Alvis Airline Sports Saloon by Bertelli

RM Sotheby's 2025 Monterey auction offerings included the Alvis "Airline" Sports Saloon pictured in the Gallery below.  Its web page featuring that car is here, mentioning:

"Car number 18039 was prepared by the Alvis works as a 3 1/2 Litre show chassis, and in that form appeared at the Paris Motor Show, sans coachwork, in October 1935, then the following month at the Scottish Motor Show.  After these appearances, the chassis was purchased by Henken Widengren, a Swedish racing driver...

"Mr. Widengren commissioned the latest, most modern coachwork for his automobile, produced by Bertelli of Feltham, Middlesex, the small coachbuilding firm operated by Enrico “Harry” Bertelli, brother of the owner of Aston Martin.  Only five Alvis cars were bodied by Bertelli, and the 18039 was the sole 4.3 Litre—Widengren having had the chassis raised to the latest specification while his car was being completed."

So the car was technically not a production 4.3 Litre car, nor a 1936 4.3 Litre, as the Sotheby's headline indicated: the production 4.3s were technically 1937-1940 models.  Though the chassis was bodied in 1936, and an early, 1936-built 4.3 engine seems to have been used.

That said, what matters here is the design.

The book "A-Z British Coachbuilders: 1919-1960," (here), describes the Bertelli firm as follows:

"Enrico 'Harry') Bertelli was the brother of Augustus Cesare ('Gus') Bertelli of Aston Martin fame.  After Gus had taken over the the running of the firm he brought in his brother to supervise the body-building side at Feltham, and indeed to act as body designer.  In 1929 Harry started E Bertelli as a separate coachwork business, on the same site, incorporating it as E Bertelli Ltd a year later.  In this form he was permitted to body other chassis, although in the firm's ten year life probably only a couple of dozen such chassis were involved.  They included some Alvises (four or five in total), two six-cylinder Rileys, two MGs, two Lagonda Rapiers, a Type 57 Bugatti, a 3 1/2-litre Bentley and an Amilcar racer." Along with some others.

Photos below are via RM Sotheby's.

Gallery

I've mentioned many times that the 1930s English "Airline" style bodies probably contributed little in terms of improved aerodynamic efficiency.  That was because the cars' front ends remained aerodynamically "dirty."   Setting that aside, Airline saloons and coupés based on long-wheelbase chassis could be very attractive cars.  I wrote about an outstanding Rolls-Royce based example here.

That assessment includes the Alvis featured here.

Unlike some '30s "streamlined" cars, the backlight window is placed low enough for the driver to have some useful vision to the rear.

Although the roofline tapers in profile, the passenger compartment and trunk (boot) do not taper in plan view.  Which they should, for a touch more aerodynamic efficiency.

The "teardrop" theme seen on the fender profiles is partly echoed by the roof profile abaft of the B-pillar.  Also regarding the B-pillar, as was the case for many Airline designs, the beltline is horizontal forward of the pillar, then curves downwards abaft of it.

All things considered, a very attractive design for its time.

All that frontal clutter is what prevented true aerodynamic efficiency.  Incidentally, that car has a front bumper, but none at the rear.

Two-Door Alvis Saloons by Vanden Plas

Alvis was a British carmaker whose luxurious, sporty automobiles attained the firm's style apex during the 1930s. Its Wikipedia entry is here.

The models featured here are the Speed 20, produced 1932-1936, and the Speed 25, made 1936-1940.   These cars had six-cylinder motors, hence their proportionally long hoods.

Alvis did not build its own bodies -- that task was handed over to coachbuilding firms.  The rare 2-door saloons presented here were crafted by the well-known Vanden Plas firm.

English cars of the '30s were behind the times compared to the design evolution going on in America.  Alvis vehicles as late as 1940 looked like slightly smoother and more rounded 1933 American cars.  But I don't see much wrong with that, provided the designs were attractive.  And the cars shown below are interesting, attractive examples from their homeland setting.

Gallery

1934 Alvis Speed 20 2-Door Saloon by Vanden Plas - RM Auctions photos
Note the extremely long hood.  It seems there is (cramped?) room for rear-seat passengers, but over-the-axle seating implies a rough ride for folks forced to sit there.

No rear bumper on this example, and the license plate is hung from the spare tire.  Compare the slope of the rear end to the later, Speed 25 version below.  Luggage space is questionable.

The perspective of this photo helps reveal the design's attraction.  I love the long hood and huge headlights.  Classic British. 

1937c. Alvis Speed 25 2-Door Pillarless Saloon, Vanden Plas drawing - via Alvis Archive
The Speed 25 was a slightly modernized Speed 20.  Most Alvis 2-door saloons had full-height B-pillars, but a few were pillarless, as shown in this Vanden Plan drawing.

1938 Alvis Speed 25 2-Door Pillarless Saloon by Vanden Plas
The spare tire was moved from the rear end to the left front fender, and away from the right hand drive piloting position.

1938 Alvis Speed 25 2-Door Pillarless Saloon by Vanden Plas
The "fastback" slope is slightly greater than on Speed 20 Vanden Plas two-doors.  Note the reversed-Packard style pen-nib side trim.  This was also seen on four-door Speed 25 saloons by other coachbuilders.

1938 Alvis Speed 25 2-Door Pillarless Saloon by Vanden Plas - unknown photo source
Photo of a survivor.  The spare tire can be seen peeking over the hood.