1934 Alvis Speed 20 SC Oxborrow and Fuller Continental Tourer
Extremely rare Vanden Plas coachwork

Registration No: BYL 926
Chassis No: 11908
MOT: Exempt

• Reputedly one of just three Oxborrow and Fuller bodied Alvises, and believed to be the only survivor!
• Owned in the 1980s by cult film producer Pete Walker
• Subject to a comprehensive body-off restoration in the 1990s by The Motor House in Newbury
• Full engine overhaul in the early 2010s by Jim Stokes Workshops
• Supplied with an extensive history file, dating back to the 1950s

"The driver has the benefit of rock steady steering, completely accurate, and without a trace of road shocks, while corners and curves merely give him an opportunity to show up the roadholding of the car at its best. Acceleration is greatly assisted by the new all-synchromesh gearbox, with very quick changes to be made absolutely silently right up through the gears."—Motor Sport, February, 1934

Introduced at the 1934 London Motor Exhibition, the Speed 20 SC was among a new breed of Alvis cars that combined high performance with luxury and refinement. Based around a sturdy cruciform-braced ladder-frame chassis equipped with sizable fourteen-inch drum brakes and "jelly mould" wire wheels, it boasted such technological novelties as independent transverse-leaf front suspension and synchromesh on all four forward gears. Powered by a smooth but free-revving 2,762cc OHV straight-six engine featuring dual magneto and coil ignition, triple SU carburettors and an aluminium crankcase, the model was reputedly capable of 89mph. A corollary of its low-slung stance and long bonnet line, the Speed 20 SC proved an ideal canvas for the coachbuilder's art. Although the majority were bodied to factory-approved designs by Charlesworth and Cross & Ellis, a select few received rather more bespoke treatment.

The more individual end of coachbuilding included those Alvises bodied by the Kingsbury, Middlesex, firm of Vanden Plas, a name most closely associated with the conquering Bentley Le Mans team cars of the 1920s. Having been involved with aircraft production during the 1914-18 war, Vanden Plas struggled to gain a foothold in post-war coachbuilding until it was bought in 1923 by Edwin Fox, who cemented the association with Bentley. It then relied almost exclusively on such custom until Bentley went bankrupt in 1931, at which point Vanden Plas had to find new customers. Some in the motor trade sensed that Vanden Plas's bodies would be perfect for Alvises; agent Charles Follett commissioned Vanden Plas to body several, while the dealership of Oxborrow & Fuller devised the Continental tourer body, which it commissioned Vanden Plas to construct both for Alvises and Bentleys.

H. E. Raphael, the owner of Oxborrow & Fuller, thought very highly of his Continental body, which he had had a hand in designing himself, alongside the professionals at Vanden Plas. Indeed, he adopted a Bentley 3½ Litre Continental Tourer for his personal use in 1935, and the name was not merely fanciful. He actually drove it on a well-publicised Continental tour, accompanied by the Walters sisters, Elsie and Doris, whose comic songs and sketches were then very popular on the radio and the stage. It seems the majority of Oxborrow & Fuller bodies ended up on Bentleys, but three of them are known to have ended up on Alvises, and chassis 11908 is understood to be the only survivor.

This Speed 20 has known history from the 1950s, but its second life began in 1988, when it was reregistered with its original number plate, having been for some years absent from the D.V.L.A.’s records. Intriguingly, its owner at the time was an Alvis Owner Club member, Peter S. Walker of Knightsbridge, a film producer by profession. This was the same Pete Walker who became famous during the 1970s for his string of horror and ‘sexploitation’ films, which had such enticing titles as The Flesh and Blood Show and Die Screaming, Marianne. His début production, For Men Only, is possibly the ninth most famous film starring a Silver Birch Aston Martin DB5… Walker was a great Alvis enthusiast, his stable also accommodating a Firebird, a TA14, a TB14 and a TD21 drophead.

The Alvis underwent a comprehensive bodywork restoration in the 1990s by The Motor House in Hungerford, which totalled some £21,000. It appears to have then given good service for 10 or 15 years, until in 2010 the engine was taken out and entrusted to the Jim Stokes Workshops, for a complete overhaul. The workshops were as meticulous as one would expect, and the work was completed in 2014 after around £50,000 of expenditure. Subsequent work included a dynamo overhaul by Earley Engineering in 2017, and the renewal the various ignition parts by D. A. Cooper in 2019. Our vendor purchased the Alvis in 2022, and proceeded to lavish even more care and attention upon it in 2023, treating it to a full service, new tyres, and the refurbishment of the brakes and the magneto, the work was carried out by IK Sport Classic for £4,200. Not surprisingly, after such expenditure, the Speed 20’s owners have been keen to get some good use out of it, and it has in the past been used as transport to the Goodwood Revival, where it was most at home. After all, it is an easy thing to imagine an R.A.F. officer choosing a Vanden Plas-bodied Alvis for his personal transport, and swapping it for a Spitfire upon arriving for manœuvres at Westhampnett Airfield.

Appearing now in lovely condition all round, with just the right amount of interior patina, our Speed 20 is accompanied by a very thick history file beginning with some R.A.C. correspondence from 1950. There is a multitude of invoices, including many from Red Triangle, which also date back to the ’50s. In addition, there are M.O.T. certificates running back to the 1980s, photographs of the restoration, a dating letter from the Alvis Owner Club for the reallocation of the original registration number, an Alvis Club membership form signed by Pete Walker and, of course, the current V5C.

For more information, please contact:
Paul Cheetham
paul.cheetham@handh.co.uk
07538 667452