But it was not until 1920, when the lucrative Government Contracts of the Great War had ceased, that British Anzani began to diversify. Fortunately they already had experienced designers on the staff, Hubert Hagens who built the V-twin used by Morgans, and Gustave Maclure who had joined them in 1917 after 10 years with Rolls Royce at Derby. Initially tricked by a bogus entrepreneur into producing an 11.9 engine for a proposed new light car, Maclure designed and made, within the short space of two months, the familiar 1,496cc engine which he later claimed as embodying all the technology absorbed from Henry Royce himself. Certainly, the engine appears to have been "right first time" and, combining lightness with rigidity and reliability, could almost be claimed as a distant cousin of the Silver Ghost. A number of new manufacturers took up this engine after its introduction in 1920, by far the biggest being AC who originally contracted to take up to 2,000 but who, at the instigation of the unscrupulous S.F.Edge, suddenly began to build a pirated version. In 1925, however, British Anzani was saved from bankruptcy and re-launched as British Vulpine, Maclure returned to the firm and Archie Frazer-Nash was persuaded by H.J.Aldington to adopt the 11.9 engine. In 1926, at Archie's suggestion, Eric Burt acquired a controlling interest in the ailing company and, when the factory lease expired the following year, the Works was moved from Willesden to occupy premises under the eye and wing of AFN at Kingston. No doubt, but for the transfer of control of AFN from Archie to the Aldingtons in December 1928 this cosy arrangement might have continued indefinitely: but as it was, H.J.Aldington had no financial interest in the firm, and had already decided to relinquish the Anzani engine in favour of the heavier, more expensive, but potentially more tuneable Meadows. Thus, apart from out-and-out racing where the Cozette supercharger enabled the light side-valve to produce over 100bhp, the engine was increasingly confined to the cheaper 'Nash models and phased out entirely by 1932. By this time the Meadows had been developed to the point where nothing but the crankcase, block and head owed anything to Henry Meadows.

The engines fitted to Frazer Nash cars between 1925 and 1932 span some 400 numbers, mainly the SA producing 38bhp, the Super Sports with 48bhp and the High Efficiency with 52bhp. Before Maclure left in 1927 to become Works Manager at Rileys, he also designed a successful sohc engine which was fitted to The Slug, and much later a dohc engine was developed for the Ulster, though used only by Adrian Squire for his pretty new sports car, complete with twin blowers. At the risk of boring some readers (yet fully confident that this, unlike much of the present account, is absolutely nowhere to be found in the writings of David Thirlby!), I feel bound to pass on a little story told to me by Lord Deramore, a keen HRG owner and the "Arthur" cartoonist of Ian Dussek's HRG book, who used to be a neighbour in North Yorkshire. As a schoolboy in the mid-1930s, he was bicycling around Henley and decided to drop in to the Squire Works at Remenham to see the new creation. To his surprise and delight, Adrian Squire immediately invited him to climb aboard one of the twin-blown R1-engined cars and set off at high speed for a test run around the lanes. Soon a 41/2 litre Bentley hove into view, the inevitable challenge was issued and the race of a lifetime began. For mile after mile the ding-dong battle continued, the Bentley showing its long legs on the straight while the little Squire caught up on the twisty bits but was unable to pass the Bentley's great bulk. Eventually the matter was convincingly resolved when, rounding a corner, the Squire came across the Bentley beached like a whale upon the verge, boiling like a kettle and definitely hors de combat. Could one devise such a route today without speed cameras, one wonders?

Although H.J.Aldington finally acquired British Anzani at a knock-down price in 1934, it was mainly with the intention of manufacturing the Gough engine after the first batch had been made by Bean Industries. When this plan came to nothing, the firm was condemned to another period of uncertainty and its subsequent history is that of a great name which was not allowed to die, rescued from bankruptcy and led in different directions by the personal interests of a succession of talented engine designers. Thus, to non-Frazer Nash owner, the name may be synonymous with concrete mixers, garden machinery, small marine engines and even power units for those unlovely toy creations of Messrs Bond, Berkeley and others in the 1950s - perhaps now charitably to be seen as a rather hasty British reply to the stylish Messerschmidt and Heinkel bubble cars. But none of these diverse products, which kept the Company alive until 1980, were to sacrifice the basic principles of Alessandro Anzani on which the company had always depended, notably high engineering standards and reliability in service.

In the 1960s, J.H.Aldington stated that "the best engine we ever fitted was the side-valve Anzani. Well made, reliable, and was supplied in the state of tune you wanted it". Reliable they may be, but after 80 years many of the iron blocks are suffering from the equivalent of "brittle bone" syndrome: and the supply of new blocks from the batch made some 30 years ago has completely dried up, leaving several cars either permanently laid up or restricted to short journeys, which do NOT include the proposed Raid to the Alps in 2007 or to the South Tyrole the year after. On the other hand, there are a number of original crankcases lying unused upon the shelf or under the bench, together with a few remaining sets of brand-new cases made by Piers Blakeney-Edwards (for which the foundry patterns still exist in good condition), and there are plans afoot to make another batch of cylinder heads. So, if cylinder blocks were also now to become available, not only could several incomplete Anzani engines immediately be resurrected, but the Frazer Nash Car Club, with the help of Ian Lock, Nical Engineering, Phoenix Crankshafts and others, would then have the capability to produce a complete engine. This could also kick-start projects that have been mentioned to me in recent years, such as a recreation of the Mrs Burt Saloon of 1928 using the original drawings made before the Weymann body was lost, and a recreation of one of the 1925 Boulogne winning cars, using one of the original engines. These would surely be exciting additions to any Frazer Nash event.

More will be said in the coming months about the Club's concerted efforts to produce these new (and improved) blocks, but meanwhile this brief note is intended to remind members that supporting the Anzani Legend - and thereby buying some 60 of our cars at least another 80 years of life - is worthy of our fullest support. Let us hope, in fact, that it will all end as happily as Alessandro Anzani himself: though he never married, after his death admirers of the great man were amazed to discover that, in the grand Italian manner, his wealth had been directed towards the pursuit of earthly pleasures which had produced three households, three mistresses and three broods of children!

you might also be interested in viewing The British Anzani web site

http://www.britishanzani.co.uk