Thankfully Robert never threw anything away, so when Alvis called in 1970 to ask, Please Sir, if the car could be present at the firm’s Golden jubilee, he worked like a thing possessed to re-convert his latest stylistic creation into the original, and turned up on time, albeit with the car clad in undercoat only (and wet at that).  For this reason, the car that many will remember during Robert’s successful campaigning during the ‘70s and 80’s was actually sporting the original body, and it is only during it’s most recent restoration that I have finally retired it on the grounds that further use would have either damaged it or required unsightly bracing.  I strongly believe, as Robert did, that HP6161 should not become a museum piece, but in the event that it does the original body is still there, mounted on the wall of No.1’s home as a testament to earlier glories.

In daily use by both Jack and Robert, the car has had an eventful past.  The liberal drilling of the chassis and consequent ability to fix things thereto with relative ease exposed No.1 to a certain amount of abuse over the years.  In Northamptonshire carnivals it has been disguised variously as an airplane, a steam train and a Viking longship, with instructions shouted down to hidden driver from cockpit, footplate or bridge.

 It was borrowed on more than one occasion by Alvis themselves for much the same purpose.  An aircraft has crash landed on it, and it has been rolled several times (the last time at Cadwell).  Despite the one-and-a-half seat configuration (the mechanic’s seat is offset to the left and rear of the driver’s), my wife fondly remembers being taken to school in the car along with her sister on a regular basis during her early childhood.

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