: "It was the quickest car that I built, with 0-60 timed at just over 5 seconds. According to the owner 9000 rpm in top was achieved once just to see what it would do. This corresponds to 156 mph at which the airflow was said to be 'most uncomfortable'!" Now, let's have a look at the cars that I have found pictures of. I'd love to hear from you if you own any of these, or the one that I seem to have missed out on.
YTL 37L - AF Grand Prix - Green
NMR 179R - AF Grand Prix - Blue
CMR 266V - AF Grand Prix - Red
CMR 267V - AF Grand Prix 4-wheeler - Maroon
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteI owned this car for a brief period in the mid 1990’s. I sold it back to the previous owner when my first Child was born, no room for a baby seat😩.
A real head turner and everyone used to think it was a Morgan! I wish!!
Forgot to mention, by this I mean the green YTL 37L.
DeleteIt had mini drums all round that used to fade to useless around 40mph when breaking from top speed which is nowhere near 150mph but I can understand why that was quoted!