1930 Alvis TJ 12/50 DHC Registration number LJ 2971 Chassis ...

Hammer

£16,000

1930 Alvis TJ 12/50 DHC
Registration number LJ 2971
Chassis number 8624
Engine number 9095
Cross & Ellis body
Green over black with a dickie seat (originally fawn)
Family owned from new
With what appears to be the original hare bonnet mascot (not shown in our photos)
With 18 fascinating Autocar Register for Motorists - a Diary for the Upkeep Cost and Running Expenses of Motor Cars documenting this TJ's history 1933-1949, and three similar Log Books for 1951-53, 1954-56 & 1956-57
First owner Norman Douglas Simpson (the deceased's fathers Godfather)
Extras ordered incl Whalley air valve, dash fitting with temperature gauge, two piece opening windscreen, magneto rather than coil ignition, specially modified hood in which the centre section rolled up, ventilators, removable squab in the Dickie and Dunlop artillery wheel
History in the file notes it was Normans main transport 1930 until his death in 1974
With a file noting works carried out from the 1980's
With a photograph album 'Algeria & Tunisia 1938', 'Bonanza Sanlucar 1951', 'Valencia 1951' and 'Puerto de la Alzones 1951' with LJ 2971 photographed
Dickie seats now located, not shown in images but added in on the end
RF60 buff log book and V5C, no keys

More Information

Norman Douglas Simpson was born in Carlton Miniott, near Thirsk in the North Riding of Yorkshire on 23 September 1890, the son of a vicar, Reverend James Douglas Simpson (died 1936) and Elizabeth Saunders of Airy Hill, Whitby, Yorkshire, who was the daughter of a wealthy landowner, Charles Saunders. In 1904, Simpson attended Clifton College, Bristol, and in 1908 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge (his father’s college) and read Botany and Zoology graduating BA with a third in Natural Sciences Tripos in 1911. Simpson was a keen mechanic, motorcyclist and motorist and in 1915 he joined the Red Cross as a motorcyclist and was sent to the Hospital at Poperinghe in Belgium. In November 1915 he enlisted in the Army Transport Corps and rose through the ranks being promoted to Captain and served until 1920 when he was discharged.
After the war, Simpson went to live with his father at ‘Maesbury’ in Bournemouth, who had retired in 1916 and moved to Bournemouth from Yorkshire as he had family there and after his father’s death Simpson lived at ‘Maesbury’ until his death. In September 1930, the Colonial Office offered him a job as Systematic Botanist in the Agricultural Department at the Peradeniya Botanic Garden, Ceylon, on a wage of £720 per annum and a pension. He bought his beloved car, the Alvis 12/50 for £395 which he took to Ceylon and was still driving his car until his death in 1973. The post ended abruptly in 1932 as they abolished his post and he returned to England in September 1932 via the Far East, Japan and the United States of America.
Simpson then settled at ‘Maesbury’ and as his family were wealthy, he never sought paid work again. He spent his time collecting, indexing and arranging his Herbarium. He travelled much in order to collect specimens and map the flora of various countries, such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia (Simpson had a knowledge of Arabic), Ireland (where he botanised Ireland with various others) and Jordan – all in his Alvis car which had a plant press in the boot. Simpson died on 29 August 1974, just short of his 84th birthday from a heart condition. On the death his Herbarium included 5,800 sheets from Egypt, 1,580 from the Sudan, 400 from Jordan, 600 from Morocco, 800 from Algeria, 500 from Tunisia, 600 from Cirenaica, 18,100 of British and Irish plants and 1,300 of Continental European plants which he collected from 1903-1973. The Sudan, Egypt and Jordan collections were deposited to The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and the rest to the Natural History Museum. His main collections of botanical books were presented to the Botany School at Cambridge, The Natural History Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and Reading University.
His father Reverend James Douglas Simpson owned Silver Eagle TC 19.82 Mayfair Drophead Coupé LJ 7368 from new on 30 March 1933 until his death in 1936, when it passed to his son Norman Douglas Simpson (the botanist), Maesbury, 3 Cavendish Road, Bournemouth BH1 1QX, until his death in 1974.
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