The Hotel for next year’s Alvis weekend and our 70th Anniversary Celebrations was booked out at great speed. Late in the morning of the 4th November the phone was picked up by the hotel with the immediate weary response, ‘I suppose you are another Alvis Owner’! Out of the blue two long lost Mulliners Saloons have popped up. First a lovely letter came from The President plus Secretary of Museo de Los Medios de Transporte, Rio Branco, Cerro Largo, Uruguay. An Alvis had been found in a warehouse after being there for over 30 years. The picture sent has been put on The Gallery and shows a Mulliners Saloon surrounded by prewar American Cars that would not look out if place in an Al Capone film. The chassis number is 21697 and shows she is one of 12 cars originally exported to Uruguay. We are sending out an original Bulletin with an Article about the car, a photo copy has already gone out and this will form part of the Museum display. Should anyone have other material they could use for display purposes with the car this would be much appreciated by The Museum. Why not make a visit to Rio Branco on the south side of the river between Brazil and Uruguay? Hot on the heels from the Uruguay discovery came news of another Mulliners found sleeping in a sheep shearing shed in the Outback of Australia. Chassis 21806 is evidently in sound condition albeit covered in a very thick layer of dust. The maroon colour appears to be the original but at some stage she appears to have been retrimmed. Pictures are in The Gallery and hot off the press today is the news that the owner wants to sell. Anyone interested I can put them in touch. Have a look on Rogues Gallery to see the unusual and rare Fixed Head Coupe that sadly had a body that was too far gone. Do you recognize any of the cars so that we can put chassis/registration numbers to them? Under Lost Cars we are trying to trace the whereabouts or fate of Mulliners Saloon, GSF 619, chassis 22880, whereabouts not known since 1963. Her former owner recalls ‘putting a roof rack on and carrying a full 3 piece suite home from an Auction. Settee on top with armchair roped on top of it and second armchair in the opened boot! Don’t try this at home! Perhaps over Christmas some more lost cars could be identified? A new Member to the AOC in 1968 had a novel approach to the correction of ‘silly prices’ being paid for old and interesting cars. ‘May I suggest that one reasonable thing that could be done by one make Clubs would be to set and regularly renew a current list of prices for their cars rather on the lines of the Glass’s Guide for the trade. If these prices were very considerably exceeded by a member it might not be unreasonable to consider denying him the facilities of the Club and not selling him any further cars to mis-use in this way.’ I am sure such a list of miscreants would have had a queue of potential vendors at their door. Many people raised in the Black and White era could have been forgiven for believing that cars of the 1940s were Black or dark colours. The first Tickford body produced was probably creamy white and was the car used in th advertising campaign. Scroll down cars of interest to see this car displaying her interior trim. Also the first Duncan was primrose yellow. Researching a chassis conundrum drew a delivery of a Mulliners Saloon, chassis 21283, to A.E.Nicholson, J.P., F.C.A.. Page 2 of the Factory Record Card gives the dealer so this was somewhat out of the ordinary. This gentleman was of course the Chairman of Alvis at the time! Many of us have used Red Triangle over the years and have been grateful for the supply of spares they have on their shelves. When Alvis spares were cleared out to go to Red Triangle in 1968 it was done by Leylands during a single weekend when it should have taken several weeks. Not bad when you consider they were shifting 100 tons of spares. Twenty years on from the 50th Anniversary Celebrations many Fourteens are in better shape than ever and this Scottish joke from the Oz Alvis Magazine is now less relevant. ‘when you go to buy a TA 14 suspect anything that does not rattle as it will not be original! Nothing could be further from the truth about 14s with chassis 23323 who participated in the FIVA World Rally in 1996. Not only did this fine Carbodies partake in the Rally but she came third in Class and 7th overall and that out of 300 car’s, 200 of which had come from all over the world to take part.
In case you have not received a wish list from the garage yet have a look at Books and Publications to see if there is anything else to add to the bookcase. There is a good selection of material for sale too this month in the AOC Calendar. Fire extinguishers/ fire blankets are always welcome as are some of the J &M Models for sale on EBay. In the event that you do not have them Red Triangle can sell copies of original Factory Record Cards and Guarantee Cards for about £20. Probably the best value of the lot is still the Alvis Archive Trust Disc of the old Bulletins for about £25 that will keep the reader absorbed long after Christmas. The disc for the 50th Anniversary Book is hopefully soon available from and will be probably be priced at £12 + p&p. Investigations are being made by one of the book’s authors to consider the reprint of this valuable and informative compendium. Finally to wish everyone a wonderful Festive Season and hope you all have a great Christmas.

Eileen and Terry Goddin

eileen4ta.tb14s@rocketmail.com