Swiss rarities in Birmingham

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The 2013 NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham contained a typically large selection of cars ranging from the mundane to the bizarre. Two cars which one would not expect to see on display in the autumnal English Midlands were a pair of Swiss-bodied cars on English chassis. The 1954 Alvis TC21/100 by Herman Graber is a precursor to his more famous coachwork for Alvis and arguably much prettier.

The white car is a Riley 2.5 which was bodied by Köng in 1948 and used as Walter Köng's personal transport. The bodywork is dramatic to say the least, and no doubt too flashy for the average Riley customer. Unsurprisingly, it remained unique, whereas Graber continued to build on Alvis chassis until that firm's demise in the late 1960s. Coincidentally, Ferdinand Hediger has just published a book on Swiss coachbuilding which contains both of the cars pictured here. A full NEC Classic Motor show report can be found in the latest issue of The Automobile, which is out now.

(Photographs by John Warburton) 
 

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