Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

The miniature world of Sandy Fraser

Among these local manufacturers I came across Sandy’s firm, AF Cars, that had produced a series of Mini-based three-wheelers in the 1970s and 80s. However it was only recently that I actually met Sandy and found he’d had an incredibly creative life, including making some of the best miniature classic commercial vehicles I’ve ever seen.

Early days
I started out by asking Sandy about his early working life. “When I left school I went to Imperial College in London to study electrical engineering,” he replied, “however I never qualified as university life definitely wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to be taught, I wanted to think for myself.”
Who wouldn’t admire such a statement?

The year was now 1958 and after leaving his studies behind Sandy had a look around and managed to get a position with Wimbledon Motor Works, who were BMC dealers. Here he started in the service department on the reception, but what he really wanted to do was go into the workshop. The company eventually decided to give him a chance and his first job was stripping down an accident-damaged A35 van. “I never had an apprenticeship,” he said, “I just got on with the job.”

Over the next couple of years Sandy learned the job of a mechanic, spending time with the auto electricians, bodyworks etc. However, his time there ended abruptly due to no fault of his own. While out road testing a Mini he suffered an accident due to a mechanical failure. Nobody was hurt but unfortunately the Mini was a write-off and at that time the garage’s insurer had a rule that any driver involved in a serious accident was automatically taken off their policy. He had just been offered the post of chief tester but since he could no longer have a driving job, he decided to go elsewhere.

He soon found work at another garage but didn’t stay long as they were very poorly equipped – they didn’t even have a pit! Fortunately he was welcomed back by his previous employer until he got sorted out.

It didn’t take long before he found another job, this time with Cooper’s at Surbiton. “I went to see them to ask if they had any vacancies. Unfortunately they said they hadn’t but as I was leaving I noticed the team Minis with their front subframes removed. I asked the foreman why. He replied: “The engines go back to BMC after every race.” I said: “But why are the subframes out? I’ve been taking Mini engines out through the bonnet, it’s much quicker!” With that the foreman told me to hang on while he nipped to see the general manager. I was then called in to meet him and when I entered his office, the first thing he said was: “Can you start Monday?”

A job with Cooper’s would seem to be an ideal job for a young lad but Sandy didn’t really like it. His heart was with old vehicles not modern cars. Since his days at Wimbledon Motor Works he’d run vintage machinery including Rolls-Royces, a Lea Francis and a Daimler limousine. One day one of Cooper’s draughtsmen said to him that he seemed to be more interested in vintage cars than racing and that his uncle ran a business in Wiltshire restoring vintage Bentleys and he suggested that Sandy went to see him.

With Sandy’s obvious interest in old vehicles he got the job. “Altogether I worked there for nearly three years,” said Sandy. While there he found out about many different sources for vintage vehicle parts and approached his boss about starting a vintage accessory business to run alongside the Bentley restorations. However, beyond Bentleys, his boss had no interest in the wider view of vintage cars and Sandy eventually decided to leave and start his own business.
There was however to be one bonus to this time in Wiltshire as he met his future wife Sue there!

Self employment
It was now 1967 and Sandy wasted no time in setting up his new business which he christened ‘Alexander Fraser, Vintage Motor Fittings & Accessories’ and a catalogue was soon issued. He even converted his old Morgan three-wheeler into a van! After about 18 months however a company called Antique Automobiles Ltd offered to buy him out and take him on as manager.

After a bit of thought Sandy accepted the offer and he and his family moved to south Lincolnshire. It was at this point that Sandy suggested that the business name be changed to ‘The Complete Automobilist Ltd’.

To help promote the business Sandy acquired his first classic commercial in the shape of an ex-Hants & Dorset 1928 Leyland Lion PLSC3 bus. This was restored to running order and became a mobile shop hawking their wares at rallies and race meetings up and down the country.

It was while working as manager here that Sandy decided to build himself a three-wheeled sports car. This used an MG 1300 engine/gearbox with a Shorrock supercharger adapted to provide an 8lb boost!

The front subframe, suspension and steering came from a Mini and it had a single Mini trailing arm at the rear. The body was of marine ply on a teak frame. This little car turned out to be such fun to drive that even his boss asked him to make him one!

Not content with just making cars, Sandy decided to try out a money-making idea he’d had – to build a half-size open-topped double decker (1910 London B type) which he could take to shows etc and give kids rides. Altogether the bus cost under £60 to make and was a complete success, recouping the original investment several times over. It used a Standard Ten engine and gearbox and had a centre pivoted front axle.

This bus was in fact such a success that it actually started off a series of miniature vehicles designed by Sandy. Seven more of these double  deckers were made over the next few years although these used Hillman Imp swiveling front hub assemblies instead of a centrally pivoted front axle and most had Herald 1200 engines and gearboxes.

Garage proprietor
In 1973 Sandy moved back to Wiltshire to run a village garage. The workshops there became a bit of a production line for the AF three-wheelers and miniature double-deckers, which were sold under the name of Lion Omnibuses.

In addition, as if he wasn’t busy enough already, he and Sue also designed and built their own house which had many innovative features. These included a central heating system where each radiator was piped to a central manifold under a hatch in the landing floor. From there you could turn off any part of the system to allow a radiator to be changed etc without having to shut everything down.
And just to make sure he wasn’t bored he was also a retained firefighter!

The design Sandy came up with next was a 5⁄8 scale Hants & Dorset Leyland Lion, like the one at The Complete Automobilist Ltd but 17ft long and the width of a Mini! It had a rather special chassis without cross members between the cab and the rear axle. This allowed the centre of the floor to be Mini floor height and gave room to walk along the centre of the body with only a mild stoop! The dropped floor was well reinforced to withstand contact with the ground should that occur. No seats were fitted behind the rear axle which left a large luggage space. This bus was actually used as the family car for several years, and towing a trailer it could deliver the small double deckers.

In 1983 Sandy was finding that the days of the small village garage were coming to an end and so the entire site was sold for a small housing development and the family again moved up to Lincolnshire in order to concentrate on the Lion Omnibuses business.

Once the business was up and running Sandy decided he needed a small pick-up and so set about designing and building a vehicle inspired by an old WW1 Leyland RAF lorry. Again the mechanical components for this came from the trusty Mini 1300. The panels were mostly aluminium although glass-fibre mudguards were fitted. Sandy’s lorry gave superb service to the company, collecting parts and delivering finished vehicles, (including eight electric Model T Fords!) all over the country.

Miniature Matadors.
One interesting project that came up in the 80s was to build a scaled-down AEC Matador for the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. However, unlike Sandy’s previous designs the Matador had all its wheels driven.

To do this, the Mini-type engine was mounted longitudinally instead of transverse, with the drive shafts connected to both axles (modified Bedford HA rear axles) which were centre pivoted. The driver sat towards the middle of the vehicle and to the right-hand side of the centre backbone chassis, the engine being on the left side hidden by dummy packing crates. This lorry, painted in early post-war RAF colours, could tow several trailers to ferry up to about 100 visitors at a time around the museum. This lorry was so successful that another in Army desert colours was also ordered.

The Lands Ender
The next miniature lorry was to pull a ‘land train’ for tourists at Land’s End. Sandy said: “I liked the look of the Scammells from the 1950s and 60s that were often seen on fairgrounds, so that’s what I suggested.” This design was to be a bit different however, as for once Sandy didn’t have to design the chassis as it was to be built on a brand new Daihatsu Fourtrak chassis.

The Fourtrak arrived at the Lion workshops and was promptly stripped of its body and replaced with the replica Scammell cab and ballast box. By the way, when the lorry was inspected by the Daihatsu dealer he was so impressed with the workmanship that he said he’d still honour the warranty on all the unmodified mechanical components!

The ‘Greenfly’
Despite these successes, things were tough in the business world at the time and so in 1987 Sandy decided to sell up. After a short period as an HGV driver Sandy got a job more to his liking as a paid engineer on the Nene Valley Railway. For this job he needed a van to cart his tools and MIG welder about and so he decided to design and build his own, inspired by the Scammell Mechanical Horse. For this vehicle, christened ‘the Greenfly’ by his children, the chassis and engine etc came from a Reliant Robin. The body was mostly steel framed with timber and aluminium paneling. The cab was glass-fibre. Sandy recalled: “It was very quick but so light it could be quite badly affected by crosswinds.”

Unfortunately things didn’t go well for Sandy at the railway as in 1989 he fell from the roof of a coach, damaging his spine. His doctors could not believe that he wasn’t paralysed, but it did finish his career.

Today Sandy is retired but as you’d expect from such an inventive mind he still keeps remarkably busy, and is currently building a complicated model railway layout for which he has done most of his own electronics.