1936 Alvis Speed 20 Lancefield Saloon
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A direct development from the Silver and Created Eagle models with the first six cylinders Alvis engines of the early thirties. In 1932 the first Speed 20 SA with the Silver Eagle engine was produced in an agreement between Alvis and Charles Follett Ltd, the dealer who wanted more sporting and attractive coachwork designs.
The SC and SD models came along in 1935, with the 2511cc engine enlarged to 2762cc and 87bhp. The SD model had a wider bulkhead and flatter petrol tank.
CNN 277 was one of the first batch of nine SD’s produced, with Lancefield’s "extending boot" body, of beautifully proportioned design. On the coachbuilders, Lancefield Ltd., stand at the 1935 Earls Court Motor Show, the car was then sold in 1936, to George Hoybooth, better know by his stage name of "George Formby" . In the early eighties the car was owned by Sir Michael Leighton of Loton Park (site of the VSCC hill climb) who spent much on the car, including changing the brown and beige two tone paintwork to black.
I purchased the car at auction in 2005, the previous owner having owned the car for 13 years. Although it seemed mechanically fine, the rear of the ash frame was beginning to rot, and the aluminium body was cracking at the corners of the boot and sun roof. The interior was quite tatty, the leather being original, but with a number of holes and rips.
Over the last two years, we’ve stripped the body back to bear metal, and repainted in a dark blue. The interior re-upholstered in grey, and the woodwork re varnished.
It will be ready for hire, after a few mechanical tunings, in the Kent and Sussex areas only, from the beginning of April 2009. Heavy steering in slow manoeuvres, it is a fairly easy car to drive, with an all-sychromesh gearbox, and the accelerator moved from the centre to the normal right hand position.
