It is very good to report that Cyril Abbott’s Carbodies chassis no. 23362, registration FPY 235, that he owned from new, is still going strong with her current long term owner. Her current owner may however wince at the 1954 correspondence from Mr Abbott, ‘how to overcome the problem of ascending a steep hill with a full load of passengers and, when doing 80mph with the boot open, how to avoid damage to the spare wheel cover,’ it was not 01/04/1954! More about Mr Abbott’s ownership next month. 

Now that International Alvis Day 2014 has passed into memories of a very successful event, we might cast our minds back to National Alvis Day 1961.
The proud owner of Tickford Dhc. 22298, KLE 16 was watching his son taking part in the driving tests in the rain. Sadly the wet surface was too much for the Tickford’s tyre grip and she spun out of control into the saftey barrier. One hopes and presumes that Kevin was not hurt as there were no reports of injuries. The car suffered ‘considerable damage’ and ‘Father’s comments were unrepeatable’!

In the early days of the Club, one name was often in the forefront of Alvis matters, ‘Clink’. Otherwise more formally known as Lt. Cdr B.H. Clinkard of ‘Pump Farm’. Clink was for many years the Spares Registrar for the Club and amassed a host of spares supplying them as a business separate to Club affairs. His opinion was very highly valued and his knowledge extensive. His own personal cars were usually the large pre war cars, Speed 20, 4.3 supercharged Special. Until recently, his running of a 1949 Saloon TA 14 was not generally well known. In his article on Towing he wrote ‘I have a very high regard for the model and am quite certain it’s qualities have never been fully appreciated by those who have not owned one. As a very ‘automobilwise’ experienced friend remarked after driving the car-It’s a little Rolls’. Praise indeed for our cars.

Nearly seventy years after the Fourteens commenced, two of the marque were going great guns last month on a tour of France. Accompanied by eight other Alvis the Tickford of Gez Holt and the Duncan of Tricia and Mike Harcourt were touring down to Angouleme to watch Classic Racing. The Tickford was still running her engine in after a major rebuild and sounding good. A bonus, for the Tour members, in La Rochelle was the appearance of Lady D’Armor from Angers, chassis 23206, a stunning TA 14 Special who had all the camera shutters fluttering, she is featured in our Cars of Interest Section.
The Beaulieu sale saw the T.B.Scotney Woodie, chassis 20610 sold for £1500. Looking rather the worse for wear it can only be hoped that she has gone for restoration. Her photos in The Gallery show her in better days.
Finally and rather late, hearty congratulations must go to Dave Mitchell and Malcolm Kindell for coming well deserved third and first respectively in the Julian Collins Awards for best Member Article 2013/2014 in the AOC Bulletin. Both articles about Fourteens were absorbing and well worth a re read. So inspiration for more Fourteen Articles?