Track down this Nelson Special

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Throwback Thursday! We were approached by Tom Nelson about an old article in our online magazine. He told us his grandfather – Thomas Grant Nelson built the Nelson Special we told you about. Tom sent us this old picture of the car with the question if we can help him to get in contact with the current owner. After all these years, Tom would love to see the car again. Back in 2018, the Nelson Special was advertised at PreWarCar.com. Does anybody know who currently owns the Nelson Special or can tell us where it is? Any help would be much appreciated!

Nelson Special

We like it when a car has a special story, and it certainly goes for the Nelson Special. Although the radiator badge proudly mentions HE as its marque (for Herbert Engineering), this car really should be named the Nelson Special, built by farmer Thomas Grant Nelson of Kingston Lisle. Herbert Engineering had gone under in 1931, by which time Tom Nelson used his car as a daily driver for some years (picture 2). The car started its life as a conventional open tourer with a body by Ranalah of London.

But Nelson found it was not totally to his satisfaction. And after a couple of years, he started modifying the car. Or actually, he started building a new car, using most of the car’s front and rear suspension, drums, axles and much of the chassis. Remarkably, perhaps, the engine and gearbox, the nickel-plated radiator and the Ranalah body ‘were all sacrificed to Passey’s scrapyard at Benson, in exchange for a set of Daracq centre-lock wire wheels.’ The engine and gearbox were being replaced by a brand-new Ford flathead V8 and its standard 3-speed gearbox ordered directly from the US and arriving in Kingston Lisle in December 1934.

For the next few months, Nelson was busy putting all the reconditioned and new parts together. He also drew a new body design and handed that over to Ranalah of London as they were once again commissioned to clothe the car. In early 1935 it was ready, although it took until 1936 to have it road registered - ANJ 172.

Nelson drove the car to his satisfaction until the war interfered and he moved to Scotland to work for the Royal Navy as an anti-submarine instructor. Upon returning to his Berkshire farm after the war, Nelson started using his Special once again and now frequently drove it to London and back, soon passing the 100,000 miles mark on its odometer. By 1951 it was re-registered. Another ten years of use went by when the wear and tear on the car became all too obvious.

It is taken off the road, although it takes Nelson until the late 1960s before a restoration is started. Well… the body is removed and that is about it. When Thomas Nelson passes away in 1979, it is still parked in his barn. The decades pass by when the car is sold in early 1992. David Beare is to become the new owner, and he starts the thorough restoration Nelson must have had in mind all those years. Beare does a wonderful job and by 1996 the car is on the road again.

Fast forward another 22 years and the Nelson Special is ready for a new caretaker. Do you think you can follow the footsteps of Nelson and Beare?

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