What would you do with this Alvis chassis..?

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With lockdown rules slowly loosening up a little, Brightwells auctioneers is back again with an online auction. Plenty of Land- and Range Rovers in between the 68-strong lot offer, but also a few pre-Wars that may well interest you.

We like the Austin 12 Berkeley saloon of 1933 with ‘plenty of space for all the family’ and this lovely and early original RHD Fiat Topolino that has been in single-family ownership for the last 36 years. How modern it must have been in its day, being just four years the Austin 12’s junior! Oh – and how about this VW Transporter to carry them home but, hey, that’s way too modern!

Perhaps the car with the most potential is this Alvis rolling chassis that almost looks as if it left the Coventry works back in 1937. It’s a Speed 25 with all the bells and whistles and pros of its state-of-the-art mechanicals: 108 hp 3.6-litre straight-six and 100mph top speed to sum it up in a few cold words. But that’s just the beginning, isn’t it? We understand that this particular example originally came to life as a Charlesworth saloon but that body has gone missing somewhere in its 83-years lifespan. Probably in the 1970s, when an Essex owner planned to turn it into an open tourer. No doubt he meant it well, but it never happened. That didn’t withhold a next proprietor to pump lots of money in the project. Earley Engineering and TWR – not Tom Walkinshaw Racing but Tim Walker Restorations - were called to the rescue and some serious invoices were written out. And paid.

Meanwhile, the chassis had become what it looks like today, while engine and gearbox are present but remain unrestored. According to Brightwells, the current owner planned to create another open tourer in the style of an Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Spider or Delahaye 135 MS Cabriolet. Sweet dreams. But once again, it was not meant to be and so the unfinished project is on the market once more.

We wonder: what would you do with it..?

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy Brightwells.

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