Solved - MJW #004 - LVT 1947

[woodinsight]

Not Alvis.

[woodinsight]

Can the Pros solve this without blinking an eyelid? Let's see!

[D-type]

It is British isn't it?

[woodinsight]

It certainly is!

[woodinsight]

Another small clue - the name of this car was the initials of the man who commissioned it.......

[woodinsight]

This is in danger of slipping towards the dreaded Black Hole.

Additional small snippets of information on this car may be gleaned from magazines in the late 1970s/early 1980s and if you have access to early motoring journals of the 1950s the answer is there.
I repeat that the name of this car is three letters - the initials of the builder.

[Allan L]

I certainly don't remember this car, but I'll repeat the comment I made but had to delete (as it was still an "expert" puzzle at the time) which is that the wheelnuts (and perhaps the wheels) look like Alvis to me. Duncan has been told it's not an Alvis but perhaps there's more Alvis content than what's visible.

[woodinsight]

You could well be right Allan.
As far as I know the car was built from scratch using a specially designed chassis plus a body resembling an early Healey and a relatively expensive 2 litre engine.
I'm sure the builder made use of many parts from other makes (inc. Alvis)

[woodinsight]

I think it's time to resurrect this one as it's proving too obscure even for the professionals.

Let's try to do it this way - the name of the car is the three initials of the builder's name.
Therefore what I'm looking for is x.x.x.

So - first clue is the last letter of the car's name.
- it represents the first letter of his surname.
He shares it with a well-known British comedy actor (now deceased) whose films featured many sports cars.

I'll carry on with the other letters as each is solved.
Hope that you can follow the above. As it's a very British car, the clues will be British in nature.

[Allan L]

OK let me play "invent-a-car" and see how I get on.
"relatively expensive 2 litre engine" says Bristol in my opinion.
British Comedy Actor whose films featured many sports cars could be Terry-Thomas.
Can't think of a special builder called Thomas apart from Parry T and it's too late for him.
Hey-ho, dead-end.

[woodinsight]

Thomas is correct Allan.
Well done
Just need the other initials now.
I believe Mr. Thomas also raced at some period - either pre-war or immediately post-war.
I'll check and see if I have some more information on his racing career and add this information when we find the name.

In the meantime we have x.x.T

and the second clue is -
  the first letter of the Christian name of another well-known actor, this time American and now deceased who was     famous for his roles in semi-serious horror films

[Tom_I]

and the second clue is -
  the first letter of the Christian name of another well-known actor, this time American and now deceased who was famous for his roles in semi-serious horror films

V for Vincent Price?

[woodinsight]

That's correct Tom
I think I'll award a point for each correct initial at this point in time.
It's the only way to solve this I think.

So now we have - x.V.T.

The third and last clue is another British actor/director (again deceased) who was involved with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. His Christian name begins with the missing letter for the puzzle.

[Tom_I]

Would that be L for Lionel Jeffries?

[woodinsight]

Yes it is!
Well done.

I have to apologise for the unprofessional way of solving this puzzle but I thought it necessary if it's not going to hang around forever.

So - now we have the answer - LVT - Lionel Vincent Thomas, the man who was behind this unusual car.
I'll add what I know about it over the weekend and perhaps others can add to this information.

In the meantime I'll add two points to Tom_I and one to Allan_L for helping with the identification.
I'll move it to solved but as always it's open to further discussion.

[Carnut]

Well blow me.
I actually sat in this car when it was For Sale locally about 15 or 20 years ago!
It was still registered LVT 1
And I didn't recognise it... Well, I did,  I knew I'd seen it but it just wouldn't click what it was!!

[Carnut]

Well blow me.
I actually sat in this car when it was For Sale locally about 15 or 20 years ago!
It was still registered LVT 1
And I didn't recognise it... Well, I did,  I knew I'd seen it but it just wouldn't click what it was!!

Just to add a bit more: the car was For Sale at the time at a local dealer, Dave Ellison, who used to sell Ferraris etc and some classics, although what he was doing with something as rare as this I have no idea.

The car was painted in British Racing Green if I remember correctly (which I don't very often...).

Also I recall that some local businessman whose inititals were LVT saw the car and its number and persuaded Mr Ellison to sell him the number separately so he could put it on his BMW - a near-criminal act in my opinion!  The power of money, eh?

I continued to see the BMW with its number for some years but can't say I have seen it recently, otherwise it might have jogged my memory about the car.

I have no idea what eventually happened to the car, but it wasn't on  his forecourt for very long.

[woodinsight]

Thank you - that's interesting additional information Carnut.
You must be one of the very few people on this planet who have sat in an LVT!

[Carnut]

Thank you - that's interesting additional information Carnut.
You must be one of the very few people on this planet who have sat in an LVT!

I think that's 'the LVT' rather than 'an LVT'!

[woodinsight]

It might be 'an LVT' - see the additional information below -

This a quote from a well-known magazine of thirty years ago:

LVT Special
At least LVT 1 survives and the car was the brainchild of Lionel Vincent Thomas, who was apparently, well-known in the 'thirties and 'forties as a racing motor cyclist, having come to fame in the early 'twenties riding a Sunbeam 350 sprint.
Then, in 1945, Lionel Thomas decided to start building cars that he could race.
He commissioned former Rolls-Royce panel beater Frank Smith to do the panel work. The front end of the car has been designed along the lines of the Duncan Healey. By all accounts the car started off life with a 2-litre Alta engine which was mated to a Jaguar gearbox. The Alta engine was never really successful and gave a lot of trouble with lack of oil pressure.
The car was eventually sold to Mr. Duncan Atkinson of Bishops Town who installed the 3.4-litre Jaguar engine.
Although cable brakes were fitted, hydraulics subsequently replaced them.
Lionel Thomas died in 1961.
Whatever became of LVT 2 and 3?

[Allan L]

My guess at Bristol as the relatively expensive 2 litre was wrong of course as the car turns out to be too early for that, but Alta certainly qualifies - not the engine of choice for most special-builders at the time as too much of a racing engine, I'd say.

[Carnut]

So maybe this wasn't the car I sat in then!
Only if it's LVT 1 is it the same car..

[woodinsight]

If I were you I would be very happy to have sat in (let alone seen) an LVT (even if three were allegedly built)

[João]

Don´t know if it´s ok to post the link here : http://www.link deleted

Quote :

"It´s an LVT. A one-off car produced in 1947 by an ex-TT rider from Swansea. The car was built for him to his design/spec. It has a tubular space frame chassis, Lancia sliding pillar IFS, a Riley rear axle and possibly Riley gearbox still? The original Riley engine (2.5 litre) was replaced by an Alto engine (a racing engine is all I know) and later for a Jaguar XK120 engine (3,442cc) when they became available. The XK engine, a twin overhead camshaft design, well ahead of any other engine available, was used right up to the E-Type and XJ saloon. The engine powered Jaguar to victory in both the C-type and D-type Jags at Le Mans. The body is aluminium and the front wings were from a Healey, probably a Healey Westland.The rest of the body was hand-made."

[Allemano]

Nice find João, but alas I had to remove the link – same rights for all.