Lost brands back from the dead

This year’s London Concours will pay tribute to the many motoring brands that have disappeared from the face of the planet over the years.

Brands such as Alvis, Frazer-Nash, AC, Trident, Iso and many more, which will have their own category this year — Lost Marques.

Some of the cars are incredibly rare, with only 413 examples of the beautiful Bertone-designed Iso Grifo ever built, combining elegant Italian style and raw American muscle.

With engines borrowed from the Chevrolet Corvette the Grifo was, at the time, one of the fastest production cars in the world, capable of well over 225km/h.

The example at London Concours is the most powerful Grifo GL 365 variant.

Rarer still is the Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replica, one of just 50 cars produced.

With a dependable six-cylinder Bristol engine under the bonnet, the Le Mans proved to be enormously successful, notching up wins at the Targa Florio in 1951 and at Sebring in 1952.

The car on display at London Concours was bought new by the man that ran Bristol Cars for more than 50 years, Tony Crook.

The little-known Trident Clipper V8 was originally intended to be TVR’s range topper, the TVR Trident, and featured in early TVR brochures and adverts.

Powered by the Ford 289 engine and clothed in an elegant body styled by ace designer Trevor Fiore (who was later Director of Design for Citroen), it was blisteringly quick, with the dash from 0-100km/h taking just 5 seconds.

TVR’s financial difficulties led to Trident being set up as a separate company, producing a total of 39 cars, one of which is coming to London Concours.

The AC 16/80 on display is the very first of just 14 ‘Sloping-Tail’ examples, and the actual 1938 London Motor Show car.

Let the good times roll

It’s appearance at London Concours will be the first time this car has been publicly exhibited since its export to the USA in the 1960s.

Then there’s the arguably unique Alvis Graber Super Cabriolet, the very car displayed at the 1965 Geneva Auto Salon, and ordered as a special commission by Julian Oishei, the man credited with bringing the windscreen wiper to the world.

With its all-aluminium coachwork over traditional ash frame it’s an intriguing blend of craftsmanship and innovation.

With an offering of nearly 100 automotive icons from the modern day to the early 20^th Century, the Honourable Artillery Company’s glorious five-acre lawn will be transformed into a motoring utopia between June 5 and 6.