Taylor produced his first automobile in 1929. Alta's debut vehicle was a sports car powered by a 1.1-litre engine that Taylor designed himself, featuring an aluminium block, wet liners, and shaft-driven twin overhead camshafts. It was available in naturally aspirated form producing 49 bhp or supercharged producing 76 bhp, with either a four-speed non-synchromesh or a pre-selector gearbox. Thirteen examples were built, of which five are thought to survive.
Larger 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre versions followed, and the cars sold steadily if in small numbers through to the outbreak of World War II. The most powerful options were capable of 120 mph and a 0–60 mph time of seven seconds. Independent front suspension was introduced in 1937.
In 1934, Taylor produced the first Alta designed purely for competition: a lightweight offset single-seat voiturette aimed at hill-climbs, sprints, and time-trials. Alta's competitive pricing relative to the dominant ERA made these cars attractive to amateur racers on modest budgets. A revised voiturette with independent front suspension appeared in 1937; George Abecassis scored a string of victories with this car before the war interrupted. As hostilities approached, Taylor was working on a new straight-eight engine and a third-generation voiturette with fully independent suspension, which was nearly complete in late 1939 when production was suspended for the war effort.
Alta was the first British constructor to produce a new Grand Prix car after World War II. Working within postwar austerity constraints, Taylor completed the Alta GP car in 1948, powered by a supercharged 1.5-litre engine developing approximately 230 bhp and retaining the pre-war pre-selector gearbox. Taylor further developed the independent suspension design, introducing wishbones and rubber linkage bushings.
The first car was supplied to privateer George Abecassis, who campaigned it through 1948 and 1949 with limited success. Subsequent 1949 and 1950 variants — designated GP2 and GP3 — were sold to Geoffrey Crossley and Joe Kelly respectively, with GP3 gaining a two-stage supercharger.
Both Crossley and Kelly entered their cars at the 1950 British Grand Prix, the inaugural round of the Formula One World Championship. Kelly finished but was unclassified; Crossley retired with a transmission fault. Kelly later modified GP3 extensively, substituting a Bristol engine and running it as the Irish Racing Automobiles (IRA) car through 1952 and 1953. His best outright finish was third in the 1952 Ulster Trophy.
Unable to fund a Formula One successor, Taylor moved into the junior Formula Two category. The engine was a 1,970 cc naturally aspirated inline four-cylinder producing around 130 bhp. However, the chassis closely followed the preceding GP design and was overweight for the power available. Four F2 cars were built and sold to Tony Gaze, Gordon Watson, and others, with results difficult to come by.
The final Alta car built was F2/5, ordered by Peter Whitehead, who entered it in the 1952 French Grand Prix before his half-brother Graham Whitehead drove it at the 1952 British Grand Prix. Neither appearance produced a points finish.
Alta's most significant indirect contribution to Formula One came through engine supply. The HWM team had used Alta engines since 1949. At the 1953 British Grand Prix, no fewer than five Alta-powered cars started: Peter Whitehead's engine transplanted into a Cooper T24 chassis, plus four HWM entries. HWM had already given Alta its most notable outright victory when Lance Macklin won the 1952 BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone — Alta's only major race win. Over subsequent years, 1.5-litre and 2.5-litre Alta engines found their way into Connaught and Cooper chassis. The engine was ultimately developed to approximately 240 bhp. When Connaught collapsed in 1959, the Alta name disappeared from Formula One for good.
Postwar, Alta produced aftermarket speed equipment, including an overhead valve head conversion kit for the early Morris Minor and Morris Eight that roughly doubled their standard 27 bhp output. The company also made high-compression cylinder heads for the Austin 7.
Geoffrey Taylor died in 1966 at the age of 63. In 1976, his son Michael attempted to revive the Alta name with a Formula Ford car but was unsuccessful. A handful of the prewar sports cars and single-seaters survive in private hands. GP101, originally owned by Abecassis, was rebuilt as a hill-climb car and remained in use. F2/5 was reunited with its original Alta engine and participated in historic race meetings including the 1999 Goodwood Revival.
Alta occupied a notable niche in British motorsport: too small to succeed against well-funded works teams, yet consistently innovative in its engineering. Taylor's designs pioneered several features later adopted more widely, and the engine he developed formed the basis for competitive British machinery well into the 1950s. The company holds the distinction of being the first British constructor to build a new Grand Prix car in the postwar era.
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