- Alvis Ltd
- Coventry, West Midlands
- In 1919 Thomas George John (1880-1946) founded T G John & Co Ltd in Coventry to design and manufacture sports and racing motor cars. It specialised in manufacturing engine parts in aluminium. The company name changed to Alvis Car & Engineering Co Ltd in 1921, the name deriving from aluminium and the Latin word for power. Production moved to Holyhead Road, Coventry, where the Buckingham car was made 1922-3. In 1922 George Smith-Clarke, previously assistant works manager at Daimler, joined Alvis as chief engineer and works manager, and William Dunn, former draughtsman at Daimler, became Alvis’ chief draughtsman. It was a fruitful partnership that lasted for nearly 28 years and produced some of the company's most successful products. Smith-Clarke left in 1950, and Dunn assumed Smith-Clarke's role as chief engineer, remaining in that position until 1959.
Geoffrey de Freville designed the first Alvis motor car engine, an innovative four-cylinder engine with aluminium pistons and pressure lubrication. The first car model using de Freville's engine was the Alvis 10/30. It was an instant success and established a reputation for quality workmanship and superior performance. The original 10/30 side-valve engine was improved, becoming by 1923 the overhead valve Alvis 12/50, a highly successful sports car that was produced until 1932. In 1927 the six-cylinder Alvis 14.75 was introduced, an engine that became the basis for the long line of luxurious six-cylinder Alvis cars produced up to the outbreak of the Second World War. These cars were elegant and full of technical innovations. Independent front suspension and the world's first all-synchromesh gearbox were introduced in 1933 followed by servo assisted brakes. The Alvis 12/75 model was introduced in 1928, a model bristling with innovation, such as front-wheel drive, in-board brakes, overhead camshaft and, as an option, a Roots type supercharger. Alvis did not produce its own coachwork, relying instead on other coachbuilders in the Midlands area
Alvis began manufacturing aero-engines to increase the output range of British engines. In 1935 new aero-engine workshops had been built and Alvis negotiated a license to manufacture Gnome et le Rhone radial engines. The French designs were carefully analysed and new engines developed in accordance with Air Ministry requirements – the Pelides and Alcides. In 1936 the company name was shortened to Alvis Ltd. During the Second World War Alvis undertook aero engine overhaul work (particularly for Rolls-Royce Ltd) and propellor hub assembly for de Havilland as well as servicing US engines in service with the RAF in the 21 shadow factories for which it was responsible. Car production, initially suspended, resumed until the car factory was severely damaged by bombing in late 1940. After the war the company continued to develop the Leonides engine.
Car production resumed in 1946, but austerity reduced demand for powerful and sporting pre-war models. Alvis had also lost its car factory and many of the pre-war coachbuilders had not survived. The Alvis 3L3, TA21 prototype was launched in 1947. In 1950 a new chassis based on the TA14 and six-cylinder 3–litre engine was announced and this highly successful engine became the basis of all Alvis models until production ceased in 1967. New chassis suppliers had also to be found. Only in late 1958 with the launch of the TD 21 and its later variants did full-scale production resume as Rolls-Royce subsidiary Park Ward began to build the new modified bodies. However, the cars were too expensive for the company to be sustainable and Rover took a controlling interest in Alvis in 1965. Alvis UK car manufacturing ceased in 1967 and in 1968, a management buyout of the car operations was finalised and transferred to Red Triangle. As part of Rover, Alvis Ltd was incorporated into British Leyland
- Gnome-Le Rhone radials, under license; Alvis Alcides 1300hp (1937); Maeonides Major 650hp (1937); Pelides 1000hp (1936); Pelides Major 1,000hp (1936); Alvis 9ARS 430/450hp (1937); Leonides, variants (1950-57); Leonides Major, variants (1950-51).
Kenneth Day, Alvis: The story of the red triangle (1981); R M Clarke, Alvis gold portfolio 1919-1967 (1989).
Alvis Car & Engineering Co, companies court winding up proceedings and registrars’ notes 1924-25 [J13/10356, J107/14/A1316, J13/10347/342, J13/10677/230, J107/23/230, J107/14/292]; papers re repair and testing of aero-engines, Alvis Ltd 1938-43 [AVIA10/257]; papers re desire to export aero-engines 1938 [FO371/21620/8147]; Air Ministry papers re Alvis Ltd 1936-39 [AIR19/6].
Service agreements: T G John as managing director 1922, G T Smith-Clarke as chief engineer and works manager 1925 [PA985/29/1, 5]; debenture and copy to Lloyds Bank 1930 [PA985/35/1-2]; manufacturing agreement with M J Vaughan 1935 [PA985/29/10]; Societe Des Moteurs Gnome et Rhone license to manufacture aircraft engines with related papers 1935, 1937, 1943 [PA985/30/1-3]; annual reports and accounts sent to stockbrokers Daffern, Coventry 1928-35 [PA 606/1-47]; site plan re Baginton works test beds mid-20th cent [PA2269/5]; photographs: employees at work, visitors, works, testing equipment, engines and components mid-20th cent., albums re employees, works, engines, components and motor cars mid-20th cent. [PA2269/2] aero engine test beds drawing 1950s [PA2269/6/1]; leaflet re Vickers 'Wellington' power installations with Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines mid-20th cent. [PA2269/4/1]; press cuttings 1947, 1951-57 [PA2269/3/1-3]; advertisements: 1958-71, Leonides engine1949-51 [PA2269/3/4-5].
British Motor Industry Heritage Trust
Memoranda and articles of association 1917-71; general meeting minutes 1953-75; seal book 1960-76; directors’ report and accounts 1963-4; registers: debentures 1925-76, directors’ holdings and interests 1948-73; John Joseph Parkes, employee, curriculum vitae 1969 [76-ALV-1, 80/82/1]; letter to Vanden Plas Coachbuilding Co re staff n.d. [VDP/1/4].
Engine specifications, performance data and installation diagrams re 500hp Leonides 1947-48 [m historic pamphlets 5, 5e pamphlet]; description and engine data for types 502/2-524/1 Mk 173 Alvis Leonides helicopter engine 1952 [5e pamphlet].
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Papers re Alvis n.d. [X003-7176]; papers incl correspondence and drawings of Leonides engines n.d. [AC90/10].