A special buy for someone
Stylish and well-engineered, this Lea-francis-based special was a lot of below-estimate fun for the money
CAR 1951/2000 Lea-francis special SOLD £14,625 ORIGINAL ESTIMATE £20,000-25,000, H&H, Duxford, 15 March
This one was a little unsual to say the least.
Denitely not one for the purists but this little ‘Leaf’ was just the ticket for someone looking for a latter-day recreation of the specials of yesterday. It lined up alongside a quartet of Bentley specials at H&H’S Duxford sale and while it was certainly smaller, it wasn’t short on presence or performance.
It was built around some familiar components, too.
This special was thought to have been built around 2000 using a Lea-francis 14hp as the donor. Its build followed in the wheel tracks of several other 14hp specials, some being built in the very early 1950s. The body design echoed that of the Bill Skelly 14hp racer from the 1950s but also had a distinct whi of HWM-ALTA about it, which wmeant that the car was already o to a very good start indeed.
This is a car that was clearly built to be driven.
The 1.8-litre four-cylinder twin-cam was ripe for tuning and develops around 100hp. Modications included a lightened ywheel, ported and gasowed cylinder head, a 4-2-1 exhaust manifold, uprated valve springs and upgraded cooling system. Having had some refreshing around 5000 miles ago it could push this machine on to 95-100mph.
It was in pretty good overall
condition, too.
The alloy bodywork was nicely presented and well built. Proportions were good (although the looks faded with the rear-end treatment) and decentsized mudguards didn’t look out of place and prevented the wide wire wheels from creating too much spray. Large doors allow easy entry and the interior was no-nonsense but smart. Green leather bucket seats add oldschool charm. The engine bay was exceptionally tidy.
All in all, it was an extremely interesting oering
As we said at the beginning this little Leaf special might not be to everybody’s taste but with other 14hp specials coming before it, why not? Clearly much work had gone into the engine’s development while the MGB suspension was a sensible course. With its alloy bodywork very much inuenced by earlier sports racers it was hard to resist and above all denitely well bought.