ALVIS SPEED TWENTY

First introduced in 1920, all Alvis cars made in the early 1920s were designed around a four-cylinder engine. They proved to be a popular sports car but GT Smith-Clarke, the chief design engineer was looking for better performance so in 1927 he introduced an 1870cc six-cylinder overhead valve engine and it was this engine and all future enlarged versions of this engine which powered most of the cars Alvis made right up to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. To increase performance, over time, the original 1870cc engine… Read more

ALVIS TE21

At the outbreak of war in September 1939 Alvis was producing four different models but during an air raid on Coventry in 1940 the car factory was severely damaged with much of the essential equipment destroyed beyond repair causing car production to be suspended for the duration of the war. When car production resumed the first car to go into production was a four-cylinder model, the TA14 whose engine was based on the pre-war 12/70. Whilst this was a reliable and attractive car it reflected the typical austerity forced on… Read more