To be sold at the Gooding & Company Amelia Island Auction on March 8, 2013. For further details please visit www.goodingco.com or contact a vehicle specialist at 001.310.899.1960 or specialist@goodingco.com.
Engine Specifications:
1,496 CC OHV Inline 4-Cylinder Engine
Twin SU Carburetors
55 BHP at 2,500 RPM
4-Speed Manual Gearbox
4-Wheel Mechanical Drum Brakes
Front Independent Suspension with Leaf Springs
Rear Semi-Elliptical Leaf-Spring Suspension with Floating Axle
About this Car:
When experienced club racers Major E.A. Halford, Guy H. Robbins, and H.R. Godfrey founded H.R.G. Engineering of Surrey, England, in 1935, their mission was simple: to create a purpose-built sports/racing car with a strong power-to-weight ratio and a responsive chassis. Building approximately three-dozen roadsters prior to the outbreak of WWII, H.R.G. found racing success with a 10th Place finish at the 1938 Le Mans, and the cars were quite popular with independent racing concerns.
In 1938, Major Halford pursued the development of a coupe, which would prove to be the only enclosed H.R.G. ever produced. Halford dropped a 1.5-liter Triumph Gloria engine and gearbox into the chassis of one of his Halford Special race cars, widening the frame and fitting it with a streamlined body that combined the rear end of an MG PA Airline Coupe with a coachbuilt front end from the A. Crofts Coachbuilding firm.
Though undeniably beautiful, the H.R.G. Coupe was apparently the source of some contention among the company’s management and, following Halford’s resignation, the remaining partners quickly sold the car to a private owner who used it as a daily driver for the following 23 years. In 1961, the unique car was acquired by a student at Sheffield University, who sold it three years later to his friend, the consignor.
Stored by the consignor upon his 1965 acquisition, the H.R.G. Coupe was imported to the US in 1985 and in 2000 underwent a full restoration by Hahn and Woodward Auto Restoration of Harmony, Pennsylvania. Completed in July 2010, the meticulous restoration debuted to stunning effect at the 2011 Radnor Hunt Concours, where the car earned both an Artists Award and a Radnor Award. The H.R.G. was presented and awarded at numerous prestigious exhibitions in 2012, including the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance (Road & Track Editor’s Choice Award), the “Celebration of Automobiles” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Second in Class and a Road & Track “Top 5” pick), and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
In autumn 2012, the H.R.G. also won the Most Distinguished Design Award at the Glenmoor Gathering and a Second in Class at the Louisville Concours d’Elegance. The subject of feature articles in the January and February 2013 issues of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, this immaculately restored one-of-a-kind H.R.G. Coupe is one of Britain’s rarest and most intriguing pre-war sports cars, combining a racing pedigree with superlative coachwork design.
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