Friday 30th August to Sunday 1st September 2019 away in Huddersfield.
Our dear friend Jenni in Huddersfield kept her husband's Alvis after he died some years ago. It is an unconventional 1934 Alvis Speed 20; unconventional because her husband Barry built it from parts that he sourced from many different places and, although almost everything is genuine Alvis, it did not all date to 1934. Nevertheless, it is a magnificent beast with an Alvis straight six engine that produces a prodigious amount of power.
Jenni keeps the car at a local organisation that specialises in looking after classic cars and, after taking the train to Brockholes, her local station, she drove us all over to pick up the Alvis, which was waiting for us.
There had been problems with the fuel in the Alvis going off and depositing wax in everything, so they had drained the tank, cleaned everything up and then put some fresh fuel in. Not enough apparently, because as soon as we started to go uphill, the engine stopped. It turned out that the fuel feed is at the front of the tank and as you went uphill, all the fuel ran to the back of the tank. More fuel was added and we were able to drive back to Jenni's for the night.
On Saturday morning, we set off to a little pub just south of Leek where a regular meeting takes place of Alvis owners. It was about 60 miles and Jenni led the way in her car with her son Ed and M on board. Because rain was forecast, we fitted the hood to the Alvis, which makes it quite difficult to get in and out as there are no doors!
The Alvis is basically 85 years old so driving it requires a great deal of concentration. and your full attention - particularly at speed. It was very gratifying to find that most of the time we were at the back of a queue of traffic, rather than the cause of a queue of traffic.
It took us a little over two hours to cover the distance and arrive at the Yew Tree pub where the meet took place. It was the first time that Jenni and Barry's Alvis had come to the meeting since Barry died and the warm welcome that we received was really touching. Gradually a beautiful collection of cars appeared covering over four decades of Alvis production from earlier pre-war cars...
... to more streamlined post-war models including this lovely example that was originally built for the chief engineer of Alvis.
At the end of the afternoon there was a presentation for the car that had travelled the furthest and Jenni was presented with a handsome engraved hip flask sporting the Alvis logo.
For the first half of the journey home, William, Jenni's elder son came in the Alvis as a passenger. For the second half, M sat in the passenger seat. She was rather horrified to find that there were, of course, no seat belts and the ride was not as refined as a modern car, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Because of the concentration required and the twisty, narrow roads through the Derbyshire Dales, she said it felt like sitting beside Stirling Moss doing the Mille Miglia!
The Alvis was going to be picked up next day, so we put her back into the garage at Jenni's and, on Sunday morning, took the train back to Lincoln. Unbelievably, the train went direct from tiny Brockholes station to Lincoln without any changes. It was only two carriages and very bumpy!
We rewarded ourselves with afternoon tea in the High Bridge Café on the bridge over the River Witham.
A very special weekend with very special friends.
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