Alvis name revived for continuation classics

Fifty years after Alvis stopped making cars, the company is back and its order book is open. And the British car maker will have a significant presence at this year's London Classic Car Show in February for interested buyers. But the Alvis Car Company isn’t just attaching the famous ‘Red Triangle’ badge to the front of a modern supercar - it's recreating supercars from an earlier age.

Among the Alvis cars at the show will be a 1966 Graber-bodied TF21 (pictured above), made in the company’s penultimate year, and a 4.3-litre drophead coupé 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 after its original creator, amateur racer Antony Powys-Lybbe, will also be on show. 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.

Richard Joyce, managing director of The Alvis Car Company, said, 'Our continuation cars are as close to the originals as we can get. We have had to make some modifications to ensure they comply with current Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) 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.'

Tickets to the 2017 London Classic Car Show/HMI on 23-26 Febuary are now available from the show website – thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk – and start at £24 for single adult entry (£27 on the door on the day). Gala evening standard entry costs £42 or for access to the Grand Avenue Club, where the interviews take place, tickets cost £70.