Although the first Alvis cars were not sold until 1920, they rapidly built up a fine reputation in the vintage era, not only because they were solidly-constructed machines, but because they had a great deal of sporting character too. While T.G. John was managing director, and Capt. G.T. Smith-Clarke was chief design engineer, the marque’s future was safe.
During the 1920s a series of cars had all used the same type of four-cylinder engine, but the first six-cylinder Alvis, the 1,870 cc 14.75 SA, appeared in 1927. It was this engine and its enlarged descendants which powered almost every subsequent Alvis made until the outbreak of war in 1939. The original engine was later bored out, given a longer stroke, and generally modernised as the years passed, for it was an ideal ‘building block’ for Alvis’s future. From 1,870 cc, it became 2,148 cc, then 2,511 cc, 2,762 cc – and there was still more to come.
The Speed Twenty (the title indicated its official British RAC rating) was launched in 1931 as one of Alvis’s first true post-vintage thoroughbred models, and came complete with the ex-Silver Eagle power unit of 2,511 cc. For the time, its peak power rating – 87 bhp – was quite outstanding, as was its top speed of nearly 90 mph. |
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In spite of its small size, (it rarely built even 1,000 cars in a year) Alvis, was always technically ambitious, so the Speed Twenty was improved significantly in four years. By 1933 not only was there a new chassis with independent front suspension, but also a modern synchromesh gearbox, both these features being years ahead of other British mass-market concerns.
All this, of course, came at a price, for the original Speed Twenty cost £695, while later saloons cost up to £850. Even so, by producing 1,165 examples, Alvis made the Speed Twenty its highest-selling pre-war car, during which time there were four sub-types, all of them with triple SU carburettor engines. By the mid 1930s, with the Speed Twenty reaching maturity, Alvis cars had become progressively larger, so the next generation of six-cylinder engines had 3.5-litre engines, and aimed for an even more rarified market than before.
This was always a low-slung car with impeccable road manners, and (depending on the body style chosen) a variety of attractive styling. The whole car was led by that characteristic red triangular radiator badge.
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