Guess the new classic car

[Sundayjumper]

Not mine, my Dad's. He phoned me today very excited to tell me about it.

British
Mid-sixties
Three litre straight six
Two door saloon
Not silver

[Beany]

I was thinking Scimitar GT, but a bit of googling suggests it's I6 lump was 2.6 litre, not 3litre

[Sundayjumper]

Good guess, he's had several Scimitars over the years, but it's not a Reliant of any kind.

[Simon]

Jag of some kind?

[Sundayjumper]

Not a Jag.

It's a bit obscure to be fair. Only about 100 of them made.

[Beany]

Not a Jag.

It's a bit obscure to be fair. Only about 100 of them made.

Is it something proper rare, like a Bristol, or something cooking-but-rare - ie a limited run of a common model?

[Sundayjumper]

Not a Bristol but you're absolutely on the right track. A cheap substitute for a Bristol.

One more guess then I'll post the answer.

[Beany]

Not a Bristol but you're absolutely on the right track. A cheap substitute for a Bristol.

One more guess then I'll post the answer.

I've heard.... something described as a 'poor man's Bristol' before but I'm buggered if I can recall what it was

[Sundayjumper]

It is..... an Alvis TF21 !

12462061.jpg (116.76 KiB) Viewed 2492 times

Not usually my thing but I'm looking forward to seeing it !

[GG.]

Alvis TD21

ETA - I posted at the same time but pretty close!!!

I'm actually quite weirded out by that as the name Alvis just popped into my head. I had no real image in my head (or knowledge) of that car.

Is that the actual car? Pirellis on it look wrong!

[Beany]

Must admit, that hasn't jogged my memory so it obviously wasn't what I was thinking of!

So what's the skinny? Gentleman bruisers coupe?

Edit: PS I LIKE IT

[Sundayjumper]

GG - yes, that's the car. I suspect modern tyres, even Pirellis, are better than whatever they used originally in 1966 ! He's planning on using the car regularly so reliability & safety will take precedence over 100% originality.

Beany - as far as I can tell they were aimed at people that couldn't afford a Bristol. Similar styling and build but with an Alvis designed engine instead of the big Yank V8 lump in the Bristol. Only 150bhp from the triple-carb 3 litre straight six but it'll do 120mph and that was pretty respectable at the time.

He wanted a Bristol really but a decent one is £40k+ and he just couldn't justify that to himself. This has the same air of gentlemanly style at half the price. I'll definitely have to borrow it some time.

[Beany]

I'm going to suggest that a triple carb, three litre six pot is going to sound very nice to use, regardless of apparent paucity of power - I'd expect it to be warm hatch quick, wiki suggests they're about 1300kg or so?

Manuel or automagic?

[Sundayjumper]

'tis Manuel.

[NotoriousREV]

Does it use the same engine as the Austin Healey 3000? If so, they sound fantastic even if they’re not fast by today’s standards.

[GG.]

GG - yes, that's the car. I suspect modern tyres, even Pirellis, are better than whatever they used originally in 1966 ! He's planning on using the car regularly so reliability & safety will take precedence over 100% originality.

Plenty of options for re-issues with modern compounds though:

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /td21.html

Worth looking into when they need changing.

[Sundayjumper]

Plenty of options for re-issues with modern compounds though:

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /td21.html

HOW MUCH ???? He will definitely not be doing that !

Rev - not the same engine, this one is their own design, it was introduced in 1950 with 83bhp (low compression ratio for crappy post-war fuel) and gradually developed until the final iteration in the TF21 where it produced 150bhp.

I knew nothing about Alvises (? Alvii ?) until this afternoon so I'm still finding out details about the car.

[Beany]

So, emergency start video when?

[NotoriousREV]

Plenty of options for re-issues with modern compounds though:

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /td21.html

HOW MUCH ???? He will definitely not be doing that !

Rev - not the same engine, this one is their own design, it was introduced in 1950 with 83bhp (low compression ratio for crappy post-war fuel) and gradually developed until the final iteration in the TF21 where it produced 150bhp.

I knew nothing about Alvises (? Alvii ?) until this afternoon so I'm still finding out details about the car.

Nice. 150bhp isn’t too shabby for that era.

[Sundayjumper]

Interesting. In 1926, Alvis fielded a 1.5 litre supercharged straight eight *front wheel drive* grand prix car.

Crazy.

alvis-1926.jpg (240.84 KiB) Viewed 2414 times