Humble Beginnings

Touring the beautiful South Coast of Wales gives the ideal opportunity to pay a visit to the birthplace of T.G.John in the Pembroke Dock area.

A modest terrace house, number 6 Church Street is where it all began. Fortunately not much has changed in the area so one can stand outside looking up and down the hill and see the much the same view as in 1880 when he was born. The house has a blue plaque to record the event. To read more about the founder of Alvis go to tgjohn.com and at the end click the link to the Article on alvisarchive.com. For any Alvis owner, life has been impacted by the cars and all down to the humble beginnings in a terraced house at Pembroke Docks.

A lovely example of a Carbodies Dhc. is now leaving long term keen Alvis ownership in the USA. She will be offered for sale by Sotheby’s at their prestigious Hershey Auction in Pennsylvania, Lot 152. The Auction is scheduled for the 7th/8th October. Go to their site and in the search box put in Alvis to see the beautiful Brown/Cream Carbodies. The car, chassis 22088, registration TGP 62 is being offered for sale with an estimate of $45 000-70 000 with no reserve so perhaps worth a bid if anyone seeks a beautiful TA 14 Drophead.She looks like a car in very good condition and ready to go. There is a definitive trans Atlantic cosmetic colour scheme and love the whitewalls. Plenty of photos show the car in great detail.

More news from the USA from Nashville, home of The Grand Ole Opry and a long term family owned TB 14, chassis 23588. Following an extensive restoration she is about to reach completion and return to the open roads within a matter of days. Photos will be available next month. Many of us will know the feeling of great excitement and anticipation as the restoration is completed and the car comes home.

Away from the Deep South up in the empty roads of Montana another TB 14 has changed hands. She is the car with the Chevy engine that is still under the bonnet, chassis 23555. Slightly better acceleration than the standard original 0-60 mph in 19 seconds! Now painted with in an attractive dark green she is another TB 14 that will be appearing on the American roads. Go to ‘Cars of Interest and TB14 Gallery to see more about her.

Another desirable car about to seek is a new home is Mavis the well known Mulliners Saloon who was the featured TA 14 at the 75th Anniversary Celebrations at International Alvis Day 2016.

Mavis is unique that she has full paper records from the day she went to her new owner. They make interesting reading and can be seen by going to the header banner and clicking on Life of a Fourteen. MVX 963 chassis 21785 is an excellent example of a Mulliners Saloon and will be a great buy for those looking to acquire one of these models.

As always there is a selection of TA and TB 14s for sale on carandclassic.co.uk. Anyone looking will need to check the whole Alvis for sale list as some cars do not make it onto the TA 14 List. Mulliners Saloon, Tickford and Carbodies Dropheads, Specials, chassis, TB 14s all feature so what a choice.

Some very good and interesting web sites can be found showing our cars in the past and on their holidays. One such is the website, jobson-scott.weebly.com showing the extensive travels of Carbodies Dhc. ‘Samantha’ who has been with her current family for over 57 years. Chassis 23461 she has certainly not let the grass grow under her wheels judging by the long list of her holiday destinations. One interesting occurrence occurred during a tour in June 1999. One of the other guests at the hotel recognised Samantha by her registration number as the one she herself sold @ Mumfords of Plymouth in 1949. Mumfords Garage was the Alvis Agent for South Devon and the lady was the Secretary for the Managing Director.

Also you will see Samantha’s companion Carbodies VTK 862, chassis 22520.

A lovely way to pass the time watching the adventures and many stalwarts of the Alvis Owner Club feature in the tours.

We are still looking for 2 Carbodies original rear window frames for cars undergoing restoration, can you help? Also a set of rear bumpers again for a Carbodies but universal to TA 14s, also 3 Nave Plates.

Does anyone have a ‘Cyclops’ Fourteen with the central light. A new owner is looking to fit a neat badge bar across the cyclops fitting and would welcome advice and photos from anyone who has completed the fitting.

Whilst out and about in ones Alvis, how about being attired in Alvis clothing. Clothing company Harkila has an Alvis Outdoor range of weatherproof clothing ‘designed to withstand the harsh Scandinavian climate.’ Originally designed for wearing when hunting, the clothes sound very practical. Search Harkila Alvis to see the range. Trousers, shorts and waistcoats all designed to match. Website is gb.harkila.com/harkila. Christmas hints?

Maybe not a TA 14 but the search is on from New Zealand to identify a pale blue Post War Drophead, registration maybe XL 42 although this number is not shown by DVLA.

Also seeking the chassis number for a two tone coloured Carbodies registration ZH 83362 seen in Switzerland.

Rather quietly introduced it is now illegal to show a GB identification on our cars when abroad unless someone knows of an age exemption. The British Government has changed our identification to that of UK so that is what is now needed. Never knew there was a country called UK but that is progress for us!

We are now creeping up to the 75th Anniversary of the first 3 TA 14s to leave the Alvis factory.

It was a very different world 1946 but a select group of individuals were able to anticipate the imminent pleasure of taking ownership of a new Alvis TA 14. The motoring press was eager to get back to reporting on new Models. Below a small sample of the material around at the time.