Alvis Archive

The last weekend of May saw Kent hosting International Alvis Weekend while in France the annual Fougères rally attracted a significant proportion of Alvis cars. Edmund Waterhouse attended the Kent gathering with his new camera recording those attending. Click on any photo to start the gallery of photos…..

On Wednesday June 19th at Duxford, H & H are auctioning six Alvis..

As well as adding contemporary photos to the archives we have scanned some from 1985 of East Anglia Alvis Day which never appeared in the Bulletin at the time.

“Trader Bill” Fryer was then the club photographer and in his last year of ownership of 1246 PK won a prize or two.

We have also created a Year Book for 1985 which combines the six issues into one, which you can download. Click on 1985 Year Book

The monthly noggin and natter at Rothwell in Lincolnshire attracts a wide variety of cars and many of them are owned by current or former Alvis owners. N & Ns have always been the best place to find expertise and exchange ideas – you never know who you are going to meet. Just a taste of what has attended in recent months….

A series of Harry’s Garage YouTube videos features the creation of an updated Stalwart by a serial Alvis owning family, best known for the TVR range of cars. The subject is the amphibious Scamander but fleetingly mentions the Silver Eagle still held in the collection.

To view the first video click here

Photos from the Fougères rally can be found here

….. the AOC conducted a Membership Survey and published the results.

The Bulletin for May 2004 ticked all the boxes to satisfy most members, covering the vintage period, overseas activities, an abundance of correspondence and archive items. Another Julian Collins masterpiece to enjoy once again…..

This month Alvis publicised the latest Continuation Graber cabriolet on show in Japan.

More details of its unique features are awaited.

Most Alvis cars were delivered with Lucas products to light the way and power the sparks. Some had elegant Marchal headlamps. The Three Litre models were Lucas equipped, except for some of the Swiss bodied versions by Graber. He fitted Marchal headlamps, which are slightly larger in diameter than the Lucas ones and look better for it. At the back, Graber was able to use the rather elegant Lucas light units first fitted to the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud.

He continued to use them while RR were building the Alvis Park Ward bodies from 1958 with a different Lucas unit, previously seen on Humbers, Aston Martins and Continental Bentleys. At some point, before the Silver Cloud III received larger units, whether by choice or necessity, Graber restyled the car to include a new set of lights which were also made in the UK.

The make is Yeadon, and was used as side markers and for trailers. The red lens came in two types, one with a reflector and the other plain like the amber one.

If you know a source of such lenses, please leave a reply.

you would of course like to go there in an Alvis.

For the series of destinations suggested in the 1950s, click on TA21 and start the gallery of 38 images.

The Speed 20 SA page has been updated to include photos of a rare Thrupp and Maberly saloon being conserved in Canada.

Nick Simpson kindly confirmed the new pricing of the various coachbuilders using the SA chassis:

Cross & Ellis 4 seater sports £695

Vanden Plas 4 seater sports £725

Vanden Plas 2 seater sports £895

Vanden Plas ‘straight-back’ saloon £865

Vanden Plas ‘large-boot’ saloon £895

Charlesworth saloon £850

Mayfair saloon £850

Thrupp & Maberly saloon £895

Click Speed 20 SA for a gallery of 109 images

Among the various design drawings held in the archives is this one which as far as we know was never built by New Avon on a Firefly chassis:

New Avon produced designs for Standard as well as work for Austin, Lanchester and Crossley Motors.

Back in 2010 this photo was published in the hope of tracing the car, without success until now. In the same ownership since 1971 it is now ready for a new custodian willing to complete the restoration. More information available on request.

In search of the history of his grandfather’s Alvis cars we received this photo of one of them which filled a gap in the Speed 25 Register as the registration number was not previously known. Does it survive somewhere?

The Speed 25 page has been updated, click Speed 25 for 166 images in the gallery.

The Offord Speed 25 of James Sprague has attracted a lot of interest, including a spread in Classic Cars penned by Nigel Boothman. As a result, the Trust has received a donation from Kelvin Price of two design drawings for the 4.3 model. For more on Offord and the drawings, click Offord

Ten years ago we published the digitised photo albums of the AOC and since then added several more. Three albums have been updated to add more photos and captions:

1950s – Album 2 300 photos

1950s – Album 3 133 photos

TC Series 60 photos

The Speed model was singled out by Hagerty as the pre-war car to buy in 2024 “cars that prioritised strong performance and confidence-inspiring handling in their day – qualities that today elevate them above more rudimentary alternatives from the era, and without the price tag of equivalents with more exotic nameplates.” Based on what must be not a great sample of data they conclude “average values of all Alvis models have risen from £43,077 to £56,867 in the past 12 months, a climb of 32 per cent.” and that a Speed 25 can be bought for £52,000–£99,400.

The biggest cost of motoring is depreciation and owners of new Alvis cars were not exempt from that, nor are those who have invested in professional restorations. In the context of modern motoring, and electric cars in particular, perhaps running an Alvis is a relatively frugal way of covering pleasure miles, with low insurance, no road tax, no electronics or driving aids. The latest YouTube from Harry’s Garage is an excellent summary of how modern motoring is changing, how costs have increased and likely to stay that way. Enjoy it while we can.