Last updated on August 24, 2024
Today’s car is a 1957 AC Bristol Aceca that was owned by Ed and Carla Mazula who can take credit for collecting and running 16 Years of the California Mille from 2004 to 2019. It is now owned by Phil and Wendy Schmidt. I photographed this car at the San Pedro Elks Lodge Cars and Coffee event. The car is finished in black with black leather interior with walnut wood trim.
It is powered by inline 6-cylinder engine, based on a design from BMW, producing 130 hp, 2.0 liter, Bristol 100D2 engine with 3-Solex 32PBI-6 downdraft carburetors mated to a 4-speed manual transmission with overdrive and 3.91:1 rear axle and 3.21:1 rear axle in overdrive. Slowing this beauty down are disc brakes up front and finned-aluminum drum brakes in the rear. It has 4-Wheel Independent suspension with transverse leaf springs, lower wishbones, individual rear half-axles, and Girling hydraulic shock absorbers sitting on a ladder-style tubular steel chassis.
The in-line six Bristol engine that is fitted into this Aceca-Bristol was based on a design from BMW with a cast iron block and aluminum cylinder head. It has a single camshaft with 12-pushrods running vertically to a rocker shaft on the intake side of the engine and another 6-horizontal pushrods running in tubes over the top of the engine in order to reach the exhaust rockers. The two inclined rocker covers give the engine an appearance of an overhead – camshaft engine. The three inline Solex downdraft carburetors are bolted directly to the cylinder head. Note, the three unusual velocity stacks mounted atop of the carburetors. The intent of velocity stacks is to straighten out and increase the velocity by promoting a more consistent fuel draw and a better mixture of the air and fuel (the Bernoulli effect). I have never seen anything like them before and have not found any information on this unique design since.
The Ace was introduced in 1953 at the London Motor Show and was produced beginning in 1954 and continued production through 1963. The Aceca, the fastback variant, debuted in 1954 with a total of 328 units produced, of those 169 were built with the Bristol engine, and of those only 64 were left hand drive, and this is the only one that ever made it through the Panama Canal and ended up here in the Long Beach Harbor. Bristol ceased building their 6-cylinder engine in 1961. Originally priced at $5,400 in the U.S. but the Bristol engine added another $1000 to the price tag. The published top speed of 116 MPH with a 0-60 mph time of 9.1 Seconds.
This is a beautiful rare original car that retains its matching numbers engine and number stamped body panels. What a great car to take to concours d’Elegance events, British car shows, Cars and Coffee events of just enjoying the pride of ownership by taking a cruise up the coast with like minded friends. Thank you for riding along. Frank
