Details

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale a rather unique 1928 Lea-Francis Special.

Founded in 1895 Lea-Francis started building motor cycles. They began car manufacturing under licence for Singer in 1903 and later built and sold cars under their own name. They quickly developed a reputation as an early innovator with roots in quality craftsmanship. By the mid 1920s Lea-Francis had become recognised as building quality cars with a sporting edge. Most notably, their S-Type (also called the Hyper) became the first British supercharged production car. As a result, many Lea-Francis were modified and used by boy racers for weekend motorsport, hill climbs and the like.

This Lea-Francis special has a rich and fascinating history, having initially left the Coventry factory as a Type O 12/50.

The car was featured in the March 1950 issue of Australian Motor Sports magazine. At that time the car was owned by Len Sydney from Brighton in Victoria. Prior to him acquiring the car it had led an interesting life. It was raced at Philip Island and reportedly used as a shooting brake for kangaroo hunting in the Northern Territory! Sydney was quoted in that article . . . the car had a hard life, but it always been well maintained. If only the car could talk!

Sydney acquired the Leaf (as he liked to call the car) in 1941 and immediately engaged the services of coachbuilders Giles Motor Body Works to build him a neat close coupled four seater sports touring body. The job wasnt simple and required a few modifications to be made to the chassis. The radiator had to be relocated and the fuel tank was relocated from the scuttle to between the rear dumb irons. The car was subsequently painted black. All the work was completely for the princely sum of £90!

Sydney used and enjoyed the Leaf for the next few years and in 1945 he upgraded the brakes with those from a 7th Series Lancia Lambda.

Next on Sydneys wish list was more speed! He wanted the car to be able to cruise at 80 mph, which was beyond the capability of the original Meadows 4ED, 1.5 litre, four cylinder engine. He managed to source a six cylinder Meadows 6ESC engine from a 1928 Bean. The engine was overhauled and its capacity increased to 2,974cc.

In 1952 Sydney decide the time had come to part with his beloved Lea-Francis. He advertised the car in the local newspaper from where it was acquired by Andre Chaleyer who only kept it for a year before selling to Peter Robinson. The car was raced by Robinson at the 1954 A.S.C.C. Fishermans Bend Air Strip meeting and other events. He sold the car in 1958 and it is understood that it remained in Victoria. In 1966 the car was purchased by Neville Webb and shortly thereafter suffered a catastrophic engine failure. Fortunately, he was able to source a similar Meadows engine which was installed in the car.

Over the next 30 years the car passed through a few further owners before Neville Webb rekindled his lover affair with this Lea-Francis in 2001. He purchased the car at a Sanford-Morgan auction in Adelaide. At that time the car was showing its age. Through his Gold Coast based business, The Vintage Garage, Webb decided to restore the car to its former glory. At that time the car was green. He repainted it back to its original colour of black, replaced the cycle guards, retrimmed the upholstery as well as refurbished the engine and gearbox.

In 2006 Webb sold the car to Paul Samuels from NSW. In Samuels ownership the car had further mechanical issues which necessitated another engine rebuild. The car was taken to Highlands Race and Classic in Mittagong who, together with LW Perry from Sydney, rebuilt the engine. There are invoices on file which document all the work completed back then.

In 2009 the car was sold to Ron Harris from Gympie, Queensland. He used and enjoyed the car, whilst continuously making improvements during his six years of ownership. The custodianship of the Lea-Francis turned full circle for the second time when in 2015 it was acquired by Warren Webb (Neville Webbs son).

The car passed through the ownership of two well known enthusiasts before being acquired by the current owner a short time ago.

The current owner purchased the car with the intention to compete in the Peking to Paris rally, however, a change in his circumstances means that this is no longer possible.

Today this fabulous Lea-Francis Special presents and drives well. It is a car that has a fabulous story to tell, having been owned by a number of very well known people in the Australian classic car scene. It has been driven in anger in various speed trials and competition events its entire life. It has also been used as a road car and it is therefore a car that you could race on Saturday and take to cars & coffee on Sunday!

Given the car has been driven it is not surprising that the paint work shows some wear and tear. That said, the car presents well, but there are stone chips, some gravel rash and other blemishes here and there. The external trim, including the brightwork presents quite well.

The painted wire wheels are fitted with chrome wheel spinners, all of which are in very good condition. The 19 wheels are shod with Blockley 5.00 19 4 Ply tyres all around.

The car has a soft top and side curtains, which are in good condition. This was important for its current owner given he was going to tackle the Peking to Paris rally.

The interior of the car presents well. The burgundy upholstery is well kept, presenting with just the right amount of patina. The driving position is relatively comfortable, though you sit quite low to the ground for a car of this vintage, which further reinforces the sporting pedigree of this car. The polished aluminium dash houses a plethora of instruments, more akin to a fighter plane than a motor car!

The starting procedure perhaps mirrors this somewhat . . . battery isolator off, retard the ignition, fuel pumps on, ignition on and then hit the starter button. The Meadows six fires instantly and it sounds very healthy. After the engine fires, the ignition is advanced and you quickly find its sweet spot.

What is immediately apparent is the engine has plenty of power and torque. The non-synchro gearbox with its non-traditional shift pattern takes some getting used to, but this is part of the challenge and enjoyment you get from driving the car. The more you drive it the better you get, which is actually very rewarding. You have to pinch yourself that this is an almost 100 year old car as driven in anger it would be a bit of beast. It weighs next to nothing and has more than enough power to get yourself into trouble if you are brave enough!

Accompanying the car is an excellent history file which includes a copy of the article published in the March 1950 issue of Australian Motor Sports magazine, various period photos of the car and other documentation outlining its history, owner correspondence and receipts.

Highlights:
A fabulous storied Australian vintage special.
Lovely driver condition.
Owned by the whos who of the Australian classic car scene.
A car that can be used for vintage motorsport, rallies or social events.
Great performance and value for money.

Price $69,950.


Background

It all started in the west Midlands industrial city of Coventry in the UK in 1895 when Richard Lea and Graham Francis decided to start a business to manufacture bicycles. They quickly built a reputation as a company which built reliable quality products.

In 1903 they decided to branch out and start manufacturing cars and in 1911 they started building motorcycles. There first car wasnt a great success and only three were built. After that they continued building cars under license from Singer.

It wasnt until 1919 that they introduced their next car, the 11.9HP. Reviewing the car, The Motor wrote on 27 October that year, For the country motorist who requires an all-purpose car the Lea-Francis would be almost ideal. Unfortunately it was not a great success for the company.

In 1922 Charles M Van Eugen joined the company and his first task was to redesign one of the prototypes, the C-Type and make it ready for production. After making some improvements to both the engine and chassis an initial batch of 50 was approved. The car was a success and in total 90 were sold. The C-Type also became the first Lea-Francis to be used in competition.

The C-Type was superseded by the D-Type which became the first Lea-Francis to be fitted with a Meadows engine. Approximately 420 were built between 1923 and 1926. It was then superseded by the E-Type. The E-Type remained in production from 1924 through until 1926 and 192 were built.

A variety of other models were introduced over the next few years. The F-Type (1924 - 1925), the G-Type (1925 - 1927), the H-Type (1924 - 1926), the I-Type (1925), the J-Type (1925 - 1928) and the K-Type (1925). All were built on slight variations of the same chassis with a variety of engines.

From 1926 until 1928 Lea-Francis built two cars with Vulcan Engineering of Southport. The Kirkstone and the 1LFS. Both could be considered a very early form of badge engineering as very few components in the cars were actually produced by Lea-Francis.

In 1926 Lea-Francis produced its first real sports car, the L-Type, which was powered by a Brooklands spec Meadows 4ED engine. At the same time the M-Type and the N-Type were introduced.

Also in 1926 Lea-Francis introduced its first purpose built race car. The Lea-Francis Special, was finished in polished aluminium and nicknamed the Lobster. It first appeared at Brooklands at the August Bank Holiday meeting in 1926. The car was also used for testing engine and supercharger combinations. Interestingly, when Lea-Francis had found a good working combination they werent ready to introduce a new model. The race car and another chassis, were fitted with fabric covered two seater bodies with pointed tails, a supercharged Meadows 4ED engine and road equipment. The two cars were registered for road use by Lea-Francis in August 1927 and road-tested by a number of motoring publications.

In 1927 Charles Van Eugen convinced the directors of Lea-Francis to allow him to design a completely new chassis assembly. It was fitted with a Brooklands specification Meadows 4ED engine and the chassis was designated the O-Type. It remained in production until 1930 and 55 cars were built.

It was superseded by the S-Type, also called the Hyper, the first British supercharged production car. In 1928 a Lea-Francis Hyper won the Ulster TT, a 30-lap race on the 13.5-mile (21.7 km) Ards circuit on the roads of Northern Ireland driven by race car driver Kaye Don. The race was watched by a record 250,000 spectators and the victory placed Lea-Francis firmly on the map.
Lea-Francis had always lead a hand to mouth existence, struggling to be financially viable. They continued to build cars until the start of the World War II in 1939, then production ceased and the factory concentrated on manufacturing for the war effort.

After the War the company recommenced manufacturing cars, but they struggled and the factory finally closed in 1962.