Introduction

 

Having just returning from Vintage Prescott, with No.1 performing faultlessly (as a spectator), I am torn between writing this note and delving into the garage for more fettling.  Since we passed our MOT in May, the car has enjoyed invitations to the Brooklands Centenary and the International Alvis Day at Wimpole Hall.  For both of these we arrived courtesy of someone.  Prescott, however, was achieved under our own power – and it was particularly satisfying to be able to arrive at our ‘local’ event without the assistance of others.  The return journey was slightly more interesting (more of which later), hence the wish to return to the workshop; but for the moment the spanners will have to wait.  These three events, all in quick succession, have generated more interest than I anticipated and, as someone commented recently, a new generation of Alvis owners is beginning to emerge to whom the car is nothing more than a page in a reference book or an entry in a list of times at Prescott or Shelshely.

 

I hope therefore that what follows is a balanced mix of historical detail and practical information gained from close on 4500 hours work in the restoration; as well as being an unashamed evocation of the mystique and charisma of the marque in general and this unique vehicle in particular.  To illustrate and lighten my prose I have included photographs, some new, some very old, that hopefully capture the essence of the car.

 

History

 

Alvis Works Racing Car No. 1 is probably one of the most written about and photographed cars in the history of the company.  It has been the subject of much attention since it was first built in 1923, but has been out of the limelight for the last two decades (apart from one isolated static appearance at Silverstone in 1996) because of a pinch bolt ‘mishap’.  This well-documented Achilles heel in an otherwise pretty bullet-proof engine, to mix metaphors, was responsible for substantial damage to much of the lower part of the engine, and at one point the near loss of unique and irreplaceable original parts.  The scale of the destruction, together with other circumstances served to keep the car out of sight for the longest period in it’s eighty-three year history, so I have a bit to catch up.  But let us start at the beginning:

 

Chassis 2091, Engine 2454EX (for EXperimental), Car No. 7577 Alvis 12/50 SA Works Racing Car No.1 was built during the early summer of 1923 and first driven by the works racing driver Maurice Harvey at South Harting on July 28th.  The car was, in common with others built around that period, a mix of 10/30 and 12/40 parts with the new 1496cc OHV engine.  In common with the later No.s 2 & 3 cars, the chassis used was one of a batch of (very) lightweight subframe series from Thompsons whose background was recently covered in David Gregory’s excellent article in the Summer 2006 issue of the Register Bulletin.

 

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