Author: alvisarchive

We are sad to report the passing of Ken Day, the saviour and President Emeritus of the Alvis Owner Club, official historian of the Alvis company and passionate researcher into the life of T G John.

Ken’s own account of his Alvis life can be found in The K R Day Archive

The AOC obituary can be found here.

Several other tributes have been left as comments and if you wish to add your own, please do so below in the Reply Box.

An archive is an accumulation of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organisation’s lifetime, and are kept to show the function of that person or organisation.

Our archive is of no use until someone wants to know the history of an Alvis product or to contribute to it. Happily for us this happens fairly regularly and usually gives pleasure to all parties, the current and previous custodians and the archivists.

The news of a Graber bodied Alvis changing hands is of interest so when Ken Swanstrom got in touch in May to say he was the new custodian a TD21 Graber coupe the documents I received in the 1970s as a Graber Friend came in useful. For more on this story, click here.

This Graber cabriolet is also on offer to a good home:

This week a Swiss website mentioned Alvis in an article about classic car values, citing the TB14, TC21 / 100, TA21 and TA14 models as “big losers” over the last five years.

Valuation advice on classic cars and their investment potential can be useful but drawing conclusions from a small sample of sale prices should not be relied upon because not all sales are in the public domain. The older and rarer the car the more condition and history influences the value.

However, being armed with a detailed history of a car will help determine a fair price, so ask for the history before you buy and if one is provided by the vendor, check it for errors and omissions. “One careful lady owner for 28 years, (but six hooligans in the last ten)“.

Wayne received this photo of a TD21 Series II which needed identifying – it seems to have solved a previous mystery, see here

This period photo has been identified as a 4.3 Vanden Plas saloon, chassis 13179, registration DLU 444 last heard of in the USA under restoration – do you know where The Village Inn is? If so, please let us know.

The 4.3 model has it own page and website, click here

The publication date of Dave Culshaw’s latest book now looks likely to be extended into 2021 because of furlough at the publishers Veloce.

In July 1920, the first Alvis car was advertised, completed and delivered. For details of the first deliveries click 1920

If you are interested in an update on Gavin’s bee story, click Sybil and the bee swarm in April

Paul Bamford has sent some photos of coachbuilders plates, click  COACHWORK

A new page Silence without Sacrifice sets out the technical details behind this 1930s advert…And two more photos of the Speed 20 SC Charlesworth seeking a new custodian

A look back at the Julian Collins era of editing the AOC Bulletin with issue 500. To download the full copy, 15Mb click 500 JULY 2006

The Speed 20 pictured is now for sale to a good home, for contact details please leave a comment.

While the future of Alvis motoring has long been of concern because of changing legislation and fuel supply, the FBHVC continues to be a voice supporting the continued use of cherished cars. In this quest, here is a message from Paul Chasney, the Federation’s Director of Research:

To participate in the survey click here

It was confirmed this week that the Alvis Centenary event at the Goodwood Revival has been postponed until 2021.

We are sad to report the loss of another Friend to cancer.

Stuart Nell has died in Nottingham Hospital at the age of 65.

A former AOC Treasurer and great enthusiast for British cars, MG, Daimler, Wolseley and two fine Alvis, a Speed 20SC Charlesworth dhc and a TE 21 saloon, he took part in many events over nearly twenty years. He leaves two brothers.

We have previously published articles about the Harvey Memorial event in 1998.

Further articles have now been added – click Major Harvey

Eighty years ago car production had stopped in the UK and the motoring press had to look back at what was then available. A new page looks back at some of the articles published by Autocar in the war years.

The first two cover the 12/50 and Speed 20. Click on 1940s

As a retired anaesthetist, Adrian has also been fascinated by Smith-Clarke’s work in medicine and other scientific fields and has researched our files at Bowcliffe for material. This short history of Cape Engineering which was established and run by ex-Alvis employees includes our Life Member “Young Ron“, Ron Walton.

The Alvis link extends further with 3-litre owner Dr. Geoffrey Spencer who wrote about his experiences in 1999. This is also reproduced and now available to read here.

The build records for the Alvis 3-litre TC series have found their way back to the archives and an updated register is being compiled with the first output now available on  TC Series.

If you own, or have owned a TC21, TC21/100 saloon or Tickford drophead do please click UPDATE YOUR DETAILS   and fill in as much information as you can, even it is just a registration number.

We were saddened to learn that our Life Member Albert Ainsworth died in York on 6th June after a short illness at the age of 91. He and his late wife Betty were frequent visitors to Alvis events and Albert made several visits to Bowcliffe.

This picture from the exhibition at Central Garage, Bad Homburg, is a reminder that the car in question was the Alvis show car in 1955

Philip Turner wrote a wonderful piece for The Motor in 1955 about his trip in the Demonstrator to the Scottish Motor Show where 25856 was on display  – click Demonstration Run.

Also from 1955

More advertising material has been added to AERO ENGINES

Manfred has also produced a number of backdrops for the show including a comprehensive file on aircraft with the Leonides engine which can be downloaded from here

The sad news of the loss of one of the organising team has prompted a new page with a contemporary report on the 1995 Swiss Tour

Some feedback on the Firebird article has reunited the car’s seller, now 90, and buyer in the 1960s, see comments under Firebirds are go!

Over two years ago Wayne  had a call from Steve Patience, the owner of WM 1800 since 1972 who said he still hopes to get around to re-restoring the car sometime. Wayne posted the comment and has had a response from the former owner’s son who wanted to contact Steve. Wayne takes up the story:

Sometimes you can learn a lot by asking questions.  Called Steve Patience who said he would be pleased to hear from Chip Hellie.  Sent Chip what I had on 9877.  Received the following:

“Hello Wayne,

The son of a TD21 owner has provided some fascinating Alvis owning history of his family. The story of 423 FLD involves registration changes, quite common on the 3 litre, and finding two former family cars for sale at the same time at DD Classics. Just click on the photo…

An occupational hazard of finding archive material is the diversion, “oh! that’s interesting….” and going down a different track. So it was when I found this…

Last year my 1959 TD21 had too much play in the throttle linkage and my attempts to remove it had the unfortunate side effect of sometimes causing the throttle to stick and giving an unwanted high idling speed. So I invested in a new one of those pictured above, a trifle expensive I thought, but it has lasted sixty years. Daunted by the prospect of fitting it in limited time before departing on a long trip, I carried it with me for the next 2,000 miles, just in case. All was OK(ish) until the last time I started it up, and the dreaded high idle has returned. So, finding the above article and spurred on by watching “Quest” and Ed China changing a throttle body on a Maserati that cost £400 needing a computer to set it up, I spent a happy couple of hours getting my hands dirty.

Now I have no lost motion in the throttle pedal and a correct idle, but best of all I have the full range of throttle openings available. It just seems more effortless.

What I was actually looking for were the reports of the 1991 Tour of Britain.The reports and photos not previously published are now on a new page 1991 Tour of Britain

Some new photos landed in the inbox his week including

Red Triangle have found an old stock of “new” handbooks for the TD21 and are now available to buy. Reproduction reprints are also available.

One of the exhibits in the Frankfurt exhibition appears in the TD 21 brochure:

To also have on show the final production car from Mulliner Park Ward, chassis 27472 is impressive, as it was shipped from the UK for the durationWhere is 5002 RU now?

John Speight has sent photos of his TD21 and Firefly in New Zealand and have been added to model pages  Firefly   TD21

A pleasant surprise from Gavin’s bee story was a couple of responses which added to our Alvis knowledge. Gavin had called his Grey Lady Sybil, reasonable enough as the registration is SYL 434. However a previous owner responded, called Sylvie who was unknown to Gavin. What we had not known is that Sylvie is the daughter of the well respected Alvis expert Alf Brown who operated for many years in London servicing cars – ” it was lovely to see my old Grey Lady on the website today SYL 434 now affectionately known as Sybil – of course it used to be known as Sylvie’s… I told my father it was mine as soon as I saw the registration.” Gavin of course had added a “b” to the name……

Sylvie also mentioned her brother Doug who has owned his Firely since 1962 – is this a record?

She added ” I am proud to have been his daughter even though my MG TD is mostly Alvis parts! You have probably guessed that he left Doug and me an Alvis each… so Doug has two. He bought me my MG in 1965 saying an Alvis was too big for a student nurse to drive around London so after he died, I had to chose whether to keep that or the Grey Lady. The MG won..”

While we are being bombarded with statistics these days, the survival ones are the most interesting. How many members of the Alvis Owner Club do you think have been members for over fifty years? The answer is at the end of this post.

Manfred Fleischmann has confirmed that his Centenary Frankfurt exhibition  at Central Garage, Bad Homburg will open on May 13th, next Wednesday. He has sent some photos of the display which looks very professional, including detailed Alvis company history, such as:

Following the bee post Mike Dunn wrote “My father was Willie Dunn, the Alvis Chief Engineer for many years until 1959 when he retired. Alvis asked my father to return as they were missing his guidance and leadership as they needed to land the first production contract for 125 Stalwart high mobility load-carriers. In 1962 they asked me to take over from him as chief engineer for cars and fighting vehicles. My father was a life-long beekeeper and taught me a little of his craft.
In today’s Times newspaper there is a disturbing article about the disease Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV) which has spread over the last decade to most English and Welsh counties There is a possible link to the importing of too many queen honey bees.”

This photo was taken from a brochure issued by the company around 1960 which gives a snapshot of the company’s history….

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Since the April 1970 AOC Bulletin proved to be a popular download, this May edition is equally interesting, previewing the joint Register and AOC 1970 Tour of Britain. Click on May 1970 Bulletin 200

Perhaps some Club members will be inspired to organise a joint event once again in 2021?

Tail piece..From our records there are over 50 AOC members who have 50 years or more of membership, from about 4200 members who joined between 1951 and 1970. Another 18 are known to be following the website but no longer members.