1962 AC Ace - RSX 5009

RSX 5009 left the factory on 9 February 1962 as a left hand drive export model. The original engine number was S241162E. It was fitted with triple 40 DCOE Weber carburettors and  Raymond Mays cylinder head number 28694. The factory records do not show that an overdrive was fitted. The colour was AC’s Black Pearl with a beige interior and a curved windscreen.

It was exported to the Paris distributor André Chardonnet. The customer was a Portuguese nobleman called Francisco José Gentil de Herédia based in Switzerland and Portugal. The original registration numbers were VD-75966 and 28 ZTT 75.

He developed the car for racing by fitting Borrani wheels, slightly flared wheel arches, modifications to the suspension giving a slight negative camber at the rear, additional brake cooling side and front vents. A photo below shows him in the car at an event and racing, possibly at the Cascais street circuit in Portugal.

Disaster then struck the car when on the dockside at Largo de Cacilhas awaiting the ferry to cross the Tegus estuary at Lisbon, a petrol leak presumably from a carburettor, caused a fire. Francisco later said the electric fan had stuck on, possibly due to the fire shorting a circuit and thus fanning the flames backwards. This occurred 100 metres from the local fire station.  Unfortunately the fire crew had just returned from a fire at a nearby sardine restaurant and their extinguishers were empty. Before it could be brought under control the centre and cockpit were gutted. A local newspaper photograph and article described the event.

The car was declared a total loss and apparently Francisco received a handsome insurance payout. He decided not to have it repaired. It is reported that he had a brother who owned an AC Aceca, chassis number AEX 525. It appears he removed the engine, gearbox and Borrani wheels which were then fitted to his Aceca. By that time the Ace had covered 31,000 kilometres - about 19,400 miles. This fire occurred on the 1st August 1964 when it was only two and a half years old.

Fortunately the stripped car was not scrapped and appears to have been virtually discarded and either left in a shed or in the open, probably the latter judging  by its condition when discovered in 1990.

For very many years, out of the 37 Ruddspeed 2.6 Aces produced, numbers RSXs 5001, 5009 and 5010 remained unaccounted for. However in 1990 an English motoring journalist, Laurie Caddell, came across it whilst on holiday in Portugal. He acquired it, along with an AC engine which had presumably come from AEX 525,  brought it back to England and wrote about his find in Classic Car Weekly of 6th February 1991 with an accompanying photograph of the burned out car. It was quickly identified as the missing RSX 5009.

His dreams of ending up with a 2.6 Ace were quickly dashed when he enquired about restoring it from Brian Anglis of AC Cars only to be told that it would be cheaper for him to buy a new MK 4 Cobra than to have the wreck restored. It is not known how the connection was established but Caddell moved it on to fellow motoring author Rinsey Mills who already owned a 2.6 Ruddspeed Ace, RS 5020. More or less covered with a blue tarpaulin, it sat outside his garage in a field of long grass for several years.

In 1998 Chris Knight, one time owner of RS 5004 from 1973 to 1990, heard that Rinsey had decided to sell it because he had too many projects on. A deal was done excluding the AC engine. The car was retrieved from near Exeter where it had lain for many years and trailered to Wales and Chris set about its restoration. Apart from no engine and gearbox, there were no seats, instruments, or steering but the suspension, differential, radiator, petrol tank and windscreen washer bottle were still in the car. It also had the standard 16” wheels from AEX 525.

It was stripped down to its last nut and bolt. Many of the tubes were very rusty and were replaced. The chassis was shot blasted and powder coated. Many parts were sourced through Practical Classics magazine, auto jumbles and the AC Owners’ Club such as a Moss gearbox with an overdrive. Notable acquisitions included a Ford Zephyr engine with serial number S3124418 from and rebuilt by Dan Force - dealer in old Ford parts. Extraordinarily he also located a brand new unused Mk 1 Raymond Mays aluminium cylinder head number 10098 still in its box along with the lightweight pushrods and cast iron exhaust manifolds. Force drilled and tapped the perimeter which enabled a remanufactured Ruddspeed rocker top to be fitted. Discovered at Beaulieu on the Duncan Hamilton & Co stall were three 40 DCO Weber carburettors which had come from RS 5017. When they had restored in 1999, they fitted new ones. Since the car had now come to live in England it was decided to rebuild it as right hand drive. As a nod to its former life the original steering mounting was left in the front nearside chassis tube rather than being cut off. A new one was fabricated and welded to the off side front chassis tube to take the Bishop Cams steering box and column all of which came from RS 5000 which had been converted to rack & pinion. An original AC style 16” wood rim Moto-Lita steering wheel was fitted.

A new body was made by Gary Pitney of GP Panelcraft in Bracknell. He had had RS 5017 in for some work and made a mould of the nose and took body drops of its rear. All the bolt-on ancillaries such as lights, a Brasscraft curved screen etc were provided to him to fit. That ensured that everything went on easily after painting by Mitchell Motors Restoration in its new colour of a deep metallic blue. The re-trimming was done by the nearby LA & RW Piper.

In 2009, having passed its MOT and been inspected by the DVLA the V5 Registration Document was issued with the age related number of 188 XUH.

A two year target time for restoration had taken eleven!

We would love to hear from anyone has more information on the car or would like to add to the history please feel free to contact us here at Ruddspeed.
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