Chassis Number: 14844
Pre-war development of the 6-cylinder Alvis culminated in the announcement in August 1936 of the 4.3-Litre, designed by the company’s distinguished Chief Engineer, Captain George Smith-Clarke. The 4.3-Litre was based on the 3½-liter Speed 25 introduced the previous year, powered by an enlarged version of Alvis’ new seven-bearing, overhead-valve engine producing 137 horsepower on triple carburetors. The cruciform-braced chassis featured the kind of advanced thinking long associated with the marque. Independent front suspension and a 4-speed, all-synchromesh gearbox, introduced on the preceding Speed Twenty, were retained with the additional refinements of driver-controlled Luvax hydraulic dampers and servo-assisted brakes. Claimed to be the fastest un-supercharged saloon on the U.K. market, the Alvis 4.3-Litre was certainly one of the few pre-war saloons capable of a genuine 100 mph. Sturdily built and endowed with a generous wheelbase, the Alvis 6 attracted some of the finest examples of the pre-war coachbuilders’ art, though the 4.3-Litre’s chassis-only price of £750 meant that ownership was necessarily confined to wealthy connoisseurs. A complete 4.3-Litre cost around £1,100, outstanding value for money given its specification and performance, and comfortably undercutting rivals such as the V12 Lagonda and 4¼ Litre Bentley. Despite this price advantage, only 198 cars had been delivered when the outbreak of World War II stopped production. Some 95 survivors are known to the Alvis Owner Club. This Alvis 4.3-Litre carries drophead coupe coachwork by Whittingham & Mitchel, a company based in New Kings Road, West London, and after World War II in Byfleet, Surrey. W&M were best known as contract body builders for major manufacturers, but did accept commissions on more-upmarket chassis such as Alvis. Virtually identical in style to the short-chassis Vanden Plas Tourer, the bodywork is unique and probably designed to the first owner’s specification. It is unusual in having a fully concealed hood and, being an occasional 4-seater, providing ample luggage space for long-distance touring when the rear seats are folded away. The copy Car Record on file shows that 14844 was erected on the short-wheelbase (10 feet, 4 inches) chassis and originally fitted with a special high-compression engine (15329) and the high axle ratio. Dispatched as chassis-only to Messrs. Hugh Anderson Ltd of London on September 3, 1938, 14844 was re-dispatched as a finished car on November 12 that same year. The original registration was DVB 1, and the Alvis was first owned by wholesale news agent Leslie Edward Martin of Knowle House, Addington Park, Surrey. Mr Martin used the Alvis for barely a year before laying it up for the duration of the war. He parted with the car in 1945. Purchased at auction by the current vendor in May 2000, the car was restored between 2002 and 2004 by renowned marque specialists Red Triangle of Kenilworth, Warwickshire, who have continued to maintain it since then. It represents a wonderful opportunity to acquire one of the fastest production cars of its era and the very embodiment of the term “Post-Vintage Thoroughbred.”
