Alvis – Speed 25 SC (1937)

Even aficionados might well be deceived in the case of this particular motor car. The two-seater exhibits haute-couture elegance augmented by flamboyant accents and a fully retractable soft top. The tourer’s contour reprises the major French coachbuilders of the 1930s, yet everything about this model is quintessentially English. The technical platform was created by Alvis, while the design of the luxurious bodywork is by Offord & Sons, a wheelwright, coachbuilder and supplier to the Royal Court established in London in 1791.

The firm already styled its first motor-car bodies as early as 1895. However, Offord & Sons later outsourced the embodiment of its in-house designs to selected subcontractors, and that was also the case with this Alvis at the end of 1937. On a par with the two-seater Tourer body – probably one of a kind – the forward-looking Alvis engineering incorporated independent front suspension, an all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox, servo- assisted brakes and built-in air jacks for speedy wheel changes. The current custodian has been looking after this magnificent conveyance since 1995. 2001 saw him putting it through an extended nuts-and-bolts restoration