Pre-war development of the six-cylinder Alvis culminated in the announcement of the 4.3-Litre in August 1936.

The 4.3-Litre was based on the 3.5-litre Speed Twenty Five introduced the previous year and was powered by an enlarged version of Alvis’ new seven-bearing, overhead-valve engine.

The cruciform-braced chassis featured the kind of advanced thinking long associated with the marque: independent front suspension and a four-speed, all-synchromesh gearbox, introduced on the preceding Speed Twenty, were retained with the additional refinements of driver-controlled Luvax hydraulic dampers and servo-assisted brakes.

Claimed to be the fastest un-supercharged saloon on the UK market, the Alvis 4.3-Litre was certainly one of the few pre-war saloons capable of a genuine 100mph.

Sturdily-built and endowed with a generous wheelbase, the Alvis six attracted some of the finest examples of the pre-war coachbuilders’ art, though the 4.3-Litre’s chassis-only price of £750 meant that ownership w...