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PreWarCar of the week if you're feeling brave enough: 1939 Alta 2-Litre Sports

The Alta Car and engineering company was founded by Geoffrey Tayler, who started building cars in his father's stables in 1928. He fabricated his own engine, with aluminium block and shaft-driven twin camshafts over a hemispherical head.  The cars were run in trials, sprints and races and not unsuccessfully. Given the lack of funding available and the small number of cars produced, it is amazing what Geoffrey Taylor and his Alta concern were able to achieve during the 1930s, 40s’ and early 1950s. 

It doesn't happen that often that one comes on the market. We checked our archives and only 13 times an Alta (and perhaps sometimes the same car) was advertised at PreWarCar.com in the past. Yesterday, the last Alta produced before the war was advertised by Robert Glover and it is a stunning example of this British make.
 
According to the copy of factory records, kindly supplied by David Baldock, this particular sports Alta, chassis number 70 was completed in 1939 and sold to H.B. Townsend of Harrow, Middlesex. The car is noted as a “standard 1½-Litre un-supercharged Alta” with two carburettors, although the original engine (also number 70 and supplied separately with the car) has been a 2-litre unit for as long as anyone can recall and thus may well have been changed to this formula early on in the piece, given the intentional ease of conversion of the later pre-war Alta engines. 
 
Since new the car had only 4 owners and the current owner has won the last edition of the Flying Scotsman Endurance Rally.
If you are not convinced, there is the possibillity to get a high-speed demonstration on the test track at Bicester Heritage.... if you're feeling brave enough! 
 
The full advert can be found here.
 
Publiziert:
Mittwoch Januar 23rd, 2019
Brian A. Johnston
25 Januar 2019, 22:56
My friend Ed Arnold, in Salmon arm, British Columbia has another Alta. It has been in his care for many decades, and is not for sale. Many fellow enthusiasts have tried to get their hands on it, to no avail. Ed is known to be one of Canada's best auto restorers. He has been retired ever since he completed the restoration of Rob Follows' touring Talbot. Ed is currently reconstructing his own twin-cam Salmson, in aluminum. The significant aluminum weight saving, versus the original steel coachwork, is certain to greatly enhance his car's performance. Never far from Ed's mind however, is the restoration of his Alta. We who know Ed, are convinced that the eventual outcome will be magnificent. All of his restorations are. The important thing about Ed's efforts is that he does not commit the all-too-frequently seen sin of over-restoration. He does the job right, repeating exactly what each auto-maker originally did. No more. No less.
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