Chassis n° 64S
Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais
Bonhams
Estimated : € 250.000 - 300.000
Sold for € 345.000
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2018
- Ultra-rare British competition car
- Matching chassis and engine
- Regularly campaigned in historic races
- Registered in the UK
- FIA/MSA papers (issued 2000)
- 'On the button' and ready for historic motorsport
'The name of Alta may not have the aura of ERA, Maserati, Bugatti or Alfa Romeo, but nonetheless it holds an important niche in the history of British motor racing and was the result of the endeavours of one man.' - Denis Jenkinson, Motor Sport.
The late Geoffrey Taylor was a small specialist manufacturer with a difference. Where others concocted hybrids from proprietary bits and pieces, he not only designed but also made every part of the Alta sports and competition models, even down to superchargers. The little Alta factory near the Kingston by-pass (only demolished in the early 1960s) was largely put up with his own hands.
Completed in 1929, Taylor's first Alta was an 1100cc sports car. The Alta engine featured cast-iron wet liners, twin overhead camshafts with vertical shaft/skew gear drive, hemispherical combustion chambers, and Nitralloy steel crankshafts, making it one of the more advanced designs of the day. Engines were available in supercharged and un-blown form, producing 76 or 49bhp respectively. Lightness and low build were two of Taylor's objectives, so the frame was under-slung, and even the little 1100s wore 13" brake drums. It is estimated that 13 cars were made, of which five are believed to survive.
In 1934, Taylor produced the first Alta to be designed solely for competition: an offset single-seat voiturette, which would be upgraded with independent front suspension in 1937. Privateer George Abecassis enjoyed considerable success with this design, winning a string of events before WW2 interrupted. Though blown and un-blown 1100s, 1500s and 2-Litres were catalogued up to the outbreak of WW2, only very few cars were made: a fair estimate is four single-seater racers, six offset single-seater racers, and 19 sports types.
Despite its small size and limited resources, Alta was the first British constructor to produce a new Grand Prix car after WW2, unveiling its new contender in 1948. It was a development of the pre-war design and was powered by a supercharged 1½-litre engine developing approximately 230 bhp. Abecassis was the first customer, and he would go on to use Alta engines in his HWM GP cars in the early 1950s. Production of Alta's road-going sports cars was restarted, although lacking further development they rapidly declined in popularity. The GP engine was also supplied to Connaught, whose B-Type famously driven to victory by Tony Brooks in the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix was Alta-powered.
Well known in historic racing circles, this ultra-rare Alta sports-racer left the factory on 10th October 1937 and was registered as 'IA-1891' in Berlin, Germany to its first owner, Franz Kitzerau. '64S' is the fourth of five such cars produced and the only left-hand drive example with the 2.0-litre litre supercharged engine. (One has been destroyed so there are only four remaining).
In 1966, the Alta was purchased by M W Wood of Alburtis, Pennsylvania from Ed Jurist of The Vintage Car Store, New York, USA. On file are letters to Ed Jurist concerning the car from noted authorities Karl Ludvigsen (dated August 1965) and from Stanley Novak (dated September 1966), the latter confirming that he knows the car well. There is also Duncan Rabagliatti correspondence to Wood about him purchasing the car from Ed Jurist, and a letter from Denis Jenkinson to Wood (dated November 1983) about him knowing the car and having worked at Alta. Also on file are two letters to Wood written by prospective purchasers: one from David Baldock of the Alta Car and Engineering Co (dated 1990) and another from D G Kaas of Pennsylvania (dated 1994). '64S' also comes with FIA/MSA papers (issued 15th June 2000) listing its owners as Frank Kitzerau (1936), Scott Wood (1970), and John Ruston (2000), the latter having purchased the Alta from the Wood family.
Restored in 1974, the car features Alta's 1,960cc twin-cam engine, which is fed by an Alta Roots-type supercharger. The engine produces 160bhp at 6,000rpm and the complete car weighs 800kg (so 5kg/bhp). Other noteworthy features include wet sump lubrication, magneto ignition, an electric fuel pump, and a four-speed Wilson
pre-selector gearbox.
Before the current vendor purchased '64S' from John Ruston in 2002, the car had been rebuilt mechanically by I.S. Polson and subsequently won the pre-War race at the Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurbürgring in the early 2000s. The current owner subsequently decided on keeping it in the UK where it was registered and raced by his friends from time to time, competing in most 'pre-War' races between 2008 and 2017. The Alta has also competed in the 'Fox and Nicholl Trophy' at Silverstone (raced by Sam Stretton) and at Spa Francorchamps. Accompanying documentation consists of a current UK V5C Registration Certificate, VSCC document, the aforementioned FIA/MSA papers, and various invoices issued since the Alta's purchase by the vendor.
A very rare and important car, this wonderful piece of British motor racing history is potentially eligible for the most prestigious historic events including the Goodwood MM and Revival, (depending on pre-war classes), and the Monaco Historic GP (depending on years and class if cycle wings are removed – TBC by the ACM).