Famous Owners

Donald Campbell's Bristol-engined "Bluebird"

Donald Campbell, the speed-record holder who, in 1964, set both the world land speed record (over 400 mph, at Lake Eyre in Australia) and the world water speed record (over 270 mph, at Lake Dumbleyung), the only person ever to take both in the same year, ran an AC Aceca as his personal car in the mid-1950s. And not just any Aceca: his was the prototype, the very car AC showed on its stand at the 1954 Earls Court Motor Show and later ran as the works demonstrator, registered VPL 441, chassis AEC56, and finished in a dark "Bluebird" blue.

Campbell was among the first owners to have his car factory-converted to Bristol 100B specification, fitting the more powerful Bristol 100B six as soon as it became available, the engine that would become the standard Aceca power unit, and exactly the upgrade a man obsessed with power-to-weight would want. The aircraft-grade aluminium body and the racing-bred Bristol engine made a fitting road car for a speed king; he used it before moving on, in time, to E-Type Jaguars. The prototype survives today, restored, and is still known as the "AC Bluebird."

Fully restored, the prototype survives as the "AC Bluebird" and is still driven as intended, regularly campaigned at historic events including the Goodwood Revival and the Mille Miglia by its current custodian, Kevin Shilling, and still finished in a deep Bluebird-blue.

Ian Fleming's Ford-powered Ruddspeed

The creator of James Bond was a serious car enthusiast, Bentleys, Thunderbirds, and, in 1962, an AC Aceca described as his first proper sports car. Fleming's was one of the rarest of all: a Ford 2.6 " Ruddspeed " Aceca (chassis RS5506), one of only eight Ford-powered Acecas built and among just six thought to survive. He ordered it from the Thames Ditton factory in Ruddspeed "Stage II" tune, triple SU carburettors, larger valves, lightened pistons, dark blue with red leather, even an FM radio, and registered it "9181 ML" in August 1962.

The timing is a nice footnote: 1962 was the year Fleming completed "The Spy Who Loved Me," the tenth Bond novel. Ever restless with his cars, he sold the Aceca about a year later. When it came up for auction decades on, the Bond connection helped it fetch a record price for the model.

Two owners, two engines

It is a neat illustration of the Aceca's range that its two most famous owners chose opposite ends of it: Campbell the muscular Bristol, Fleming the rare, high-revving Ford Ruddspeed. Same beautiful hand-built coupé; two very different characters, which is rather the point of the car. The same open-versus-closed split is explored in the Ace vs Aceca comparison.

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