1958 AC Aceca Bristol  £95,000

    • One of only 81 Left hand drive Aceca-Bristols

    • Delivered new to Detroit

    • Subject to a seven year restoration 2008 – 2015

     Location:   Registration:


    available to view in cheshire

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    The AC Aceca-Bristol

    Based on the design of ‘LOY 500’, John Tojeiro’s Bristol engined sports-racer, the AC Ace was arguably even more handsome. Introduced in 1953 and initially powered by AC’s own 1991cc OHC engine, improved availability from 1956 onwards of another straight-six in the guise of Bristol’s tuneable 1971cc unit gave the aluminium bodied sports car a welcome boost in both sales and performance. Upgraded with Girling front disc brakes in 1957, Ace Bristols achieved considerable success at Le Mans as well as dominating its class in the Sports Car Club of America’s production championship.

    Not happy to rest on its laurels, the year after the Ace’s launch AC introduced a fixed-head GT version named the Aceca. Launched at the Earl’s Court show that year, the Aceca was built to a much more luxurious level of trim compared to the spartan Ace. Once again, towards the end of 1956, the Bristol engine option became available for the Aceca and the car got the engine that it deserved.

    Any Aceca-Bristol is a rare car with only 169 built in total between 1956 and 1963. Of these only 81 were in ‘BEX’ left hand drive specification.

    Chassis no. BEX693

    This AC Aceca Bristol, BEX693, is one of 14 cars that were delivered to the USA in 1958, originally being sold to ‘Foreign Cars’ of Detroit Michigan according to a copy of the factory chassis record contained in the history file, whilst the club register has the first owner as ‘C. Bross’. Little is known of the car’s early life in the U.S. – possibly in San Diego in 1972 according to the club – but by the late 80’s the Aceca was in California in the hands of one William Durant. Having lost its original engine at some stage, in 2002 Mr. Durant sold the car and it returned to Europe, going initially to the Netherlands where it was purchased soon after by Lionel Clarke of Lincolnshire. Mr Clarke undertook various works to the chassis and coachwork before advertising the Aceca in Classic & Sportscar’s July 2008 edition as an ongoing restoration.

    At this point the car was purchased by Mike Berrisford of Surrey who began a mammoth 7 year project the bring BEX693 back to its former glory. Having completely stripped the car down, the chassis was inspected and found to be in very good order, bar some tidying of the rear outriggers, and was refinished and rust-proofed. The body was taken back to bare metal and repainted in the current British Racing Green whilst all new floor pans and inner wings were fitted. Mechanically, all suspension components were refurbished and reassembled with new Spax shock absorbers in place. At the front, new hubs, discs and calipers were fitted whilst at the rear, the differential was rebuilt by Hardy Engineering before being connected to new drive shafts and hubs with fully rebuilt brakes.

    Initially, the relatively high cost of a complete Bristol engine had pointed the rebuild in the direction of a Ford powertrain but when the opportunity of a water-damaged BS1 unit (number 222) presented itself, Mr. Berrisford took the wise decision to return the Aceca to Bristol power. Once completely rebuilt, the engine was mated to a Bristol gearbox which was fitted with a ‘J’ Type overdrive by Ben Yates. A brand new, original style radiator was supplied by Nigel Winchester and fitted with an electric cooling fan. Having previous experience of trimming Aces and Cobras, Mr. Berrisford was comfortable taking on most of the interior work on BEX693 himself, choosing an attractive combination of tan seating with contrasting dark green carpets. When completed, the restoration was documented, with photographs, in the club magazine ‘ACtion’.

    In November 2016 BEX693 was purchased by Patrick Debussere from Belgium. Mr. Debussere’s collection also contained an Arnolt-Bristol roadster that had an 85C Bristol engine in it. The BS1 engine in BEX693 had originally been fitted to an Arnolt-Bristol and so he took the decision to remove the engine from the Aceca, put it in the Arnolt, and replace it with the 85C unit. Subsequently, Mr. Debussere sent the Aceca to the UK to have work carried out by specialists IN Racing in Nottingham, with the invoices totalling some £12,000. Following this work the car was purchased by its current enthusiastic owner to join his growing collection. However, his acquisition of several larger cars means that the Aceca is looking for a new home in order to free up storage space.

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