Alvis

Coventry · 1919–1967 · around 100 cars in New Zealand club hands

Alvis built the chassis and the engine. Somebody else built the body — which is why, on this marque, the coachbuilder matters more than the model.

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All Alvis PartsEvery part we list that suits an Alvis, in one place

Window SealsWindscreen · Rear screen · Quarterlight Door SealsDoor rubbers · Pinchweld · Bailey channel Boot & BonnetBoot seals · Bonnet rubbers · Buffers Body & TrimPanel rubber · Mouldings · Bumper fittings Clips & FixingsTrim clips · Moulding · Screws · Washers Suspension & SteeringBushes · Ball joints · King pins · Idlers Engine & GasketsGasket sets · Mounts · Seals · Bearings Ignition & ElectricalPoints · Caps · Rotors · Coils · Leads Fuel & FiltersPumps · Hose · Filters · Exhaust mounts

Parts often shared withRover P4 Rover P5 Vauxhall PA Jaguar Vintage Cars

Not listed? Plenty of parts suit several marques and never get the model name in the title — ask us and we will check the books for you.

About Alvis

Thomas George John, a naval engineer, set up in Coventry in 1919 and took on an engine design from Geoffrey de Freville that had aluminium pistons and pressure lubrication when neither was ordinary. De Freville brought the name and the red triangle with him — he had been using both on pistons since about 1914. The story that “Alvis” joins aluminium to the Latin vis is the one everybody repeats, and de Freville himself denied it: he said he made the word up because it was easy to say in any language. The company nearly folded in 1923 and was saved by the 12/50, and by Maurice Harvey winning the 200 Mile Race at Brooklands that October at 93.29mph. What followed was a run of engineering that was well ahead of the money behind it — front-wheel-drive racers from 1925, a class win at Le Mans in 1928, and in 1933 two things worth stating carefully. Independent front suspension came on the Crested Eagle in May 1933, not on the Speed 20 — the Speed 20 SB adopted it that October — and it is reckoned the first on a British production car, not a world first. The Speed 20 SB’s gearbox, though, is believed to be the first anywhere to reach production with synchromesh on every forward gear, first included.

The thing to establish before you order any body part is who built the body. Alvis never built one. The same chassis left Coventry and went to Mulliners of Birmingham, to Tickford, to Carbodies, to Willowbrook, to Park Ward, or to Graber in Switzerland — and often to more than one of them in the same year. A TA21 is a Mulliners four-door saloon or a Tickford two-door drophead; a TC21 is the same again; a TD21 or TE21 is normally Park Ward but might be a Graber. Graber cars were individual commissions at roughly ten a year, so two of them differ from each other as well as from everything else. Willowbrook bodies were hand-formed over a wooden frame. The practical rule: mechanical parts follow the model — engine, gearbox, axle, brakes, suspension, chassis. Body parts follow the coachbuilder — window and screen rubber, door seals, boot and bonnet seals, glass, hood frames, door furniture, bumpers and brightwork. On a Graber car, the chassis number matters too.

Post-war the range is short and the brake story runs straight through it. The TA14 of 1946 is the pre-war 12/70 widened and lengthened, its 1,842cc four bored out one millimetre to 1,892cc, on Girling mechanical drums and beam axles at both ends. Hydraulics arrive with the six-cylinder TA21 in 1950. Discs arrive at the front on the TD21, as an option before they were standard, and all round with the TD21 Series II in 1962. Production ended in 1967: Rover had taken control in 1965, the coachbuilders had gone, and the armoured-vehicle and aero-engine side of the business was worth far more. In 1968 the car operation went to Red Triangle at Kenilworth, taking the entire spares stock, nearly 22,000 individual car records and more than 50,000 works drawings with it — so unlike almost any other marque of the period, a chassis number will get you the factory build record of your own car. Here, the Alvis Car Club of New Zealand was founded in Auckland on 13 September 1969, two years after the last car was built, and looks after roughly a hundred cars.

Alvis — model guide, specification & changes within the range

Pre-war fours: 12/50 1923–32, 1,496–1,645cc, around 3,700 built · 12/60 1931–32, 282 built · Firefly 1932–34, 1,496cc, 69 × 100mm · Firebird 1934–36, 1,842cc, 73 × 110mm, around 450 built · 12/70 1937–40, 1,842cc, around 750 built.
Pre-war sixes: Silver Eagle 1929–36 · Crested Eagle 1933–39, 602 chassis · Speed 20 1932–36, 1,165 built across SA, SB, SC and SD · Speed 25 1936–40, 3,571cc, 83 × 110mm, 106bhp · 4.3 Litre 1936–40, 4,387cc, 92 × 110mm, 137bhp — the largest and fastest pre-war Alvis.
That head gasket: The “Alvis 12 & 14hp” gasket suits the 1,842cc and 1,892cc fours — Firebird, 12/70 and TA14, 73mm and 74mm bore. It does not suit a Firefly, which is 69mm. Check your bore before ordering.
TA14: 1946–1950, 3,311 built. 1,892cc four, 74 × 110mm, 65bhp, single SU H4. Four-speed, synchromesh on the top three. Girling mechanical (rod) drums, twin leading shoe, all round. Beam axle and leaf springs front and rear. Separate chassis, 108in.
TB14: 1950 only, 100 built. TA14 running gear, twin SU, 68bhp. Body by A. P. Metalcraft of Coventry — rear-hinged cut-away doors, fold-flat screen, concealed headlamps. Girling brakes.
TA21: 1950–1953, 1,316 built including 302 dropheads. New 2,993cc six, 84 × 90mm, seven main bearings and the timing gears at the rear of the block. Single Solex at launch, twin SU H4 later. Lockheed hydraulic 11in drums — the first hydraulic brakes on an Alvis. Independent coil-and-wishbone front, leaf rear. Separate chassis, 111.5in.
TB21: 1951, 31 built, most exported. TA21 running gear, single SU, 90bhp, 3.77:1 final drive. Body by A. P. Metalcraft.
TC21 & TC21/100: 1953–1955. 2,993cc six, twin SU, 100bhp. The /100 “Grey Lady” adds 8:1 compression, a better exhaust, 3.77:1 final drive, bonnet air scoops and wire wheels as standard. Lockheed 11in drums, twin leading shoe, 189 sq in. Lucas 12 volt, 63Ah. No synchromesh on first. No Alvis with discs yet.
TC108G: 1955–1958, 31 chassis. Graber design built under licence by Willowbrook of Loughborough — metal over a traditional wooden frame, in very small numbers. 104bhp.
TD21 Series I: 1958–1961, around 784 built. 2,993cc, twin SU H6, 115bhp on the revised 1959 head with individual rather than siamesed inlet ports; external oil filter fitted during 1959. BMC four-speed, Borg Warner automatic optional, Laycock overdrive late 1960 to 1962. Brakes: starts on drums, gains servo front discs with drums at the rear — an option before it was standard, so check car by car. Bodies by Park Ward, some by Graber.
TD21 Series II: 1962–1963, 285 built. Dunlop discs all round — 11.5in front, 11in rear, calipers shared with contemporary Jaguars. ZF five-speed all-synchromesh from October 1962, automatic still optional. Aluminium doors, built-in fog lamps. Note the two changes are not the same date: an early Series II can be disc-braked with the four-speed.
TE21: 1963–1966, 352 built. 2,993cc, twin SU, 130bhp, seven thin-shell mains. ZF five-speed or Borg Warner automatic. Dunlop servo discs all round. Burman recirculating ball, ZF power steering optional from late 1964. 12 volt, 51Ah. Identified by the twin headlamps stacked vertically. Park Ward bodies; only three Graber cabriolets.
TF21: 1966–1967, 106 built — the last and fastest Alvis. 2,993cc with triple SU, 9.1:1, 150bhp @ 4750rpm, 185lb ft. Electric cooling fan, heated inlet manifold. ZF five-speed or automatic. Discs all round, 11.50in front and 11.02in rear. 12 volt, 57Ah, not the TE21’s 51Ah. Instruments moved in front of the driver.
Brakes, the whole range: TA14 and TB14: Girling, mechanical, drums. TA21, TB21, TC21, TC21/100: Lockheed hydraulic, 11in drums. TD21 Series I: drums, then servo front discs with rear drums — check the car. TD21 Series II, TE21, TF21: Dunlop servo discs all round.
Bodies: Mulliners of Birmingham · Tickford · Carbodies · A. P. Metalcraft · Duncan · Mead · Willowbrook · Park Ward and Mulliner Park Ward · Carrosserie Graber, Wichtrach. Body rubber, glass, brightwork, hood frames and door furniture follow the coachbuilder, not the model.
Chassis: Every post-war Alvis is separate-chassis, body on frame. There is no monocoque Alvis. 108in on the TA14, 111.5in on everything from the TA21 on.
Electrics: Lucas 12 volt throughout the post-war range. Earth polarity is not documented in any source we could check, and many cars have been converted — confirm yours before ordering electrical parts.
Works records: Red Triangle at Kenilworth holds the factory spares stock, nearly 22,000 individual car records and over 50,000 works drawings and data sheets. A chassis number will get you your own car’s build record — worth doing before you order body parts.
In New Zealand: The Alvis Car Club of New Zealand was founded at Avondale, Auckland on 13 September 1969 and looks after around a hundred cars, vintage through to the TD21. A 1923 12/40 is recorded as the first brand new Alvis imported into the country. No New Zealand agent or distributor is documented — cars came in individually.