1961 AC Ace - RS 5004

This car left the factory on 6 December 1961 in AC’s colour of Black Pearl with a red interior and registered 240 WPE. It used frame number 1201 which would have been Ace Bristol BE 1201. This is cross referenced  in the Ace Bristol register. The engine number is S235611E and it is fitted with a Raymond Mays head and triple SUs. It has a replica Ruddspeed alloy rocker cover. An overdrive is fitted and it had a flat screen. It used 16” wheels.

The first owner was Nicholas Reynolds. Its second owner in 1964 was Clive Boucher and in 1965 Simon Taylor, who was then an Oxford student, bought it. He campaigned it in hill climbs and races winning a race at Silverstone in 1968. That year as a cub reporter on Autosport magazine upon and  being provided with a Mini company car he sold it to Peter West, the third owner. West took the car to a garage in Worthing for some work and a repaint in blue but is alleged not to have paid for the work. As a consequence the garage placed a twelve month lien on it which, when timed out, enabled it to sell the car to recoup its money. In January 1973 it was advertised in Exchange & Mart for £1,000.

It was purchased by Chris Knight who used it extensively as his everyday transport for several years. When his work as a civil engineer took him to Hong Kong, he had it shipped there. He used it competitively there and even took it to China on a Classic car rally in 1988. Upon the handing over of Hong Kong to China, he returned to the U.K. and sold it to dealer Nigel Dawes who in turn passed it to the dealer Jeremy Agace who sold it to a fourth owner, Mike Ridley, in 1990.  In 1992 it was again for sale by Plus 4 Garage in Birmingham for £99,500. There was then a crash in classic car values and by 1992 the car was still for sale at a greatly reduced price. It was then that the third owner, Simon Taylor, bought his old car back! He then commissioned the expert Ace restorer David Sanderson to carry out a total restoration. It was repainted in a metallic blue and converted to a curved screen.

It has won various concours awards since and frequently mentioned in Classic & Sportscar of which Simon Taylor is Editor at Large and makes regular contributions, some featuring his car.

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.
Click on the images below to view at a larger size.