B-Day Prewar British Invasion at Pebble Beach

On an unseasonably warm summer’s day when the Monterey Peninsula was atop the world stage for car enthusiasts, B-Day happened. The best of the British fleet of prewar sports cars invaded the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Roll back in history prior to WWII, unlike many of their state-run competitors, British car companies were a cottage industry of small companies offering low number production of significant automobiles. Let’s remember, prior to 1940 Le Mans was won six times by British marques and of these 16 prewar races one-third of the classes were made up of British cars. Racing made customer sports cars desirable.

Before the days of the cute little English sportscar, cars in the late 20s and 30s were beefy dynamos. The undisputed leader of the pack was Bentley. Of those wins at Le Mans, five were in a Bentley. At the famous Brooklands track, Bentley won more than any other marque.

This 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Vanden Plas Sports Tourer competed in many hillclimbs and rallies back in the day. More commonly seen on Bentley’s in British Racing Green, the body, in back of the bonnet is sheathed in Rexine fabric, an artificial leather.

A few years later, after Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley Motors, this 1934 Bentley 3 1/2 Litre Vanden Plas Sports Tourer was ordered in light “Siamese Blue” by noted racing driver Prince Bira of Siam as his between races travel car. However, he unofficially joined night practice at Le Mans one year at 90 mph, oops.

Founded by former racing driver Noel Macklin in 1924, Invicta made barely 1,000 cars, though they were well appreciated. Surprisingly its sporting success came at the hands of the founder’s sister-in-law in 1925 when she won the 1/4 mile sprint at Brooklands.  This daily-driver version, a 1931 Invicta LS Carbodies Coupe, is one of the popular S-types with its underslung chassis, though with a rare fixed-head body.

Before the popularity of the AC Ace, AC Bristol and AC Cobra, AC Cars presented its first car in 1903. In 1935, after consulting with the 9th Duke of Richmond, Freddie March, amateur racer and founder of the Goodwood track, this 1936 AC 16/80 Competition Sports Roadster was born. Only 42 of the 16/80 (2 liter, 6-cylinder, 80 bhp engine) were made between 1936 and 1939, no two of the hand-built cars were the same.

The SS, which originally stood for Standard Swallow, think Swallow (motorcycle) Sidecars & Coachbuilding, made sidecars and bodies for other carmakers. In 1929 with an eye on racing, they produced their first car the SS1, later the SS 90 (for the claim of 90 mph) then in 1935 the SS 100 which was named the “Jaguar.”  In 1945, for obvious reasons, the company dropped the “SS” and since then has been known as Jaguar Cars Limited.

Alvis, “a name which could be pronounced in any language” so said Geoffrey de Freville designer of the first Alvis engine, produced many notable cars along with aircraft engines and later armored vehicles. Known for engineering, they were like a number of car manufacturers at the time allowing coach builders to complete the car according to customers luxury specifications. Between 1936 and 1939 they produced 391 of this Speed 25 chassis. While maybe not as well recognized, Offord & Sons Coachwork, who built this car, began in 1791 and ceased coach building in 1939.

Before there were cute little British sports cars there were some very stylish and ample sports cars produced in Britain prior to WWII.