Full recommissioning and engine rebuild.

AN AFRICAN GREYHOUND

In 1961, an AC and Bristol car dealer from Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) placed an order with a famous car manufacturer in Thames Ditton.  The order was for the latest and one of the last AC Greyhounds manufactured on 25th August 1961.  Its colour was Princess Blue with a red leather interior.

Eric Glasby was the owner of Glasby’s Garage, and although he passed away several years ago, his garage still exists in the Zimbabwe’s second largest city. He was a popular and well-known racing driver, starting with MG’s before the war and making a big name for himself in local saloon races in the 1950s. He and his wife were even winners in the two-litre Class B 1500 mile Ndola Rally in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1955, battling their way to victory in a Bristol 401!

Eric brought his family over to England to collect his new AC in the summer of 1961 and toured the country in it before returning home. It was first registered in Rhodesia on 30th December 1961 to David Riley but shortly afterwards Eric Glasby acquired the car for his own enjoyment. Even when he sold the car on to Maurice Gill of Salisbury (now Harare), he subsequently bought it back!

In the early 1980s the car was sold to Jack Clough who sadly passed away last year but furnished us with some invaluable history. After Jack’s ownership, the car swapped hands several times, being owned by Garth Mekisich and Frost Brothers (Purveyors of Horseless Carriages) in Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa.  Jack told us that he had been in the passenger seat of the AC in the early 1960s and had fallen for her there and then.

Jack found the two-litre Bristol 100 D2 lacking in torque and fitted the 2.6 Raymond May's converted Ford Zephyr straight-six engine with the Jaguar all-synchro overdrive gearbox. He felt the the unit was far more suited to the car and was in fact an approved upgrade undertaken by Ruddspeed in era. By that time Jack recalls the car was no longer Princess Blue but white.

(Incidentally Jack Clough was quite a racer in his own right, owning four AC’s and competing in the nine hour race in Durban where his AC Ace Bristol won its class and came third overall. That car is also now in the UK.)  

In 2015, the AC Greyhound was sold to Hannes Pickard, owner of Blix Brewery and Winery in Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. Hannes restored the vehicle in 2017, including a colour change to black with a tan leather interior.

In July 2023 our client bought the car and reimported her from South Africa.  She arrived back on these shores on 15th September 2023 and, although she was as good as expected, GP59 has set to work bringing her back to her former glory with original parts (pre-internet parts for AC’s in Africa were not readily available so there was a tendency to make-do and mend).

So far, we have replaced the cracked glass rear screen with a Perspex tinted replacement from John Goose. This was standard at the time altJack Clough confirmed he had had a glass one made in South Africa but it was not a perfect fit.

We have replaced all the fuel lines and fuel pump, replaced the twin SU carburettors for triple DCOE 40 Webers and remodelled the inner aluminium arch to accommodate the increased carburettor size.   A new Ruddspeed rocker cover has also been fabricated from scratch.

See Current Projects : 1961 AC Greyhound — GP59