Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Anyone know what this vehicle is?

Pic taken in India, I think in Quetta.

Could be the outline of the ALVIS triangle badge on the radiator?



www.redtriangle.co.uk

The number plate rather gives the game away...
AL*IS

tI used a screen grab and photoshop to blow up the image and the spare wheel centre also says ALVIS and the Red Triangular radiator badge as well.

You are correct Peter, the picture in my reply is most definitely an Alvis! I posted it for comparison.

This is the one in question...

Thanks for the input Ian, it could be a triangular badge on the radiator. If only the quality were better!
The date for this pic was approx 1925 - 1930. Does anyone know whether India had its own car manufacturing industry then or were all vehicles imported?

Very similar cars. The grille and headlights look the same, the front mudguard looks similar but a more tight curve at the bottom where it meets the running board. Hard to tell but the thing on top of the radiator cap looks different, if so then different brands in my opinion.

A detailed examination of bodywork features doesn't really help I'm afraid. Bear in mind that cars of this type were supplied by the factory in chassis form and shipped to a coachbuilder to fit a body of the customer's choice. Like Morgan today, no two are quite the same!

This Alvis is in the current edition of "The Automobile" magazine...



https://www.tomhardman.com/car/alvis-12-50-sd

It was bodied in Australia and has many similarities with both the "India" car and the one at Red Triangle, but of course, also many differences.

The main methods of identification are badges, bonnet mascots and radiators but sadly none of these is clear in the India photograph. As Chris says, the Alvis "hare" mascot is not present on the car in Neil's picture but that isn't unusual, owners often replaced them with their own.

Re: Neil's earlier question - I found this lengthy thread History of Cars in India. Apparently, General Motors, Ford, Austin and Wolseley all had assembly plants there in the thirties but car manufacture itself didn't begin until 1949 with Hindustan. The car in question isn't any of those.

This post has some interesting detail of one particular motor, which illustrates the problem of identification...

"Going back to the 1920's, I came across several newspapers which carried advertisements of automobiles. Many marques are obscure, some have only a few survivors left in the world, some are cause for puzzlement, others I cannot even find on the net. Here is one example of a Pullman Car. The advertisement was placed in The Statesman Calcutta in 1920..."



Alvis is my guess, based on the shape of the radiator and the faint outline of the triangle - but I'm happy to be proved wrong. A clearer or different picture of the same car might reveal more, or possibly the registration number might help?

Anyway, thanks for posting. It's a fascinating picture, it would be good to know more about it.

Interesting that the spare has a cover over the tyre, perhaps they were aware of UV cracking back then. I have heard of white wall tyres but all white & tread-less?

I had to check this out, but..........

The Natural Color of Rubber is White. Rubber is made black by adding various chemicals, such as carbon black. This isn’t just for cosmetic reasons, but because adding chemicals like carbon black to the rubber drastically increases desirable qualities of the rubber.

Ian, thanks for all that info. The site on the history of cars in India is very interesting.
Unfortunately the pic is a one -off so no chance of getting a better view of the vehicle. The “driver” is my wife’s grandmother who couldn’t drive so the pic is obviously posed! And her grandfather, who was a Major in the Indian Army from about 1920 until partition is in the back. Possibility it is an army vehicle I suppose. I fancy the rego could be QTA as they lived in Quetta.

Anyway, thanks for the input and thanks to all for your interest.

Just out of interest 6.5 million people in lockdown here in Victoria and we have a total of 81 cases since current outbreak began a week ago with 12 new cases today.

Beat wishes to all,
Neil.