The company produced Fighting Vehicles
Saracen FV 603
___________Ian Barclay recalls his time at Alvis___________
I was born into a ‘car’ family. My father’s family had Alvis’s, Bentleys and Lagondas; my mother’s family raced Bentleys and Lagondas! The family business was beer – Barclay Perkins & Co, Southwark, London. It became Courage, Barclay and Simmonds. (Courage)
In 1968 I joined the David Brown Corporation at 97 Piccadilly with particular responsibilities for Aston Martin Lagonda. After David Brown I joined the MOD and from there Alvis Ltd – the year 1976.
Sadly, my father had died a couple of years earlier so never knew. I think he would have approved. I had spent many a happy hour in the back seat of his TD and TF. He was reported as having had 22 Alvis in his lifetime (but not all at once.) From time to time, when I was abroad, my unwary wife was telephoned at our house in Warwick for the caller to ask if I knew how to change a front-wheel-drive something or other.
Alvis, based in Holyhead Road, Coventry, consisted of three main business lines – aero engines, armoured vehicles and quality engineering parts manufacture- spare parts for Alvis cars, Jaguar and other high quality engineering customers. We also had a nice little line in armoured limos for ‘government use’!
Before I joined, Alvis had been subsumed via Rover into British Leyland and had stopped making cars. The Alvis TF was a direct competitor to the Rover 3.0 litre.
Following the retirement of John Parkes – Chairman, the Managing Director was Major General (Retd) George Lewis and, following the retirement of George Howell, my job as Commercial Director, was to lead and develop the military vehicle business – particularly with overseas customers. Alvis had stopped making the range of Saladin, Saracen, Salamander and Stalwart 6 wheeled armoured vehicles and was making the Scorpion range of seven light aluminium armoured tracked vehicles – a fantastic family with exceptional agility and speed.
Who in Alvis or the MOD invented the names of light armoured vehicles – all beginning with S – generic for their task ? – Scorpion (76mm gun), Scimitar (16mm gun), Striker (rocket launcher), Samson (recovery vehicle), Sultan (Command/ radio), Spartan (personnel carrier) and Samaritan (ambulance).
I was blessed with having a very loyal and committed staff.
Alvis had, as its Publicity Manager, Johnny Williams who, apart from having an endless supply of tickets for Cardiff Arms Park rugby, used to cover for Mike Parkes and squirrel his cars to Silverstone for MP to practice unbeknown to his father, before MP went off to join Ferrari.
John Hedges, Design Director – a really nice, kind, lovely man who knew so much.
Alan Robb – the Production Director
Alvis was like a family from top to bottom and I was lucky enough to work for it.
We were very successful. ‘Some say’ the most successful part of BL.! We had a 24 month order book during the five and a half years that I was there before the Company was bought by United Scientific Holdings in 1981. In that time I made many friends and learnt an awful lot.
I was very proud to be elected an honorary Vice President of the Alvis Owner Club and Alvis will always be very close to my heart. Fine cars made by fine people. Innovation was always uppermost.
IB: 06.06.2012
Click Stalwart for more information.
For information on fighting vehicles visit afv society
Mark Chapman has submitted some photos taken during the annual European Amphib event in August in Amsterdam.
http://amphib2015.tumblr.com/about
Alvis Archive 
The FV107 Scimitar has a 30mm L21 Rarden Cannon. Not 16mm as stated.
In a moment of nostalgia I decided to Google the old Alvis and came across your site. I was the last apprentice at Alvis before it closed it’s doors in Coventry in the late 90’s, in fact, as I worked in the R&D department and we had some work to do on some shadows, we literally were able to park our cars inside the building and turned out the lights on our way out. As Mr Barclay rightly says in his above post, Alvis was a fantastic place to work and such a family atmosphere, in fact my Father worked there also in the tool room so actually a family atmosphere!! I do have somewhere the infamous Caricature picture that was done for the final employees and features about a 100 faces, many I assume have long gone by now along with the Alvis apprentice School brass plaque (taken off the door) and some other bits and bobs such as lapel badges and the Cashes silk bookmark (well used). I’m 48 now and still have very fond memories of the place. One last question to anyone who may know, What ever happened to the “Freedom for Tooting” T-shirt that was signed by Robert Lyndsey that hung in the Baginton workshop? Those who worked there will know ha ha!?
It was fun doing the show. I still have some photos with the cast.