Amazing Alvis

Sir,

I recently received an auction catalogue which included in its offerings a 1924 Rolls-Royce 40/50 hp. Included in the information was the fact that, “it will, amazingly, be driven to the auction (near Ashford, Kent) from Lands End where it is presently kept.”

Is it indeed amazing that cars sold in auction actually drive? Should one not expect a motor car, built to carry people from place to place, to be capable of doing so? Or is the motor car in question actually an investment which, as such, should never be driven at all?

During January 1992, I anticipate using my 1926 Alvis of only 12 hp to carry me from Oxfordshire through Normandy, across the Loire valley, into the Auvergne, down to Valence and then into the Alps, returning across the Cevennes, Massif Central, the Gers and the Pyrenees to Satander to catch the ferry to Plymouth and then home.

My Alvis takes such trips in its stride every January and throughout the year. Is this amazing?

Malcolm C Elder,

Enstone, Oxon.