Topic: Solved - NEH 2240: Alvis Burns Special - 1967

[Carnut]

For an easy Rookie point identify this car and from when it dates?:

ANYONE FOUND GIVING ANSWERS GLEANED BY USING GOOGLE SEARCH BY IMAGE MAY BE BANNED FOR AN INDETERMINATE PERIOD!

[carsalesbrochure]

It's an Alvis TD21 with a special nose bodied for guitar-maker Jim Burns and powered by a Chevrolet Corvette 5.4-litre V8, dating from 1968.

[Carnut]

Yes!
I said it was easy, but it's an interesting car so it needed posting!

[grobmotorix]

I saw it at 2012 NEC Birmingham.
Here´s it´s data sheet:

[RayTheRat]

Aha!  Now I know why it failed.  It had arguably the 2nd worst transmission ever used in a Chevrolet!  I know guys rebuild 'em for drag racing, but for a street/muscle car use they're as bad as Buick's Dynaflow...the other "single speed" automatic is the other worst Chevy transmission, the Turboglide.  I've thrown many Powerglides away, just to get 'em out from underfoot, after having replaced 'em with a TH350 (3-speed...very good, solid trans) or TH700R4 (a 4-speed overdrive of later manufacture.)   Unfortunately, Burns was just a year or two too early for the advent of the TH350: 1969  (Where's the "sarcasm" icon when I need one?)

The other part might have been the misspelling of the "Keeble" part of Gordon-Keeble.  But maybe just a tiny part.   

Anyway, it's a gorgeous car and I sure wouldn't mind owning it.  I guess I need to go buy some lottery tickets.

[Allan L]

The other part might have been the misspelling of the "Keeble" part of Gordon-Keeble.  But maybe just a tiny part.   

The writer of that piece is not good in the literacy department. "Burn's" when the chap's name seems to be "Burns" and who or what is/was Alva Romeo? There are a few more ordinary spolling arrors which I won't bore on about.

[RayTheRat]

The other part might have been the misspelling of the "Keeble" part of Gordon-Keeble.  But maybe just a tiny part.   

The writer of that piece is not good in the literacy department. "Burn's" when the chap's name seems to be "Burns" and who or what is/was Alva Romeo? There are a few more ordinary spolling arrors which I won't bore on about.

The misuse of an apostrophe is probably one of the most common and most irritating grammatical errors that one sees in English (be it from England or "the colonies.")  I don't know how many "web ready" documents I've read where this error is made.  It seems that native English speakers seem to think that the apostrophe means, "look out!  Here comes an 's'."  Drives me nuts and wastes a lotta time when putting web pages together.

The other is very much alive on television in the states, and while I watch virtually none of it, I almost always see the misuse of personal pronouns.  "He and myself were doing something."  I can't come up with any other examples of that at the moment because it's almost bedtime and I'm half asleep.  But just in the prior sentence the use of "it's" is another candidate for for apostrophe abuse, mainly because it's the exception to its own rule.   

I otta get to bed and quit pretending to be an English teacher (although I might have been one in a previous life...if I believed in reincarnation.  )

Ohh...one thing I hear from time to time is about that Mexican sports car, the Alfalfa Romero.  And that goes back over 50 years to the first time I heard it.

[Wendax]

The misuse of an apostrophe is probably one of the most common and most irritating grammatical errors that one sees in English (be it from England or "the colonies.") 

In German language the apostrophe is hardly used, but in the last ten or fifteen years there has been an inflation of apostrophes. As about 99 percent are misused, the term Deppenapostroph (twit's apostrophe) was created. 

[Carnut]

The misuse of an apostrophe is probably one of the most common and most irritating grammatical errors that one sees in English (be it from England or "the colonies.")

In German language the apostrophe is hardly used, but in the last ten or fifteen years there has been an inflation of apostrophes. As about 99 percent are misused, the term Deppenapostroph (twit's apostrophe) was created.  

Here it's commonly referred to as the Greengrocers' apostrophe, as the words are commonly painted on their windows:  Apple's, Pear's, Potatoe's, cauliflower's etc etc (although the funniest one I've seen was Asparagu's!)

Actually there are few here on this forum who really know the difference between its and it's..  Let's be fair and say most (but not all!) are not native English-speakers..

They can be excused, but I'd be willing to bet that fewer than 1 English person in 10 could explain the difference between "its" and "it's" correctly!

[RayTheRat]

The misuse of an apostrophe is probably one of the most common and most irritating grammatical errors that one sees in English (be it from England or "the colonies.") 

In German language the apostrophe is hardly used, but in the last ten or fifteen years there has been an inflation of apostrophes. As about 99 percent are misused, the term Deppenapostroph (twit's apostrophe) was created. 

 

I agree with Carnut that this doesn't apply to those for whom English isn't the "milk tongue."  I wish I could do as well in other languages as they.

[Ecnelis]

It will be for sale at Race Retro & Classic Car Sale / Silverstone Auctions

Registration: RYX 997F
Chassis Number: GLC103ONE
Engine Number: GLC103ONE
Number of cylinders: 8
CC: 5355cc
Year of Manufacture: 1967
Estimate (£): 60,000 - 70,000

James Burns was a businessman who had made his fortune in the world of pop music manufacturing electric guitars. He was also a genuine petrol head and a keen Alvis enthusiast, so having sold his interests in his business he decided to try his luck in the automotive industry. Rumour has it that Burns was in an Alvis dealership about to order his new car when he overheard a Texan millionaire being told by a salesman that Alvis cars were not for export. Burns thought he had spotted a niche in the market for an ‘export-only' Alvis but it had to be faster and better looking. Despite being warned off such a project, Burns set about the task of creating his own interpretation of the only V8 Alvis in the world. Burns had every confidence that, once Alvis had seen his prototype, they would agree to go into some kind of low-volume manufacturing agreement. His plan was simple, make the 3 Litre Alvis TD21 faster, more attractive and move it up market, and of course more exportable to the American market. Burns' concept of this special Alvis involved using a TD21, possibly his own car, and to then take it through various stages of modification. First, the ageing straight-six 115bhp engine was replaced with a whopping Chevrolet Corvette unit producing 300 bhp. This 5,356cc unit would give the car a power increase of some 240 per cent with no weight penalty whatsoever. Then to set about considerably modifying the bodywork by lowering the roof line by several inches. This streamlining was intended as a facelift without incurring the cost of totally replacing the body.

Work began in the autumn of 1966, Burns ordered a new chassis and suspension from Alvis and entrusted the mechanical development to Jim Keeble of Keewest Developments, the firm Keeble had formed with Geoffrey West after the demise of Gordon Keeble. The chassis only required fairly minimal alterations, mainly to the cross member, in order to accommodate the V8 engine and the gearbox rear support. The body shell was then replaced on the modified chassis and taken to Williams and Pritchard Ltd, a North London coachbuilder, who specialised in building one-off body shells. The roof was lowered which meant cutting down the pillars and door frames. This reduced the size of the side glass whilst retaining the original windscreen but with a steeper rake. Both the front and rear wings were then replaced with aluminium items which were elongated along with horizontally paired headlights and slim line wraparound bumpers. The final phase of the project involved the car being sent to Wood & Pickett Ltd for detailed re-trimming in white hide with blue piping along with a complete new fascia design using an impressive bank of gauges and switchgear sourced from the Gordon Keeble factory.

This was the period of various ‘motor mergers' in the Midlands. First Rover allied with Alvis, then in March of 1967 Rover itself was swallowed by Leyland. Leyland were not in the least interested in a low volume bespoke motor car of any description and since the last Alvis car had left the factory in August of 1967, any move to revive it was utterly doomed. Alvis management did, it is understood, see the car and drive it when a Wood and Pickett director drove the car up to the Alvis factory in Coventry. The month was October, the reception polite, but with tooling suspended there was no way forward. There were no orders and no production facilities either. The ending was even sadder as Wood and Pickett Ltd, being the only participants in the project who had not been paid, took possession of the vehicle and eventually sold it to Guy Salmon Ltd in 1968. Built at a cost in excess of £10,000, this V8 Alvis would have been sold at around £6000 had production got underway. Compare this to the retail price of a 1967 Jensen Interceptor of £3,743 it could hardly have been considered cheap. If it had made it to production two years earlier and without the ‘‘merger factor'' it could well have found itself a niche in the market place. Such is the execution of the concept, the car has survived to this day with enthusiastic care and attention to keep alive the only 5.4-litre Alvis in existence.

According to documented records, RYX 997F was advertised by dealers Guy Salmon in 1968 in Autocar magazine for £3,950 but was subsequently sold for a £1000 less in May of 1969 to a Somerset farmer with fewer than 1,000 miles on the clock. The Burns Special was later sold to an enthusiast in the North of England where it remained for the next ten years. It was then purchased by a reclusive collector called Michael Wrest. The vehicle then passed into the hands of another enthusiast in Wigan before appearing in the auction at the 1983 Northern Classic Car Show held at Bellevue in Manchester. It was spotted at the event by a Mr Holt and his mother; apparently she wanted the car on the spot purely because of its sumptuous white leather interior. Stockport florist Holt already owned an Alvis TA14 Tickford at the time and subsequently looked after the car and inherited it when his mother passed away.

We are informed by the current owner that he purchased the vehicle from Mr Holt in July of 2009 and since that time a great deal of time, effort and money have been invested. This includes bills totalling just under £9,500.00 with an Alvis specialist in the North of England for various mechanical repairs and maintenance including a cylinder head rebuild in 2011. Other major expenditure also includes a £4,500.00 re-trim to original specification and refurbishment of the internal woodwork.

RYX 997F was a concours winner at the Alvis Owners Club International Day 2010 and was also displayed on the Alvis Club Owners Stand at the Birmingham NEC Classic Car Show in November 2012. This amazing V8 Alvis represents a one-off opportunity to purchase a truly unique motor car that really is the only one in the world.....