Fifty years after Alvis stopped making cars, the company is back and its order book is open
The Alvis Car Company is manufacturing, to special order, a limited number of famous Alvis models to be known as The Continuation Series.
The cars carry Alvis chassis numbers and engine numbers which follow on from the last in the model sequence, which is why they have been designated the Continuation Series.
To re-launch the ‘Red Triangle’, the company will have a significant presence at the London Classic Car Show (23-26 February, London) to mark the occasion.
Unlike some marque revivals, The Alvis Car Company isn’t simply attaching the famous ‘Red Triangle’ badge to the front of a modern supercar but instead is recreating genuine supercars from an earlier age.
They are said to be faithful to the original design, utilizing plans and drawings from the period to retain their traditional character and quality, yet are 21st century emission compliant.
“Our Continuation Cars are as close to the originals as we can get,” said Richard Joyce, managing director of The Alvis Car Company.
“We have had to make some modifications to ensure they comply with current Individual Vehicle Approval regulations but essentially the idea is to give owners the same supercar driving experience that owners had when the cars were new. And when you bear in mind that the 4.3 Tourer had a 0-60mph time of 11.3 seconds back in 1938, there’s no denying these were the supercars of their day.”
Among the Alvis cars at the capital’s premier classic car show will be a stunning 1966 Graber-bodied TF21 (above), made in the company’s penultimate year, and a wonderful 4.3 drophead coupé (bellow) with Lancefield coachwork from 1937.
The cars are originals but Alvis is offering hand-built facsimiles of both as part of a limited run of Continuation Models.
Another original that’s also now available as an Alvis Continuation Model, the head-turning Bertelli-bodied 4.3-litre Sports Coupé from 1935, will be shown on the company’s display stand.
A fourth Alvis, a unique Brooklands racer known as the Powys-Lybbe Special (bellow) after its original creator, amateur racer Antony Powys-Lybbe, will also be on display.
Based on a 1931 Alvis 12/60 ‘Beetleback’, it had been given a lighter and narrower body and ran at over 90mph on the outer Brooklands circuit.
Alvis Car Company Ltd operated from 1919 to 1967, producing road cars, race cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and even armoured fighting vehicles.
Car manufacturing ended after the company became a subsidiary of Rover in 1965.
