Frazer Nash Fast Roadster, Mille Miglia, Le Mans (1949 – 1953) Review

Frazer Nash Fast Roadster, Mille Miglia, Le Mans (1949 – 1953) At A Glance

3/5

+BMW-engined and remarkably quick for a car with such a modest amount of power, the Le Mans with High Speed body is a thing of beauty

-Roadster has challenging styling, rarely come up for sale, fabulously expensive

The Frazer Nash Fast Raodster, Cabriolet and Mille Miglia were their maker's attempts to widen its appeal in the sports car market. These were roadgoing sports car with direct competition heritage – and thanks to BMW straight-six power, they were also eminently tuneable.

Under its knobbly looking bodywork, The Fast Roadster was almost pure Le Mans Replica, which had its origins in the 1930s. But despite that, it was wonderful driver's tool especially in 125bhp Mille Miglia specification. The full-width body certainly looked the part, even if housing the spare wheel Bristol-style caused an odd-looking bulge in the front wing. The Cabriolet ran on a lengthened wheelbase, which made the handling more stable, if slightly less responsive.

The Le Mans was powered by the same 1971cc BMW straight-six and, with the lightweight streamlined ‘High Speed’ body, proved exceptionally quick. Like all Nashes the Le Mans was completely handbuilt, with the customer getting the final say on engine configuration and suspension set-up. Rare and fabulously valuable today - and they rarely come up for sale.