Barrett's #267 - Alvis Speed 20 saloon bodied postwar

[barrett]

what is the make and model of this car? Who built the coachwork (I don't know)? When was the conversion carried out?. One point for the car and year, and another if you can prove who built it

[barrett]

Better late than never, the experts' time

[bentleybob]

HRG 1500 Aerodynamic?

[barrett]

Nothing to do with HRG, this is a much larger car

[bentleybob]

Alvis?

[barrett]

Yep! Locked for you to come up with the model and the year the conversion was carried out

[bentleybob]

If I recall correctly it is a Speed 25, which was converted in 1949. If only I could remember which magazine had this information in it...

[barrett]

Well, that's not quite right but it's very close! I think you deserve a point because it's really not obvious what it started life as. In actual fact it's a Speed 20. Registered in 1950 so I suppose the conversion could've been done in '49.

I'll move this upwards again to see if anyone can find the coachbuilder, meanwhile well done bentleybob!

[bentleybob]

Thank you for the point for approaching the truth

[woodinsight]

The coachbuilder may have been Grocott of Stoke-on-Trent 'known only for having built a rather dramatic two-door saloon body on the chassis of a former Alvis Speed 20SC tourer' - according to my source.....
I haven't seen pictorial evidence though.

[barrett]

Very interesting!

For what it's worth, the car was for sale in 1952 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire

[woodinsight]

Interesting - I'm 90% certain this is the same car as the Grocott-bodied one.
The ad mentions that it is an Alvis Speed 20 SC model and the year ties in with the period Grocott would have been active.

[bentleybob]

I think it is exactly that advertisement in MotorSport that I recalled....

[D-type]

 
Someone newer to the forum may not have noticed this one

[Carnut]

Someone newer to the forum may not have noticed this one

Maybe we should call it solved as bodied by Grocott?
I don't think Barrett will be attending to this puzzle any time soon as he seems to have abandoned all his babies..

[barrett]

I am still here (just)! I've been so busy this year with work and messing about with my own cars I've not had any time for AP, but I still pop in to have a quick look most days. I'm going to try and dedicate a bit of time each week for puzzling as I have lots of interesting stuff lined up for new puzzles.

In the meantime, I came across another photograph of this car although still with no confirmation of the coachbuilder. It lists it as a 1935 chassis, rebuilt in 1950

[Carnut]

Welcome back and we look forward to some great new puzzles!

[Paul Jaray]

Ben tornato! 

[Carnut]

Trying to tidy up some really old puzzles on this board.
Any chance you could do something with this one Alessandro?

[barrett]

Moved to Solved, but I'd still love to see a confirmation of the coachbuilder

[barrett]

Another image of this mysterious car

[barrett]

Just doing some more digging on this. Here is an Alvis 4.3 with coachwork modifed by Dr John Grocott of Stoke-on-Trent. This is the same Grocott who built the wild Jaguar Special seen here:

https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2018-48/solved-mjw-282-grocott-jaguar-1959/msg476429/#msg476429

I think we can ascertain that Grocott was simply an enthusiastic amateur rather than a fully-fledged coachbuilder. The entry in Nick Walker's book quoted by Woodinsight above suggests there was an advert for an Alvis Speed 20 saloon with a 'body by Grocott' but I believe it is incorrect to assume this was an actual firm. Sadly, that book is rather loose with the facts in a lot of cases.

The geography ties up, too. It makes sense that a car built in Stoke on Trent would later end up with Paramount cars in Swadlincote, about 35 miles away.

[nicanary]

That's almost Corsica-like. Reminds me of the pre-war Triumph Dolomite Alfa copy.

[barrett]

So, I have now seen photographs of Grocott's Alvis saloon, and it definitely isn't this one, which leaves this still unknown. I've removed Grocott's name from the heading.