Invicta cars were produced in the UK between 1925 to 1950. Noel Macklin was the founder of the company and there were not too many cars produced. The production was aiming at high-end customers with quality built cars.
This particular car has a Salmon & Sons coachwork and was believed to be the only car in this configuration. The front fenders with their special shape and air vents along the side just like the S-type low chassis. With a three-position roof using Tickford construction for taking the roof up and down.
And, that is how this car came about. In 1932, Donald Healey (later owner of Austin Healey) won the Monte Carlo rally in his Invicta. However, this car first belonged to Major Douglas Morris and they both participated in the Monte Carlo rally in 1933 and both cars started from Umeå in Sweden in the month of February. Considering they still hardly have any roads in Umeå, I cannot imagine how these Invicta cars could possibly manage to go from there to Monte Carlo. Also in the month of January, it must have been a meter high with snow. This Invicta is mentioned on several places in The Autocar book from 1933. Major Douglas Morris started out in -35 degrees together with eight other competitors. He arrived in Paris with 16 minutes too late due to a misfiring engine. He later tried to repair the engine by the roadside in the French Alps, but this work took so much time they were forced to give up and he retired. However, Morris and his Invicta won a price. First price in Comfort Competition open cars. This was for the most comfortable and best equipped car in the rally in this section.
Recent work on the Invicta
Complete engine rebuild, new pistons, bearings etc.
Complete brake system rebuild, drums resurfaced and painted, new shoes
Complete suspension rebuild, leaf springs grinded greased and adjusted
Carburettors rebuild
Front wheel bearings
New exhaust system
It is today a mechanically sound car ready to drive. With a lot of charming patina that an old rally car should have. It comes with original handbook and a lot of documentation from its adventurous life.
In the mid 20’s W.O. Bentley decided that a larger chassis with a more powerful engine was needed to suit the bigger heavier limousine bodies that many of his customers were then putting on his 3.0 litre sports car. The new car would be more refined and better suited for comfortable general motoring to meet the needs of his well-heeled clients! The result was the Bentley 6½ litre which was produced from 1926 to 1930 in rolling chassis form of various lengths to be supplied to specialist coachbuilders according to the wishes of each customer. Each car was powered by Bentley’s 6.6 litre straight 6 overhead cam, 4 valves per cylinder engine developing around 150hp.
A competition version of the 6½ litre with modified cams and twin SU carburettors producing 180hp was offered from 1928, known as the ‘Speed Six’ it would become the most successful racing Bentley with accomplishments including two Le Mans wins! This particular car was first supplied to Lt. Col. Hamilton in 1927 with a 4- door limousine body by Hooper who were coachbuilders of the highest quality, their customers included members of the Royal family and this would have been an extremely expensive car at the time. Having survived the war in one piece and subsequently enduring the post war years, the Bentley was eventually restored in 1989 to full ’Speed Six’ specification with a Vanden Plas Le Mans type body.
21 мар 2024
