Alvis TD21 (1956 – 1963) Review

The TD21 emerged in 1956 to completely change people's opinions of Alvis - almost overnight. Following the loss of the coachbuilders Mulliner and Tickford (who were now tied to other companies), Alvis turned to the Swiss coachbuilder, Graber. The Swiss firm had a tradition of producing sleek, modern and very elegant saloon and drophead designs. However, to ease logistical problems, Willowbrook of Loughborough built the Graber designed bodies in the UK. There were issues with the quality of the Willowbrook bodyshells, and that lead to work being transferred to Park Ward of London, an extremely experienced coachbuilder.

When the car was facelifted to become the TD21, a number of improvements were incorporated, and these included a single-piece rear window, and more room in the boot and the back seat. Along with the obvious visual upgrades, an automatic gearbox was added, and the power was boosted from 104bhp to 115bhp. With the extra power came better braking and front discs were added. The Series II TD21 was introduced in 1962, and that featured disc brakes on all four wheels, a five-speed gearbox and pretty recessed spotlights either side of the grille. The TD21 evolved into the TE21 and TF21 (with vertically stacked twin headlights) until 1967 when the company’s new owner, Rover, stopped Alvis car production.