4.3 Litre Alvis Vanden Plas Short Chassis TourerDHP233

One of 11 survivors of arguably the most desirable model Alvis ever, DHP233 was the 1938 Alvis factory demonstrator, racing twice at Brooklands in both standard and modified trim, acting as an official car at the 1938 R.A.C. Rally and being the subject of The Autocar road test where it’s performance figures were praised as “the best all round set of figures so far recorded by The Autocar on a normal car”.

Competition History

First registered between March and April 1938 the works record shows DHP233 being “previously transferred to the sales” before being dispatched to the dealer on 31st October 1938. During its six months as a works demonstrator it performed several publicity functions.

R.A.C. Rally, Blackpool, April 26th to 30th 1938.

Used as an official car, the photograph shows DHP233 leading the Class 3c entrants in the coachwork competition.

Light Car Club Three Hour Race for Sports Cars, Brooklands, July 16th 1938.

That year, the L.C.C. decided to run an endurance race on the Campbell Circuit for “road legal” sports cars and DHP233 was entered for George Hartwell and R.S .Newton to compete. The driver line-up in the race was most interesting including Bira, “Aldy” Aldington of Fraser Nash fame, Sydney Allard, Scots stalwarts Comish Hunter and David Murray and spurned Alvis ex-distributor Charles Follett.

The late Bill Boddy described the race as “perhaps the most interesting of the 1938 season”, and the Alvis had an eventful race finishing 12th of 14 starters.

Dunlop Jubilee International Car Races, Brooklands September 24th 1938.

DHP233 is believed by Alvis authorities to be the car driven by Tommy Wisdom in the Outer Circuit Handicap. In “Alvis: Story of the Red Triangle” Ken Day quotes Tommy Wisdom:“The car I had for test differed from standard models in that the compression ratio of the engine had been increased to 8.5 to 1, which meant that use of 50:50 benzole mixture was necessary. Top-gear ratio was higher than standard and wings, lamps and screen were removed. In the 20 miles Dunlop Jubilee Outer circuit Handicap at Brooklands on September 24th the car averaged better than 110 mph for the race. The standing lap was covered at 92.23 mph, three laps at 111 mph, two at 113 mph and the fastest at 115.29 mph while the maximum on the Railway Straight, according to the revolution counter was 119 mph.”

Provenance and more recent history.

The Alvis 4.3 Register records the ownership of the car through the Alvis O.C. records from 1954 to the present day. It was acquired recently from the Henry Petronis collection in the United States where it had been since 1983.

The car has had a recent bare metal respray at Red Triangle to correct it’s colour scheme back to the original. Despite having had minimal mechanical intervention of late, the car completed its maiden Flying Scotsman Rally in 2012.