If you own or have owned a Speed 25 please let us know. While there are over 100 25s with current AOC members the are at least 150 more that have been recorded with owners since 1953. Where are they now? Click UPDATE YOUR DETAILS
There are some additions this month with a 1938 article on the Speed 25 page about EXK 225, one of the many surviving Cross & Ellis Tourers, and new article on serial Alvis owner Sir George Burton can be found by clicking here.
To go to the Speed 25 page click Speed 25
We start the New Year with extracts from Bulletin 161 and a reminder of what we do….
“preserve the Archives (any objects, information, or data relevant to Alvis vehicles, or personalities, of any era) which have belonged to the Alvis Owner Club;
obtain and preserve such further Archives as the Trustees think suitable and desirable;
allow access to the Archives by members of the Alvis Owner Club and anyone with an interest in Alvis vehicles at such times and upon such terms as the Trustees shall reasonably decide”.
One of our completed projects is the digitisation of the Bulletins of the AOC which are still available on a DVD. If you would like to have one please leave a comment at the end of this post.
Alvis were still making cars in January 1967 and Bulletin 161 makes interesting reading:
A Mr Trump is also selling his car this month …..
Regular visitors to the website may have noticed some changes designed to make navigation easier. Instead of header bars of several topics there is now an alphabetical index down the right hand side of the page.
Have a look at the new layout and in particular, published today, is a page on RESTORATION STORIES starting with Chris Chilcott’s latest acquisition.
Several other Restoration Stories new pages have been included and some older posts incorporated into them. Older posts can now be found by date or subject. Provision has been made to ASK A QUESTION and to UPDATE YOUR DETAILS.
The Alvis Owner Club Stand this year supports the Show’s theme “Heroes” by featuring two of the cars of Douglas Bader. The show runs from November 11 – 13 (Friday-Sunday) http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com
Bader lost his legs in 1931 then rejoined the air force in October 1939 and was declared fit to fly in February 1940 after war had broken out.
In August 1941 he was shot down in France and was a prisoner of war in Germany where he escaped and recaptured and then transferred to Colditz. This story was documented by military historian Mark Felton in a book called “Zero Night”
Douglas Bader started owning Alvis Cars with a 1954 TC21/100 Drop Head Coupe (DHC), the “Grey Lady” with Manumatic transmission.
Next were two TD21 dropheads before moving on to his final TE21 DHC which is also on show.
Douglas Bader was not shy of adventure, so the fact that he stuck with Alvis cars until well after the end of their production, is testimony to their quality and performance.
He was also a member of the AOC and appeared at the 1972 National Alvis Day at Crystal Palace where he led the cavalcade with J.J. Parkes, who was Chairman and Managing Director of Alvis Limited from 1946 to 1973.
For more Bader photos click on Bader
Also on show – a 1958 Graber TC108G first owned by Madame Ceppi of Leon Frésard S.A. of Bossecourt in Switzerland who made presentation boxes for watches. She part-exchanged it for a Graber TF21 in 1966.
The display includes two Speed 20s, a Charlesworth drophead and a Vanden Plas 2-door saloon.
NEC photos by Paddy Steel
The Lake Hotel at Llangammach Wells was first visited for an AOC Welsh weekend event in 1997, organised by the late Ken Cameron. Ann and Hugh Bradnum took it over in 2005 and revived it for 2016 in memory of Ken and Pat Cameron. An impressive array of Alvis took part.
The standard wording on the daily news sheet is “it will be drier tomorrow” but the wipers were not needed.
1916 saw the introduction of the tank see http://tank100.com/ and from our archives here are some shots by Ben Lentall, Bulletin Editor, of when one joined in the Driving Tests at Midland Alvis Day 1987 at the Alvis Works on Holyhead Road ….
The 1987 Bulletins also included the first Model Registers of the Speed 20 SB, SC and SD models.
Now this little girl in Holland at the wheel of grandad’s TE21 got married in August….
If you appreciate good photography Rob Rowe has penned an article in the October 2016 Bulletin 561 which is reproduced on the Photo Competition page. More entries are welcome sent to john@johnalvis.plus.com
Here is one I took last month on the south bank of the Humber. I hadn’t spotted the birds until I zoomed in afterwards.
Alvis Archive 