'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.

Alta design features included cast-iron wet liners, camshafts with vertical shaft/skew gear drive, hemispherical combustion chambers and Nitralloy steel crankshafts.

The frame was underslung, and even the little 1100s wore 13” brake drums.

Though blown and unblown 1,000s, 1500s and 2-litres were catalogued up to the outbreak of WW2, only very few cars were m...