OV9

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

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

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

Jag of some kind?

Not a Jag.

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

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:26 pm 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?

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.

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:10 pm 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

It is..... an Alvis TF21 !


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

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!

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

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.

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?

'tis Manuel.

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.

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:59 pm 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.

GG. wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:50 pm 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.

So, emergency start video when?

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:08 pm

GG. wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:50 pm 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.

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

Crazy.