One of the car clubs represented at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 was the Lea-Francis Owners' Club. The Lea-Francis 14hp engine powered the Connaught L2 and L3 sports cars of the late 1940s/early 1950s and several of these cars were on display.
This is a 2½ litre 1948 Connaught L2 and is chassis #7004, the fourth car built. The original 4-cylinder 1,767cc Lea-Francis engine was replaced by the 2,496cc unit in 1952 and you can read the history of the car related by Bonhams when they offered the car for auction in 2004.
This is a 1950 Connaught L3 model but I can't find out much about it, only that the DVLA say that it was first registered in June 1952 and has the 1,767cc engine.
On 19 August 2015 and 25 June 2017 I showed photographs of the Connaught L2, and on 12 October 2015 I showed the later Connaught sports car, the 1954 ALSR.
Hi there-Richard Baker from Johanesburg here. Grew up in Yelverton Devon (10 miles from Plymouth) and used to work at the local garage at weekends mid/late 60's. Happened across your Connaught posts and photos following a 50th school reunion and some reminiscing.
ReplyDeleteThe garage specialised in restoration and repair of pre-war cars and an L3/SR belonging to Bob Soper came in for an engine rebuild. Beautiful machine and a really nice guy. Never realised only 3 were made. Bob's was the same colour (as they may all have been) but this could be the actual car! Amazing! Have been a lifelong car lover and privileged to have owned and drive some absolute gems. Kind Regards Richard
Thanks for this information Richard. I started watching motor racing in 1955 and my early memories of Connaught is the B-Type Grand Prix car with which Tony Brooks won the Syracuse Grand Prix that year. I was vaguely aware of the earlier sports cars but didn't know much about them, and I probably got the information that 3 of these L3/SRs were built from this article: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/anachronism-personified-1951-connaught-l3-sr/
DeleteYes Richard, It's the same car. Wally Stephens, who owned westella then, told me Bob was selling it the day after I'd put all my money down on a deposit on my first house. Managed to get the deposit back, and bought the Connaught! I still have it, and still in touch with Walter. Clive Sherriff. Oxford, UK.
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