1936 3.5 litre Alvis Speed 25

Nishant Dossa’s Alvis Speed 25 won the ‘Pre-War Classic – European’ class trophy the 6th edition of the Cartier Concours d’Elegance at Rambagh Palace in Jaipur in 2019. The Alvis also received the prestigious first runner-up award in the ‘Maharaja class’ at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance held in San Francisco (USA)

A total of 62 chassis were built.Out of these 62 only 3 were built with Vanden Plas ‘Sports’ coachwork and this car is the only one known to survive today.The 3.5-litre touring cars were considered to be among the finest cars produced in the late 1930’s.

The Alvis once belonged to the Royal family of Mayurbhanj,Orissa. It first arrived on the shores of India when Maharana Pratap Chandra Bhanj Deo ordered it for his personal use in 1936.He used the car to drive around his sprawling estate in Mayurbhanj (in the present day Eastern State of Orissa). Besides the Maharana,only a specially appointed chauffer was allowed to drive the Alvis Speed 25. His love for vehicles was not confined to driving; he would get his hands dirty to tune the engines. Alvis was his ever-reliable car and in 1961 he had a radiator shipped from Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd in Coventry, England, as “the honeycomb was not functioning satisfactorily” after an overhauling at the works.