Obituary- H.J Aldington

Another link with the old days of motoring sport has been severed with the sad demise, following a stroke and long illness, of H. J. Aldington. “Aldy” will be forever remembered by the “Chain Gang” as the Father of the Frazer Nash movement, from 1927 onwards. He had been a disciple of H. R. Godfrey and “Archie” Frazer-Nash, as a Frazer Nash salesman, his proud boast according to Thirlby, being that he could get from the centre of London to any place 40 miles distant, in the hour. Leaving the parent Company, he set up on his own in Kew, still selling, and modifying, the inimitable chain-drive cars. In 1929, when “Archie” Nash turned to civil engineering, Aldington became Managing Director of AFN Ltd.—”High Priest” of the Chain Gang, if you prefer, aided and abetted by his brothers, Bill and Don.

Thereafter this trio, operating from the famous Falcon Works in then traminfested Isleworth„ developed and sold the Frazer Nash motor car and kept open-house to the fanatical enthusiasts who bought them. The majority of the customers were decidedly competition-minded and “H.J.” himself drove Frazer Nashes in all manner of events, from Alpine Trials to short thrashes round Brooklands—always “catalogue models”, of course.

In these pursuits “D.A.” joined him. Later other makes intruded. In 1931 there was an attempt to sell Aston Martins alongside Frazer Nashes, the “conventional” alongside the “unconventional” as some had it. In 1935 the BMW, which had impressed “Aldy” as a worthy competitor in the Alpine, came to Isleworth, disguised as a Frazer Nash-BMW. Thus were we introduced to the delights of the 328 and other models. The by-now-refined triple-cylinder two,-stroke DKW and the chainless Bristol-‘Nashes followed after the war, and today AFN deal, as if you need to be retninded, in Porsches.

But it is racing, rallying and selling the old Frazer Nash cars that I prefer to remember H. J. Aldington; it is nice to know that in his declining years the oneand-only “H.J.” had happy memories of those exciting days long ago.—W.B.