All you need to know about Alvis
Born: 1919 Nationality: British
There is an intriguing Alvis connection between the famous Detroit-based Holley Carburettor company, the Hillman Car Company, Dublin's Phoenix Park, and the latest military vehicle technology.
The original link was the purchase of Holley's Coventry business by Welsh businessman Thomas George John in 1919 as an engineering enterprise to produce an ill-fated 50cc Stafford Mobile Pup motor scooter. He also acquired an agency for the non-automotive stationary engines being produced by Hillman. In 1921, John dropped both to build his own car, renaming his company Alvis.
His vehicles were immediately accepted as high quality products, beginning with the 10/30. It became a very successful performer on hill trails and at racing venues. A works version lapped Brooklands at 87mph.
Next, the 12/50, became a very successful competition performer through the 1920s, including winning the Brooklands 200 at over an average 93mph against competitors that were pure racecars. In 1924 a special lightweight 12/50 broke no fewer than 39 records at Brooklands, some being unbeaten until the 1960s.
The "Beetleback" version of the 12/50 became a popular private car and racing model.
The works competition cars adopted front-wheel drive in 1925 and, in 1926, replaced their supercharged fours with eight-cylinder engines with roller bearings, designed to comply with regulations for 1.5-litre Grand Prix engines. But their complexity required resources for Grand Prix racing which Alvis couldn't afford, and the firm's works efforts were subsequently concentrated on sportscar events. In 1928, two four-cylinder cars won the 1.5-litre class at Le Mans. The final works entries were in 1930 - Alvis won the Ulster TT's first three places that year with their now-reliable eight-cylinder FWD cars.
But, after poor results in the Brooklands "Double Twelve" with variants of the Silver Eagle, Alvis retired from direct competition.
In 1938 came the Phoenix Park connection. Privateer driver Michael May won the only Grand Prix ever for the marque there. May was one of several private racers who achieved successes for Alvis before WW II, and even beyond the turn of the third millenium in historic events.
During the 1930s, the brand had furthered its Rolls-Royce competitor status with cars such as the Speed 20, Speed 25, Firefly and Crested Eagle.
In that decade, Alvis had also developed as a military vehicle contractor. It paid the price with the bombing of its original car factory by the Luftwaffe in 1940. This didn't matter much, as the company had already built an alternate factory elsewhere in Coventry and simply moved production. Of particular historical interest is the company's production of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines for the Lancaster bomber.
Alvis returned to car production in 1945 with the TA, followed by the TB 14 which saw the marque through until 1950 when the TC 21 appeared.
The "Grey Lady" TC 21/100 produced in 1955 was a fine car, but very few buyers could afford it. The TD51 of 1958 was much more achieveable financially, and was followed in 1964 by the TE21.
The TF21, the fastest-ever Alvis, was launched just around the time that the brand merged with Rover to be lost in the black hole of British Leyland.
The Alvis name is still alive in military terms. Since 1981 it has designed and built such famous hardware as the Saladin and Saracen armoured cars and the tracked Scorpion and Stormer.
Subsequently acquiring the GKN military manufacturing business and Vickers, among others, the company is now a major military developer and manufacturer under the name Alvis Vickers. Products include cutting edge stealth tank technology and military hybrid and electric drive systems.
BEST CAR: The 1925 Speed 25 - or, postwar, the 1959 TD 21 Graber Coupe
WORST CAR:
None in their time
WEIRDEST CAR: They never had to
... - BRIAN BYRNE