Topic: Solved NIC#211 - 1926 Invicta 3-litre of Violet Cordery

[nicanary]

Year and car please.
This puzzle requires work - the caption on the photo was incorrect where I found it.

[nicanary]

Experts?

[AlexFrance]

Italian car maybe?

[nicanary]

Italian car maybe?

Not Italian.

[AlexFrance]

Spanish?

[nicanary]

Spanish?

Not from Spain.

[D-type]

RHD - British?

[nicanary]

RHD - British?

Yes!

[nicanary]

I'll bump this one, it's too easy for the Pros. Well-known British marque - this actual car was used for record-breaking.

[mekubb]

Vauxhall ?

[nicanary]

Vauxhall ?

Not a Vauxhall.

[luisps]

I've it as a 1926 INVICTA

[mekubb]

Found it as an Invicta as well, but from 1928 and it's a 3-litre Open Tourer, auctioned in Goodwood last year

[luisps]

The book where I've found the exact picture doesn't specify clearly if it's a 2.5 or a 3 litre, the 3 litre was introduced along 1926, but this one, whit thinner wheels  looks to me that it's one of the initial 2.5 and the body is described as "occasional four-seater".

[nicanary]

Gentlemen, I will have to investigate this further before I award points. I was under the impression that this car was the 1926 3-litre of Violet Cordery with which she set many international records. The leather straps were used to retain a streamlined undershield, and I assumed that there was only one made in this style. I will check further and let you know tomorrow.

Meanwhile the puzzle is LOCKED.

[nicanary]

I have now checked as many records as possible, and have come to a conclusion. The puzzle photo is shown on a well-known website as a 1931 Invicta 4.5-litre, which it clearly and obviously is not. It is without doubt a 3-litre, and is bodied in exactly the same style as the specially-prepared car used by Violet Cordery to establish world records at Monza, Montlhery and Brooklands. I'm convinced that the puzzle photo is that actual car, which had a lightweight fabric body, and the undershield to minimise drag at speed.

The 3-litre was built between 1926 and 1929, and the other car sold by Bonhams is, as claimed, a 1928 model. Reading through the sale information, I note that the owner had a new body built in the 1990s IN THE STYLE OF THE CORDERY CAR. So it's not the original car, which I'm sure was a one-off. I wanted to check that Invicta didn't sell any "replica" cars, but can find no evidence.

So the point goes to "luisps". Sorry "mekubb", but he posted before you, and I would have locked it for him at that stage.

(Violet Cordery was the sister-in-law of Invicta founder Noel Macklin. Sex sells.)

[luisps]

Thank you NIC