THREE-WHEELING THE FRENCH WAY.(Escape Roads)

Byline: LARRY SANATA

When Dave Rex began thinking about racing something a bit slower than Corvettes, he knew where to begin his search: the Antique Automobile Club of America's Eastern Division National Fall Meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

He mounted a sign on a wagon he was pulling. It said, simply: "Wanted. Old Racer.''

It wasn't long before he was approached by a couple who wondered if he would be interested in a three-wheeled racer. Rex had never heard of the car, a Sandford, but he was intrigued enough to fly to see it in Sarasota, Florida.

There, stored in an air- conditioned warehouse, was a 1927 Sandford S Grand Sport. With its polished-aluminum body, with two forward-mounted cycle fenders and a swooping exhaust pipe, it was crude-looking, perhaps a bit longer and less streamlined than the more familiar three-wheelers made by the Morgan Motor Co.

After examining the car and its 1098-cc, four-cylinder overhead-valve Ruby engine, and despite what must be the strangest gearshift pattern in the universe, Rex bought the old car and has been racing it ever since. He has managed to track down some of the history behind this fascinating French car.

The company founder, Stewart Sandford, was an Englishman living in Paris and a distributor for Morgan three-wheelers. He also raced them. In 1924, however, he decided to begin building his own cars.