Peak Performance: the origins of the Alta sports car

• 
• 
• 

To build any kind of car at home is a creditable achievement. For that to be a twin-cam, alloy-engined sports car on which “almost every component has been fabricated by hand” is even more so. In the case of PK 4053, it also happened to be progenitor of a run of highly successful sports-racing cars which would place their maker among the first rank of small constructors of the pre- and postwar periods.

Geoffrey Taylor was fairly anonymous when, in 1928, he completed a racy two-seater which he had designed, fabricated, trimmed, painted and wired himself, relying only on minimal proprietary parts and subcontracted castings for the 1074cc engine. Indeed, neither Taylor nor the car would achieve widespread recognition until 1931, when the car, by then known as the Alta, was tested by The Autocar ahead of Taylor’s plans to build cars for customers.

The prototype Alta was sometimes rebodied and was substantially reworked in 1934. Throughout the 1930s, it was campaigned across events such as the Land’s End and Exeter Trials and assorted Brooklands meetings. The Alta name endured until 1957, by which time it had furnished some of the sport’s top drivers with some very memorable drives, but Taylor never parted with PK 4053; he kept it until his death in 1966, after which it spent six years in the care of George Abecassis. Mark Dixon examines the genesis of the Alta marque, now fresh from recommissioning, in the November issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Photographs by Rob Cooper
Words by Zack Stiling

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.