Flavien and Vanessa Marçais are both steeped in motorsport. Brought up around fine motor cars in families rooted in racing on either side of the English Channel, the duo bring huge experience and passion to the challenging and often difficult roles of organising and running events.
Automobiles Historiques: Expect the Extraordinary
Client confidentiality, utmost discretion, specialist expertise, personal attention and ultimately trust are the proud professional hallmarks of Automobiles Historiques Limited. For 20 years principals Flavien and Vanessa Marçais have sourced, researched, bought and sold a plethora of the world’s finest cars.
The Anglo-French husband-and-wife team behind the growing business were both brought up in respected motoring families. Passion for motoring is in their blood. Embroiled in collecting, restoring and racing cars since childhood, Flavien and Vanessa can also draw upon a network of discreet contacts globally.
Successfully marketing extraordinary classic and competition cars demands an extremely high level of specialist knowledge. A specialist writer and historian, Flavien’s encyclopaedic memory for detail is underpinned by an exceptional automotive library and world-class photographic archive, uniquely in-house.
This notably includes the collection of Flavien’s Late grandfather Serge Pozzoli, Christian Moity’s library and Ferret Fotographics, the motorsport image library built up over decades by Ted Walker, which comprises over 7-million original images and was added to the collection in 2017.
Wife Vanessa is British, daughter of leading Jaguar restorer and specialist Aubrey Finburgh. She, too, has raced Historic sportscars. Having carved out her career in the historic motoring world from a young age, working with some of the best in the industry, Vanessa founded Automobiles Historiques Limited – parent company of the “GT & Sports Car Cup” race series – with husband Flavien some 20 years ago.
The majority of cars Automobiles Historiques deal with are not advertised, but matched by Private Treaty to individual requirements. If you are minded to acquire a very special car, or find a new custodian for one you have cherished, Automobiles Historiques Limited’s track record is exemplary. Please do not hesitate to contact them! Find out more here.
Current Inventory
1970 Nomad-BRM Mark 3
The amateur designer/builder/racer’s days in International sportscar racing were numbered when Mark Konig, Bob Curl and Julian Pratt created the Nomad Mk3 for the 1970 season. Despite a tight budget, designer Curl’s lighter, sleeker evolution of the race-winning tubular framed Mk2 chassis – still powered by a two-litre ‘Tasman’ BRM V8 engine – was an ultra-professional effort which attracted widespread admiration from rival teams. Stockbroker Konig, who funded it, and professional Tony Lanfranchi demonstrated the car’s potential in European endurance events before the money ran dry, but lack of resources against the grandees ultimately thwarted the project. Konig and Paul Vestey duly took Mk3 to Southern Africa for the 1970-’71 Springbok series, Mark finishing a gratifying third in the three-hour finale at Welkom’s new Goldfields Raceway, his and the gallant little marque’s swansong.
Historic raced by subsequent owners with Ford V6 and Porsche flat-six power, Nomad Mk3 was superbly restored to original spec – with wailing BRM V8 engine and Hewland FG400 gearbox – by highly-reputed Simon Ayliff for the vendor in 2017 and demonstrated at the 2021 Goodwood Revival Meeting. A magnificent testament to period enterprise, offered with current HTP, this unique and charismatic warhorse is a passport to the finest historic racing events worldwide. Find out more
1977 Wolf-Cosworth WR1/2
The first series of Canadian-born Austrian Walter Wolf’s eponymous Formula 1 cars was iconic. For a brand new team to win on its Grand Prix debut was sensational, but hungry South African Jody Scheckter and Hesketh graduate Dr Harvey Postlethwaite’s stunning ‘WR1’ design was a strong combination for the 1977 season. The distinctive car wowed on its launch. Postlethwaite shrink-wrapped the wide-floored sheet aluminium monocoque, Ford Cosworth V8 engine and Hewland FG400 gearbox in a deliciously curvaceous body, accentuated by one of the greatest liveries of its era, and it proved ultra-reliable.
Scheckter’s Argentinian victory was no flash in the pan, for he added Monaco – the DFV engine’s 100th win – and appropriately his patron’s Canadian round. Jody finished second in the World Championship to Ferrari’s Niki Lauda (who also triumphed thrice), single-car equipe Wolf fourth in the Constructors’ title race.
Automobiles Historiques is proud to offer chassis WR1/2, direct from long-term ownership. Scheckter drove it to second in the German GP at Hockenheim, where it also qualified on pole position, and third in Spain (photo above) and Holland. That a sister car, used for testing, graces his collection, says it all. Both WR1/2 and the spare Wolf have previously competed in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and are eminently eligible for the 2024 edition. Both the Wolfs and a large number of spares are available as a unique opportunity to purchase as a package. Find out more
1950 Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica
Frazer Nash boss HJ ‘Aldy’ Aldington and Norman Culpan’s remarkable third place in the 1949 Le Mans 24 Hours driving a prototype High Speed model was the zenith of the fabled British marque’s competition history. Beaten only by an exotic V12 Ferrari 166 MM and a big Delage, the success spawned a production run of [renamed] Le Mans Replicas at AFN Limited’s Falcon Works in Isleworth. Evolved from BMW’s pre-war 1971cc six-cylinder OHV power units, built to FN specification by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the triple Solex-carburetted engines endowed the charismatic cycle-winged cars with pep to match their sharp handling.
Frazer Nash’s silver 1950 Earls Court [London] Show car, this example was supplied to Swedish Bristol agent Hans Ostermann. Second owner Sam Gillberg raced it on circuits – and ice! – eighth in the ’53 Caen GP sportscar event his highlight.
Acquired in ’59 by Peter Lindkvist, who repainted it green, this well-documented car was repatriated from Sweden to England in ’86 by Frank Sytner, who took it on the Mille Miglia retrospective. Cherished in one family ownership since ’97, this superb Le Mans Rep, a class and overall handicap classification winner on the 1999 Tour de France Automobile, has also competed at the Le Mans Classic and GP de Monaco Historique. Find out more
1963 Jaguar E-Type ‘Low Drag’ Coupé
Five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jaguar’s E-type may not have matched its C and D-type forbears’ achievements at La Sarthe, but its mission was different. From its introduction in 1961 the E-type’s drop head gorgeous styling immediately made it the Grand Touring Car everybody desired. A winner on its race debut at Oulton Park, the model enjoyed successes on tracks worldwide, particularly when evolved into the ultimate factory Lightweight versions, which of course are now priceless.
Legendary Jaguar aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer masterminded arguably the most beautiful E-type derivative – the ultra-sleek Low Drag Coupé – in a wind tunnel, where its figures were even more impressive than the Lightweights.’
Acquired from the factory and raced by dealer Dick Protheroe in 1963-’64, it finished second overall to a snarling Ferrari sports-prototype on its debut at Reims. EC1001’s participation in international races is why the configuration is recognised by the FIA as a period specification.
The magnificent car we are proud to offer was built to the Low Drag Coupé’s blueprint with no expense spared by Swedish engineer Hans-Erik Johansson in 2004, from a superb US import 1963 FHC, and uses its original engine. Acquired from Johansson by its current owner in 2016, #889326 has been raced once at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, then fastidiously re-prepared and detailed by marque specialist Riedling & Mouser Ltd. Eligible for prestigious Pre-’66 GT racing events, including Goodwood and GT & Sports Car Cup, this svelte stunner is road registered, thus would equally grace the Coupe des Alpes or Modena Cento Ore rallies, and is guaranteed to wow at the most exclusive automotive gatherings worldwide. Learn more
