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I bought dad’s old car heart over head ……. My dad died 2018
its a car that i am sure was his favourite individual car, certainly was mine ( he loved the Daimler sp250 as a model as he had about 6 or 7 over the decades and one still resides in his garage but its not this car)
to me its “The Alvis 4.3” or more familiar “DUU900”
he owned this car from the mid 1970’s to about 1998/9 about 25 years of my formative years as it turned up when I was about 13.
it was already a famous car as it was a “special” from the 1960’s. A car originally associated with Rivers Fletcher ( on of the Bentley boys?) in its previous guise of EGT511. But it became a sports race car with Ian Woolstenholmes, the founder of “Woolies” the trim specialist here in the uk, putting a speed 25 chassis and a 4.3 engine together in a short chassis. In fact dad buying the car helped Ian get “Woolies” off the ground.
the car was a bit tired and a over the years dad developed it with the help of some Alvis specialist but eventually with the help of a brilliant engineer friend John Hadwick. Who was more used to working on Lola T70’s and the like.
smaller option wheels were used for sprints and hill climbs and larger wheels for fast tracks.
the power was upped and the gearbox gained straight cut gears and a 4.1 diff.
the car was raced successfully by dad at all the UK’s major venues inc the Isle of Man.
i was typically there or there abouts mixing with people whom I now know to be titans in the vintage and racing world. But at the time were just car enthusiast.
dad was no slouch either having a racing pedigree himself. He and the Alvis won many racing awards he was most proud of winning the PACE PETROLEUM cup on the Isle of Man as sponsored by his friend Victor Gauntlet who owned pace petroleum and went on to own Aston Martin.
and 2 driver of the day awards at 6 hour relay races for teams of all sorts of cars, one of these was for driving the most lapse as due to Alvis team cars suffering mechanical failure, dad did at least half the time himself. And on other occasion he was clocked through Donnington’s redgate corner faster than the Porsche 911’s in the Porsche team.
as a youth I had attributes that were much needed, these were hands of a child that could change the rubber/fibre drive couplings from engine to gearbox without having to strip out all the interior etc. And holding the wooden blocks screwed to a stick over the carbs to act as a very manual choke!!
at race meetings it was my job to take off the windscreen, paint on the numbers/ cricket boot whitener, later posh sticky numbers, and tape up the lights sometimes turning them sideways to reduce wind resistance ha ha.
the car to me as a youngster was a big beast of a thing but as I grew up it was just part of the family and we gelled.
it wasn’t until 1992 that I was allowed to do a shared competition drive with my dad. It was my first ever class win. Beating my dad - shared drives dropped off after that I seem to remember.
Dad was generous with his cars and I remember him sharing it with his mate Jenks - (The Denis Jenkinson- that was Stirling moss’s codriver in so many events like Mille Miglia), at a Brighton speed trial sprint.
why dad sold the car before the millennium I didn’t know, may be he felt he wasn’t using it in anger as much as it deserved.?
it moved on to Brian Maile a chairman of the Alvis owners club and racer. He used the car here and in Europe. Before he sold that car in the uk but to an Australian.
under this Stewardship the car was professionally prepared for the 2016 peking to Paris rally but the owners plans changed and the car went to Oz instead.
i caught up with this owner couple years after dad died and shared with him the history and documents i had from dads effects.
a few months ago he contacted me to offer me first refusal.
after much soul searching, family discussions and searching down the back of the sofa for spare money it was a possibility.
BUT it was a big commitment and whilst I had every confidence in the seller, after all he wasn’t entirely unknown to me, my wife very wisely suggested that we at least get some sort of independent verification that the car did in fact still exist, and work and live at the address given.
A friend lives not to far from the car ( an Aussie definition of not too far is different to us in the uk) but also visits the cars location often. despite his own business and family commitments he agreed to visit and look over the car sending me verification pics etc that the car and owner were as purported.
the deal has very recently been done and it’s now down to the shippers.
whilst over the decades since dad had the car in its rawest form it has had some gentrification but the car is essentially the same. More lights are a good thing, the bigger wheels and slight change to the wings along with a side exhaust aid rally ground clearance but that’s about it. There is a roll bar is an optional look and the windscreen has always been removable.
Hopefully there will be more on this as time moves on. But until it land here I won’t be sharing too many details - superstitious - yup just a little.
Me in 1992
Dad in late 1970’s
The pits on Isle of Man 1980’s
Today in Oz
Front cover Autosport 1965
I bought dad’s old car heart over head ……. My dad died 2018
its a car that i am sure was his favourite individual car, certainly was mine ( he loved the Daimler sp250 as a model as he had about 6 or 7 over the decades and one still resides in his garage but its not this car)
to me its “The Alvis 4.3” or more familiar “DUU900”
he owned this car from the mid 1970’s to about 1998/9 about 25 years of my formative years as it turned up when I was about 13.
it was already a famous car as it was a “special” from the 1960’s. A car originally associated with Rivers Fletcher ( on of the Bentley boys?) in its previous guise of EGT511. But it became a sports race car with Ian Woolstenholmes, the founder of “Woolies” the trim specialist here in the uk, putting a speed 25 chassis and a 4.3 engine together in a short chassis. In fact dad buying the car helped Ian get “Woolies” off the ground.
the car was a bit tired and a over the years dad developed it with the help of some Alvis specialist but eventually with the help of a brilliant engineer friend John Hadwick. Who was more used to working on Lola T70’s and the like.
smaller option wheels were used for sprints and hill climbs and larger wheels for fast tracks.
the power was upped and the gearbox gained straight cut gears and a 4.1 diff.
the car was raced successfully by dad at all the UK’s major venues inc the Isle of Man.
i was typically there or there abouts mixing with people whom I now know to be titans in the vintage and racing world. But at the time were just car enthusiast.
dad was no slouch either having a racing pedigree himself. He and the Alvis won many racing awards he was most proud of winning the PACE PETROLEUM cup on the Isle of Man as sponsored by his friend Victor Gauntlet who owned pace petroleum and went on to own Aston Martin.
and 2 driver of the day awards at 6 hour relay races for teams of all sorts of cars, one of these was for driving the most lapse as due to Alvis team cars suffering mechanical failure, dad did at least half the time himself. And on other occasion he was clocked through Donnington’s redgate corner faster than the Porsche 911’s in the Porsche team.
as a youth I had attributes that were much needed, these were hands of a child that could change the rubber/fibre drive couplings from engine to gearbox without having to strip out all the interior etc. And holding the wooden blocks screwed to a stick over the carbs to act as a very manual choke!!
at race meetings it was my job to take off the windscreen, paint on the numbers/ cricket boot whitener, later posh sticky numbers, and tape up the lights sometimes turning them sideways to reduce wind resistance ha ha.
the car to me as a youngster was a big beast of a thing but as I grew up it was just part of the family and we gelled.
it wasn’t until 1992 that I was allowed to do a shared competition drive with my dad. It was my first ever class win. Beating my dad - shared drives dropped off after that I seem to remember.
Dad was generous with his cars and I remember him sharing it with his mate Jenks - (The Denis Jenkinson- that was Stirling moss’s codriver in so many events like Mille Miglia), at a Brighton speed trial sprint.
why dad sold the car before the millennium I didn’t know, may be he felt he wasn’t using it in anger as much as it deserved.?
it moved on to Brian Maile a chairman of the Alvis owners club and racer. He used the car here and in Europe. Before he sold that car in the uk but to an Australian.
under this Stewardship the car was professionally prepared for the 2016 peking to Paris rally but the owners plans changed and the car went to Oz instead.
i caught up with this owner couple years after dad died and shared with him the history and documents i had from dads effects.
a few months ago he contacted me to offer me first refusal.
after much soul searching, family discussions and searching down the back of the sofa for spare money it was a possibility.
BUT it was a big commitment and whilst I had every confidence in the seller, after all he wasn’t entirely unknown to me, my wife very wisely suggested that we at least get some sort of independent verification that the car did in fact still exist, and work and live at the address given.
A friend lives not to far from the car ( an Aussie definition of not too far is different to us in the uk) but also visits the cars location often. despite his own business and family commitments he agreed to visit and look over the car sending me verification pics etc that the car and owner were as purported.
the deal has very recently been done and it’s now down to the shippers.
whilst over the decades since dad had the car in its rawest form it has had some gentrification but the car is essentially the same. More lights are a good thing, the bigger wheels and slight change to the wings along with a side exhaust aid rally ground clearance but that’s about it. There is a roll bar is an optional look and the windscreen has always been removable.
Hopefully there will be more on this as time moves on. But until it land here I won’t be sharing too many details - superstitious - yup just a little.
Me in 1992
Dad in late 1970’s
The pits on Isle of Man 1980’s
Today in Oz
Front cover Autosport 1965
