Archie Nash

Frazer Nash Limited's business^{[note 1]} was founded in 1922 by Archie Nash. Nash with friend Ron Godfrey had founded and run the GN cyclecar company in 1909 but their partnership split in 1922 and Nash began making his own cars by buying GN components and adding a new body. His new business's activities were centred on Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. The first true Frazer Nash was made in 1924.^[1] However, Nash, a clever engineer and designer, seemed unable to run a business at a profit. Shareholders in this period even included author Evelyn Waugh. Eventually the faltering business was sold to a new company, AFN Limited, formed in 1927. Profitability did not improve and, with effect from 1 January 1929, H J Aldington was made managing director and Nash was given the post of 'technical adviser'.^[2] Archie Nash managed to keep a small shareholding and as if to confirm the link in 1938 hyphenated his second name to his surname and became Archie Frazer-Nash.

Aldington brothers

During 1929 a majority of AFN's capital was acquired by Harold Joseph ("Aldy") Aldington (1902–1976) and AFN's operations moved to Isleworth, Middlesex. Thereafter, the business was run by the three Aldington brothers: Aldy, Don and Bill. The other two were Donald Arthur Aldington (1907–1997) and William Henry Aldington (1900–1980). They were all usually referred to by their initials.^[2]

Frazer Nash and subsequently AFN produced around 350 of the famous chain drive models between 1924 and 1939.^[2]

The last of the family owners/directors was Aldy's son, John Taylor ("JT") Aldington, who sold AFN Ltd to Porsche GB in 1987.

Frazer Nash BMW

Bristol BMW

In 1946 at the 36th Ordinary General Meeting of the Bristol Aeroplane Company it was announced that its Engine Division had acquired the majority of the shares in AFN Ltd.^[3] AFN Ltd produced about 85 more cars from 1948 to 1957. These cars were entirely unrelated to the chain-drive pre-war Frazer Nash but were largely a direct evolution of the sporting BMW 328 mentioned above.

AFN, as owners of the UK rights to the 328 engine, licensed Bristol to make it against an agreement for its supply to them. Models include the Le Mans Replica, the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, the Le Mans Coupé and the Sebring. Competition successes included a third place at Le Mans (1949) and wins in the Targa Florio in 1951 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1952. The post-war cars are very highly prized by collectors.

Formula 2 cars produced by the company contested various races including four Grand Prix events counting towards the 1952 World Championship of Drivers. The cars were driven by Tony Crook and Ken Wharton.^{[citation needed]}

Porsche

In 1954 AFN Limited added Porsche cars becoming the official importer for Great Britain in 1956. This lasted until 1965 when Porsche Cars Great Britain was set up. Aldington family members remained on the board of this company until John Aldington sold out to Porsche in 1987.^[4]

Post War Weapons and Multi Market Engineering until now

Within the 1950s weapons technology grew into a major factor of the company's operations. With the well tuned joining of several company parts in the year 1971 the still today existing unit of "Frazer-Nash Consultancy" was born. This moved through multiple hands over time and under the hood of various owners Besitzer: 1990 had a management buyout, 2004 it was moved to Devonport Management Limited which soon got acquired by Babcock International Group plc., 2021 it was taken over by KBR.^[5] Starting in 2010 the company opened multiple development and office locations in Australia.^[6] For summer 2022 a total staff of about 1000 employees is reported by the web pages of the company. Furthermore a revenue of 101 Million British Pounds (once equal to 186 Million Australian Dollars) for the fiscal year of 2020/2021 got reported.^[7]

Pre-war models

Post-war models