An Alvis Silver Crest at Royal Leamington Spa for the International Alvis Day 19th – 22nd June 2026
George Lanchester was the designer of the Silver Crest which was launched 90 years ago in September 1936. He was appointed Assistant Chief Engineer (Cars) after the Lanchester company was taken over by Daimler. The car was of simpler design and thus cheaper to manufacture than the Firebird and Silver Eagle models it replaced.
Saloon bodies were by Holbrook in four and six light styles. Special bodywork was confined to a short run of dropheads by Cross & Ellis, and one limousine by Cross & Ellis.
The number of chassis produced were around 521 and recent figures suggest that only 51 survive representing 9.8% of total production.
The Silver Crest was summarised in the Motor Magazine Road Test as a fast comfortable car with characteristic Alvis engineering attributes. It went on to say that the steering was not particularly light but was accurate with a pleasant castor action. As to the overall ride there was no trace of road shock and the car ‘rides and corners very pleasantly’
Priced new at £565, the car was a 6-cylinder engine of 2362 cc with triple S U carburettors. The wheelbase was 10 feet with a length of 15 foot 5 inches and width of 5 feet 10 inches. Its height was 5 feet 5 and weighed 33 cwts with a turning circle of 40 feet. Its maximum speed was recorded as 71.50 mph with a 0-50 time of 15.1 seconds. Its petrol consumption was 18mpg.
The car was notable for having independent front suspension and a full synchromesh 4 speed gearbox.
The Silver Crest that Elizabeth and I own left the factory on the 3rd of July 1937 and delivered to J H Galt in Glasgow. Its chassis number is 14009, car number 18915 and engine number 14471 and the 4 light Holbrook body number is 4113. It has a Tecalemit self-lubricating system which removes the task of having to grease a lot of joints on the chassis as well as a jackall system for independently jacking up each individual wheel
The cost of the car new would almost buy 2 semi-detached houses in the north of England or 3 Austin 10’s. It was no surprise therefore with the threat of war looming and the financial restraints of the time, sales of this model were slow. Our car wasn’t sold by James Inglis of Edinburgh until 9 months later in May 1938.
The first recorded owner was John R Prentice a notable Grain Merchant of Berwick. It was sold to him on 7th May 1938. He traded in his 1936 model Silver Eagle for £240 which had cost him £595 when new in 1936 quite a large sum in depreciation terms in just 2 years. He was also charged an extra £1 for the supply of the number plates.
The Prentice family had the car 11 years covering the war period and during their ownership, Mrs Prentice was the driver. According to her, the car never gave the slightest trouble and was a pleasure to drive. It was so well built the local Garage Manager remarked to Mrs Prentice on one occasion ‘what a good car it was, solid and built like a battleship’
Mrs Prentice noted in her letter to me that ‘It was a happy car and was used like a pram with 5 children and a dog when I went shopping.’
She remarked that the car was always well cared for ‘I used to keep the handles and hinges oiled so that the doors opened and closed with ease, I took very badly to slamming car doors. The result of this though sadly was the cause of my small son being thrown from the car while it was travelling, he just slightly touched the handle but was not seriously injured.’
Her brother-in-law also experienced driving the car having recorded in a letter to me that its main virtue was the way it held the road in bad conditions. On one occasion he recalls ‘I was driving the car from Berwick to Edinburgh one very frosty morning. I struck a patch of black ice the car pivoted completely round on its own part of the road and stopped on the road facing the way we were going. Not bad I thought!!’
In 1948 the car had quite an experience. Whilst on holiday in the Prentices’ holiday home which was situated on the banks of the river Whiteadder and during continuous rain, the river rose 20 feet. The car was in an open cart shed and the river flowed right over it in a raging torrent. The following day the car was covered in silt even inside and including the engine. It made a wonderful recovery after being thoroughly cleaned. Mrs Prentice recorded in her letter to me of 24th of October 1983. A short time after the flood the car was sold, and no further history has been uncovered apart form the car being taken off the road in 1965 until we purchased the car in 1981.
Another disaster struck the Alvis in 1991 when a fire occurred in the garage where the car was housed. The Alvis couldn’t be moved and so the fire completely engulfed the car although after the fire was put out, I was able to go and inspect it. Superficially it appeared to look OK in the beam of a torch but as far as the building was concerned my daughter remarked ‘point your torch upwards dad’ all I could see at 3am in the morning was a lovely starlit night the roof and much of the building was gone!
The car continued to languish in the now rebuilt garage, with work and raising a family taking preference
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for taking on the restoration of the car far outweighed my skills and so the car continued to deteriorate in the garage. One day we discussed what to do with the car and felt that we couldn’t get rid of a car which had been part of the family for the past 31 years so it was decided to look around for a firm that could restore the car. So it was that in April 2012 the car was delivered to the restorer to bring it back to what it must have looked like in July of 1937 when it left the factory including the original blue paintwork and brown leather upholstery.
In 2023 the restoration was completed and so we toured Scotland in 2025 and revisited the home and family of the original owner in Duns and seeing where the car had been covered in silt in 1948!
This year we were able to do two things that we had wanted to do for many years. One of the actions was a request from our son who was about 5 at the time that he would like to have the car for his wedding. Secondly to attend an international Alvis day in our very own Alvis! Both were achieved this year with our son getting married in May and being able to attend at this year’s International Alvis Day in Leamington Spa.
We set off on our 150-mile journey from our home to Leamington Spa on Friday 19th June. We had had a stop on the journey at an air-conditioned Deli which was very welcome and noticed a few people inspecting the Alvis and posing for pictures alongside of it, oblivious of the fact we were watching from inside the café!
Although the journey was extremely hot, we arrived at the hotel in good time for check in and to receive a few ‘goodies’ along with an excellent programme containing details of the weekend and an article ‘80 years of the Alvis TA 14 written by Eileen Goddin and ‘75 years of the TA21’ written by Malcolm Kindell. We also noted that there were 103 cars listed in the programme with 43 being prewar representing over 40% of total of cars present. The cars were listed from oldest to the newest and our Silver Crest (the only) one was number 27
The 114-room Woodland Grange Hotel had the perfect facilities for our weekend with plenty of parking, beautiful mature grounds and adjoining field where the driving tests, judging of the Concours d’Elegance and supporting tents could be situated. The Midland Section Chairman Rachael Gunn and her committee comprising Mike, Lucy, Phil, Keith, Maggie and Philip, organised a packed weekend of events for everyone to enjoy.
Saturday morning a group of Alvis cars were driven in convoy to Kenilworth Castle where they were displayed for the visiting public to the castle to admire.
Kenilworth Castle start of convoy from hotel
Kenilworth Castle
Alternative choices for the Saturday morning were a visit to Red Triangle or a Longstone tour. We chose the Kenilworth Castle visit. On the afternoon those that had just arrived that day checked in and at 4pm a parade of TA21 and TA14 cars were paraded in the grounds.
The club members were entertained with music from Jayne Darling at the drinks reception in the Eden Lounge There followed a 1950’s themed Gala Dinner with Simon and Melissa Griffiths judged to have the best costumes.
Music was provided by Kevin Wickes during the excellent dinner and afterwards at the disco.
Sunday morning for those entering in the driving test and Concours had to be in the Display fields by 10.30.
Judging Concours
There were tents provided to support a Red Triangle display, an Alvis archive tent manned by John Fox and support by Joe and Rob from Tim Walker for anyone with car problems. A buffet lunch was provided followed by Music from the Royal Spa Brass. A 75th Anniversary cake had been made (actually quite a few so as not to be short). This was cut followed by a raffle draw and Prize giving. For those staying another night a farewell buffet was provided.
For Elizabeth and I and of course the Alvis, we had the best present ever as we were best in show for the prewar classic entries. At last, a change of luck for our Alvis!
Winners were:
Driving Tests
No Class A
Class B
- David Maggs Speed 20SA TV 8700
- John Ratcliffe Speed 20SC JR 2776
- Mike Hatton Speed 25SC EUC 564
Class C D&E
- Steve Horne TC108G 979 XVB
- Sarah Rhys
- Clare Symes TA21 NXU 305
Concours
No Class A
Class B
- Glen Matthews Silver Crest JR 8131
- Mark Kirby Crested Eagle BXR 853
- Malcolm Davies Speed 20 JJ 339
Class C D
- Jim Oakman TC21/100 PYR 357
- Deborah Gold TE21 404 EDA
- Adrian Stainton TD21S1 99 DCC
Class E
- Trevor Hirst 4.3 DWK 822
Perpetuals
THE CHAIRMANS CHALLENGE FOR THE BEST AGGREGATE PERFORMANCE ON THE DAY BY A 3 LITRE
Steve Horne TC108G 979 XVB
THE INTERNATIONAL TROPHY- AWARDED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF IAD TO THE BEST OVERSEAS ENTRY ON THE DAY
Nigel Bradbury TE21 BTY 119B
NATIONAL BENZOLE TROPHY- AWARDED TO THE BEST NONCOMPETING ALVIS ON THE DAY
David Webster Speed 20 /25? BYY 902
THE MADAME GRABER TROPHY – WARDED TO THE BEST RESTORED GRABER/PARKWARD BODIED CAR WHERE THE CAR HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY WON THE AWARD
Stephen Plester TE21 EBB 50C
THE JOHN HERBERT TROPHY – FOR THE BEST AGGREGATE PERFORMANCE ON THE DAY BY A SPEED 20
John Ratcliffe Speed 20SC JR 2776
THE SWISS TROPHY – AWARDED FOR SUPREME ELEGANCE
Trevor Hirst 4.3 DWK 822
THE LADIES PLATE – AWARDED FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LADY ON THE DAY
Clare Symes TA21 NXU 305
THE JJ PARKES TROPHY – AWARDED FOR THE BEST AGGREGATE PERFORMANCE ON THE DAY
Steve Horne TC108G 979 XVB
To sum up our weekend we found the staff at the hotel to be very helpful and friendly, a well organized and slick team headed by Rachel,
Some of the helpers with Rachel
An excellent choice of hotel with all the facilities on the doorstep, a friendly atmosphere and of course a bonus of very sunny warm weather.
Glen Matthews
Alvis Archive 