Alvis Archive

While I was filling SHP up with E5 watching the meter racking up more pounds than usual I had failed to notice my shoes were paddling in petrol. After apologies to the lady behind the till for my old lady’s incontinence I drove to the air line and to my relief no more fuel was leaking out. The rest of my journey was uneventful and enjoyable.

This had happened to me before in another TC 21/100 Graber some thirty odd years ago in France – a perished fuel hose – and sure enough there was a tiny hole surrounded by rubber that had seen better days. In France it had meant keeping the tank no more than half full.

I wasn’t sure whether a standard fuel hose was fitted to a Graber but a call to Chris Prince with a photo of the offending article produced a new TA21 fuel hose which was exactly the part needed. Removal and refitting wasn’t too onerous and created a chance to appreciate the quality of underbody restoration completed over forty years ago.

The early cars fed the petrol into the side of the tank. This has the disavantage of a full tank leaving fuel in the feed hose which can find its way out of the filler particularly on right hand bends. This was changed for the TD21 to feed into the top of the tank and explains the intrusion on the left side of the boot space.

The continuing process of digitising archive material has produced some more period photos of the early Three Litres and a detailed article written by Nick Simpson in 1991. These can be seen on the updated page TA21 together with a downloadable register of cars.

By its nature the Alvis Register Bulletin tends to hark back to a century ago but it is refreshing to see a young(ish) professional journalist in the Editor’s seat with experience of all eras of Alvis motoring. Nigel Boothman will have had the advantage of the paternal 4.3, TD21, Silver Eagle and the 12/50 as well as other marques of distinction. We were very pleased to see Greg Wrapson making good use of the archive photos in his latest piece and as ever, adding to the history among the 50 pages of articles and photos.

The latest June edition of Octane (228) has another piece on Alvis penned by Karl Ludvigsen opining that the TB14 may have been designed by a Swiss who also designed the beautiful Alfa 12C prototipo that is the cover feature. He goes on to explain how AP Metalcraft came about (see also www.alvis14.com and chassis 21908).

Some more older photos have had the digital treatment and raise the question, where are you now?

This article from 2004 by a previous owner, Peter Nops, gives a taste of motoring in the early 60s, in Malta.

From the early 1990s, two Speed 20s offered for sale by Plus 4 Motors.

This Arthur Mulliner saloon on the 3.5 litre chassis was last heard in the USA.

Mark Dixon was given the exclusive opportunity to test drive the new Graber Super.

His nine page report appears in issue 227 of Octane magazine (May 2022) which is on sale on 23rd March.

Nick Simpson has spotted another YouTube film featuring Alvis which is well worth watching. The link has been added to the Rowland Simmons page as it is about the Pirelli Marathon Rally. You can also access it on the ALFLIX page or simply go there by clicking here

After three days of exposure at the NEC Practical Classics Restoration Show, over 500 votes were cast as to whether Betsy should be preserved or restored.

A number of 12/50 owners came and had a chat including one looking for an original saloon body to mount on the chassis he owns.

The voting was consistent over the three days – for every one who wanted to restore the car to as new, three wanted to preserve it as it is.

For the opportunity to buy something to restore there are three TA14 Mulliners up for auction in Goole on 26th March – details on http://www.alvis14.com

The TA14 in the NEC sale KLE 19 on Saturday sold for £9,900.

Two Cross & Ellis Firefly tourers are in the news at the moment – the March 2022 edition of The Automobile carries a four page article ( p 70-73 ) about AOF 777 and next Sunday Silverstone Auctions include AXA 580 which featured in the March 1997 edition of The Bulletin twenty five years ago

A recent visit from André Hillebrand – Secretaris Alvis Owner Club Nederland – prompted some research into a model that was introduced and then quietly mutated into another one. The Firefly 12 was supplemented by the Firefly 16 by fitting a six cylinder engine and duly announced in the press and road tested as the Sixteen.

Then it quietly became regarded as a Silver Eagle model. All this is already well documented in Simon Fisher’s excellent book “The Firefly” which is a fine example of Model Register with almost everything you need to know – and available from the AOC on line shop, first published in 2007 in A4 format on quality paper.

André brought some albums and brochures he has collected for a book he is writing for the 40th Anniverary of the Dutch club this year and we were able to show him the original photo albums we keep and other Firefly photos.

His own Firefly, owned since 1973 is under restoration….

He also has this photo …

More photos are on Firefly

(In case you missed it) head over to ALFLIX for a new film you must see.