They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but with these two cars, it would be hard to find anyone who doesn’t find them pretty impressive.
Having initially trained as an engineer, it’s no surprise that 66-year-old John Ratcliffe from Cults, Aberdeen, is a fan of “proper engineered” cars.
The two cars that he owns now definitely fall into that category – a 1934 Alvis saloon and a 1999 Aston Martin DB7 i6 – and while they are very different to look at, they both have fantastic engineering ideas behind them.
The first of the two to join John’s collection was the now 80-year-old Alvis which he bought seven years ago, although he had been aware of it for the past 20 years having known the previous owner through the Alvis Owners Club. John has been a member of the club for 25 years and is now the Scottish secretary.
“I think Alvis cars are very attractive engineering wise and very innovative,” John said.
“They were very advanced. My Alvis now for a 1934 car is superbly engineered and very reliable and it has a lot of advanced features to it which other cars didn’t have at the time.
“It’s a very attractive looking car and in our climate a saloon is better than a tourer. It takes four people comfortably and we like to tour with it. We’ve been to Europe with it twice, toured around Ireland and Scotland, we are going to Shetland with it this summer.”
The car may be impressive under the bonnet but it is equally interesting from the outside too. In fact it has a completely one-off body and an unusual look to it, thanks to its first owner.
John said that it first belonged to a Dorothy Stansfield who bought the car for what she called continental touring.
“She specified a bigger boot, presumably for all her hats and so on,” he said. “And two spare side-mounted wheels, when normally there would only be one. So it’s still got those features. It’s a completely original car and the same as it was when it was manufactured.”
The car’s interesting history continued during World War II when, like many big cars, it was used for army transport. John actually has a video showing a news reel from the time of an army parade where his Alvis
appears.
In the years after, the car travelled all over the country from being bought in 1951 by a Turriff man called Wilson Henry to being sold to someone in Edinburgh in 1956 for £60.
Since it landed in John’s hands – something that has a certain air of serendipity given that the registration number starts with JR, John’s initials – the 66-year-old has not had to do too much work to it. One thing he did do was change the colour from black to black and cream, a colour he thinks suits it better.
As for behind the wheel, John said it’s a comfortable tourer which will happily cruise along at 55mph. Originally the top speed was 80mph but he said given the car was now 80 years old and still has its original engine, he would never try that now.
“It’s got plenty of power but it’s quite noisy,” he said. “For anything up to 200 miles a day it’s a fairly comfortable car to be in. I’ll definitely keep this one until I drop.”
At the other end of the spectrum, but equally impressive, is the Aston Martin, which John also bought seven years ago.
He had never tried a fast sports cars and had always admired Aston Martin. At the time of looking, the DB7 was a very affordable Aston Martin and was “beautiful to look at”.
John found the car in Edinburgh and bought it to use as another tourer for the summer months.
He said: “It was designed by Ian Callum when he worked for TWR. It is absolutely stunning, a very pure shape, beautiful to look at from any angle. My wife Marcia likes driving it as well. It’s effortless driving, there’s so much power there, 325bhp.
“It was in a fair condition when I got it, it needed a good mechanical overhaul though. I had to rebuild the brakes but it’s generally not needed too much. It is another well engineered car.”
For the past three years the Aston Martin has taken part in Speedfest, which takes place at the Grampian Transport Museum in Alford.
It is the largest gathering of rare supercars, exciting performance cars and historic racing cars in the north-east of Scotland.
This year’s event takes place on Sunday, July 5 and will feature 120 cars. As a past exhibitor, John encouraged everyone to sign up and get involved.
“It’s a really good day out and great fun,” John added.
Anyone wanting to take part in this year’s Speedfest should visit www.alfordspeedfest.co.uk for an entry form. They have until May 10 to enter.
My first car…
1937 Austin Cambridge
My dream car…
1932 8-litre Bentley Saloon