Hoping everyone was up early to wash their faces in Morning Dew and then get their turnips planted in the ground, as one does.

The half way house between Spring and Summer, a lovely time of year to enjoy our cars.

Just in case the Fourteen wants to go for a May Day Spin, don’t take it too literally.

Back in the day, in the USA, the Barnum and Bailey Circus put a new slant on taking a car for a spin as this poster illustrated! You work it out!!! Maybe a bit of artistic license. Certainly, in the immortal words of Blue Peter, don’t try this at home!

Having looked further into this topic it appears that there are actually Guinness World Records for the largest loop done in a car and there might be a slot for the first Alvis to Loop the Loop but it will not be a certain TickfordTA 14 that I know.

As this is not so far away from April 1st here is the contact for the You Tube Loop the Loop car record holder just to prove it is real. Google- Largest loop the loop in a car Guinness World Records. Nice to see it was a British Jaguar and it looked somewhat exhilarating!

With the Drive It Day just behind us, many will have turned out for a local tour. The Alvis Archive Trust laid on a very interesting ‘weekend’, actually Sunday/Monday and provided the rare opportunity to visit 2 quite exceptional private classic car collections and a personal tour around the Battle of Britain Flight Museum. The cars in the 2 collections were stunning with Rolls Royces and Bentleys running the displayed Alvis a very close second.

Keep an eye open on the Alvis Archive Trust website, alvisarchive.com site for notifications about other events.

Whilst on that site you will see the opportunity to acquire an Alvis related book on the development of the iron lung, the lifesaver for many victims of polio. Not many people are aware of the fact that it was designed by Captain G.T. Smith-Clarke, Chief Engineer for Alvis Ltd for over 30 years. Fascinating story and the book can be acquired from the Alvis Archive Trust for the cost of postage and packing and perhaps a small donation.

Back in 1950, 2 TA 14s were some of the last of our cars to leave the Alvis factory. Chassis 23797 is in fact the possessor of the last Mulliners TA 14 Body number M 1782 but she was not the last Mulliners bodied TA 14 out as she left the factory on the 24th July 1950. It is good that she still continues as a cherished car in fine fettle. Her former owner recently found the fine J & M Classics model that had been commissioned for the car and very kindly wanted to pass the model onto the current owner.

Photo of model car, ‘ notice something’s missing?

A few weeks before, our own tidying up had produced the original box for the Carbodies model we have. Sadly J &M did not produce a Tickford TA 14 Model but most non Alvis people can’t tell the difference. Tucked up in a little piece of paper inside the box were the original wing mirrors so now reunited with our model after many years.

Contact with the owner of 23797’s Model produced the checking of a scrap of paper inside the box and there they were! The model including wing mirrors is now with the current owner so a happy ending.

So if you have one of the J & M Models check you have the wing mirrors attached or check inside the box for a scrap of paper!

Do keep an eye out on the internet if you do not have one of the J & M Models, they are beautifully made and always a few for sale. Currently a Black Mulliners Saloon, Fixed and Drophead Duncans, Woodies and a fine TA 14 Van by Raine. It was sad that J & M ceased trading some years ago.

As we only know of 2 TA 14 Drophead Duncans that were made they have not sold very many of that model.

This rare historic photo below shows a Tourer and Drophead Duncan together

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Back in the day, many of our cars were home fettled and there was a wealth of technical knowledge that was shared for the benefit of other owners. The advice was usually very practical although possibly not totally compliant with today’s Health and Safety

The Article below is from 1962 and helps the other owners along with a practical guide to re wiring a classic car.

As always the purchase of the Disc of old Alvis Owner Club Bulletins up to 2014 cannot be recommended too highly if you do not have the paper copies. Go to the header at the top of this site, click on Articles index and have a good scroll down to see the headings of information that cross references to the old Bulletins as compiled over many long dark winter evenings!

The disc of old Bulletins can be obtained for under £30 from the Alvis Archive Trust, go to the website, alvisarchive.com or email fox@alvis100.plus.com. Keeping up with the times the information can now also be transferred using WhatsApp App.

Alvis Owner Club Members will have recently read the Article in the Bulletin about the participation of 2 Alvis TA 14s in the Gordon Bennett Irish Classic Car run. Quite amazing that a car made in 1995 is now considered a classic and may enter in the Run. The local car registration ZV 37699 on a TA 14 is not currently linked to a chassis number in our records so if anyone can help with the identification of the car this would be most appreciated. All Alvis car records have the 5 digit chassis number starting with 2 as the core piece of information. For TA 14s the number is stamped on the front chassis member as shown in the Drivers’ Manual.

It is a good idea to take a photograph of your number and keep a copy with the car’s papers. Particularly useful to do this if the car is to be resprayed.

Another chassis number for a car living overseas is required for AE 13 28. A lovely car and beautiful for weddings we should like to tie up her chassis number, do you know it?

Some of the bodywork of our cars has deteriorated to the point whereby only a great labour of love, dedication and deep pockets has been the route back. Another future was seen many years ago with the development of custom built Special bodies and sometimes a different engine.

One such car, chassis 22096, was recently sold at Auction by H & H Classics for £38 812, including buyer’s premium. Buyers could be of any size as the steering wheel has a quick release system so no worries after a large Sunday lunch.

The days of the original DIY bodged up bodies are long gone and some of the TA 14 Specials are now some of the nicest Specials around.

Tempted? There is a very nice one available in France on carandclassic.com and they sure are fun to drive!

At the other end of the TA 14 speedy Spectrum, on offer by Brightwells , a very nice Woodie by Jones Brothers, chassis 21188 found a new owner recently.

Sadly the price does not appear to reflect the quality of the car but it is more of a buyers market these days, £5824 including 12% buyer’s premium has got the purchaser a lot of car for the money.

Good to have the original makers plate on the dashboard even confirming her body number.

Another Woodie has recently been included in the list of available TA 14s.

Offered by Auction with Bolesworth Castle Classic and performance Car Auction on Sunday 4th May. She is chassis 20953, GVF 535 and sports a body by Barnards of Norwich. There is no reserve so this might be a good opportunity to acquire one of these charming cars that has already been restored.

As always eBay has a selection of original and copies of Alvis Advertising for sale, often at quite reasonable prices. One caught the eye recently and offered the prospect of matching cars to owners?

During World War 2 Alvis continued to advertise to keep remind their customers that one day they would be back in business, so promising cars to match their owners? Should you feel this matches you the original from 1943 is offered for sale through eBay for under £6.

Later some artistic licence showed a slightly elongated line to the cars we know and cherish.

Spare parts are another good offering on eBay and thoroughly recommend looking at the offer of 4 nave plates for about £80. At times they can be like hens teeth to acquire and as they can fall off and be lost spares are a good buy even to squirrel away until needed.

The Original Drivers Manual is also a good buy at £70 and you can even fill in your car’s details in the front. Do remember though that Red Triangle’s shop offers high quality facsimile Drivers Manuals for £34 + p & p.

An additional Spare Wheel cover is another handy item to tuck away to avoid the worry of the rear wheel shunt with 2 of them currently on offer with eBay.

The Alvis Society, A century of Drivers by Dave Culshaw, is a beautiful coffee table book and details the many famous (and infamous) people who have owned Alvis cars, quite a few with Fourteens.

Alvis car provenance and research continues to shed light on new information.

Researching a car for a new owner threw up the details of an early ‘Celebrity’ owner including profession and address.

A postcode of SW3 triggered the thoughts of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the profession was photographer. Chassis 23827 had come into the possession of Adrian Flowers in the 1960s. Whilst not as well known as David Bailey, Adrian was right there in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ living and working in Chelsea, photographing the famous faces of the day. Twiggy, the McCartneys, Vanessa Redgrave and many many more. His work was shown in the major fashion magazines of the day. Adrian owned several Alvis cars but the TA 14 is believed to have been his first Alvis. We do know that he also owned a TD 21, chassis 26590, 738 BYK. So far no photos of the TA 14 taken by him have been found. The car was one of the very last TA 14s to leave the Alvis Factory on the 7th December 1950. One did manage to make it into leaving the Alvis factory in 1951 on the 10th January 1951

Finally should you want a drink after all this information about Fourteens then look no further than a glass of Alvis Soda as advertised by a striking poster on Ebay (unfortunately not available to copy) Alvis just gets everywhere!

Cheers.

eileen4ta.tb14s@rocketmail.com