Lot details
Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: 62IS
Mot Expiry: N/A

- Built for Hugh C. Hunter by R.R. Jackson of Brooklands fame with input from Zillwood `Sinbad' Milledge

- Raced pre- and post-WW2 at Brooklands, Crystal Palace, Shelsey Walsh, Silverstone and Goodwood etc

- Current ownership since 1990 with numerous HGPCA, VSCC and Goodwood Revival outings

- Supercharged Alta DOHC engine, independent suspension and ENV pre-selector transmission

- The subject of a feature article by Mick Walsh in Classic & Sports Car magazine

Further Info:

`I consider Geoffrey Taylor, the Alta's designer, as a sort of pre-war Colin Chapman ahead of his time and very concerned with lightness. And he designed and built virtually everything the engine, supercharger and chassis. I think the Alta's rigid chassis and independent suspension would have had much more influence if the war hadn't got in the way. It was very light - the car weighed 11.5cwt, less than the ERAs, the 4CLT Maserati or the MG and Riley specials it was up against. With a 2-litre engine it began to match, even sometimes beat the ERAs, which were the top voiturettes at the time' (F1 and Indy Car designer Len Terry, Motor Sport May 2001).

Born into a wealthy family, Hugh Curling Hunter became altogether more serious about his racing during 1937 when, at the age of twenty-six, he bought a Frazer Nash-BMW 328 and Alta Voiturette Single-Seater. Designated chassis 62IS (I = Independent Suspension, S = Supercharged), the latter was delivered to R.R. Jackson's Brooklands premises as a kit of parts. An Alta owner himself, the famed tuner / special builder entrusted the project to his lead consultant Zillwood `Sinbad' Milledge who had proven adept at sorting suspension geometry, designing crankshafts / conrods / brake drums and crafting aerodynamic bodywork. Aside from Hugh Hunter's Alta, Milledge helped hone the Multi-Union, Appleton Special, Bentley Jackson and Freikaiserwagen among others.

Sporting a higher headrest fairing and more enveloping silhouette than George Abecassis' similar Alta (chassis 61IS), Hugh Hunter's car yielded him a coveted Brooklands 120mph badge and also showed considerable pace at Crystal Palace and Shelsey Walsh. Campaigned throughout 1938 and into the following year before being supplanted in Hunter's affections by an ex-Mille Miglia winning Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B, chassis 62IS changed hands several times during WW2. Reputedly resident in a china shop for a while, the advent of peace saw J.H. Williams acquire the single-seater. Rebodied in the style of a post-WW2 Alta Grand Prix car with what is rumoured to have been factory assistance, chassis 62IS resumed its racing career at a variety of sprint and hillclimb venues not to mention such new circuits as Goodwood and Silverstone.

Sold by Mr Williams to Basil Tye, the Alta is known to have belonged thereafter to Lady Mary Grosvenor (who campaigned it in 1.5 and 2.0 litre guises), Albert Wake, Frank Lockhart, Bill Little, Hugh Clifford, John Bateson, Vintage Racing Autos, Hugh Clifford (again), Peter and John Moores, John Pearson and Bob Jones before entering the current ownership during 1990. Extensively fettled thereafter - including the fitment of a more pre-WW2 looking body - chassis 62IS has enjoyed numerous outings with the Historic Grand Prix Cars' Association and Vintage Sports Car Club. Invited to participate in the first Goodwood Revival meeting some seventeen years ago, it has since contested the Goodwood Trophy for Grand Prix and Voiturette cars on several occasions the last being in 2010.

Understood to displace over 2 litres, its four-cylinder DOHC Alta engine is allied to ENV four-speed pre-selector transmission. Not campaigned of late, the single-seater is nevertheless in running order and has recently been driven by Mick Walsh as part of a multi-page feature article due to appear in an upcoming issue of Classic & Sportscar magazine. Eligible for numerous prestigious events, this historic Alta is offered for sale with a spare set of wheels, expired FIA papers plus sundry other documentation and spares.