1934 Alvis Crested Eagle

Words: Mike Ryan

Photos: Courtesy of Waimak Classic Cars

Between the World Wars, Alvis was equal or better to upper-class brands in the British automotive industry like Lagonda, Talbot and Daimler. Alvis was also very close to Bentley and Rolls-Royce in terms of performance, specification and price, but always seemed to be in their shadow. The passage of time has only pushed Alvis further into the background, so JUST CARS is doing its bit to bring this underrated marque back into the light.

Those that know of Alvis, and especially those that own one, need no lesson on its merits. Those that don’t, or only think of the brand in the past tense, may be surprised to know that Alvis is still in business and still making cars. The reality is that Alvis never really went away.

In 1968, a year after Alvis car production came to an end, a group of former employees bought up all the automotive assets that included a massive spare parts inventory, technical drawings and decades of customer correspondence. With the Alvis name still in use for military vehicle production, this new concern was called ‘Red Triangle’ in reference to Alvis’s long-running logo. With enough Alvis owners in the UK and abroad to keep the business going, Red Triangle began to supply parts, as well as maintain and restore cars as a boutique operation.

In 1994, Alan Stote, an Alvis car owner and enthusiast, purchased Red Triangle, setting in motion a return to manufacturing. That came to fruition in 2010, with ‘The Alvis Car Company’ launched after Stote acquired the rights to the Alvis name.

Since then, a commitment to bring new Alvis cars back to market as continuation models has seen the 4.3-litre short wheelbase tourer from 1938 re-introduced. Subsequent revivals, all as limited-edition, (very) high-priced models, have included the post-war Graber-bodied Super Coupe and related Drophead convertible, plus the one-off Lancefield tourer from 1938 that was launched this year.

That’s all in the recent past, though. To understand the car featured, we have to go back much, much further…

The Arrival of Alvis

Alvis was brought into existence by Thomas George ‘T.G.’ John in 1920. Born into a Welsh shipbuilding family in 1880, John had spent time in naval architecture and aeronautical engineering before establishing his own business, T.G. John Ltd, in 1917. Along with subcontract engineering work for larger firms, T.G. John Ltd manufactured scooter engines before the company’s first car - the ‘10/30’ (referring to taxable and actual horsepower) - was released in mid-1920.

While most automotive magnates of the period named their cars after themselves, John must have felt his was a little too bland or anonymous, so the 10/30 was badged and sold as an ‘Alvis’. The origins for this name have been speculated, including one suggestion that it was an amalgam of ‘aluminium’, referring to the material used in most Alvis bodies, and the Latin ‘vis’, meaning strength or power.

As an aside, the signature Alvis red triangle logo was originally right-side up with stylised wings attached, but a copyright dispute soon saw it changed to its familiar inverted form and the wings deleted. The business name changed to ‘The Alvis Car and Engineering Co. Ltd.’ in 1921.

Sporty Starters

The 10/30 may have been unremarkable to look at, but it was well engineered, with a 1.5-litre sidevalve four-cylinder engine based heavily on the French DFP (Doriot, Flandrin et Parant). This engine was capable of 60mph (96km/h) in the lightweight, two-seat 10/30, with an OHV version faster again. The same applied to the closely-related 11/40, but it was the 12/50 that really put Alvis on the radar of sporting drivers.

Introduced in 1923, the 12/50 was a dedicated sports model, offered in several series up to 1932, with more than 3,700 examples produced over that time. Powered by a four-cylinder engine of either 1.5- or 1.6-litre capacity, the 12/50 was successfully campaigned in numerous motorsport ventures. Most were bodied as stripped-down two-seat roadsters, although coupes and other bodies were available.

To offer some of that performance in a more usable form, the ‘14.75’ (for 14 ¾ taxable horsepower) was added to the Alvis range in 1927. This model introduced a six-cylinder engine of 1.9-litre capacity, with a softer tune than the 12/50, and lower gearing in the four-speed transmission to suit long range touring.

Never afraid to innovate, Alvis also introduced a front-wheel drive car at this time, powered by an overhead cam 1.5-litre four, with an eight-cylinder engine coming later. While successful in racing, the FWD Alvis proved to be a step too far for the general motorist, so production ended in 1930.

The Eagle Has Landed

In 1929, Alvis launched the ‘Silver Eagle’; an evolution of the 14.75 with a larger (2.1-litre) six that produced 16.95hp (taxable, 72hp actual). Breaking Alvis’s numerical naming tradition, the Silver Eagle also introduced an eagle mascot on the radiator, replacing the hare that had been used previously.

While Alvis still catered for the sporting motorist with the 12/50, followed by the ‘Speed 20’ from 1932, the move into premium territory with the Silver Eagle continued with the ‘Crested Eagle’ that made its debut in 1933.

More than just an evolution of the Silver Eagle, the Crested Eagle introduced a new chassis with cross-bracing for extra strength and was the first British production car with independent front suspension. This consisted of transverse leaf springs and hydraulic shocks that could be adjusted through three settings to suit road conditions or driver preference.

Later, the Crested Eagle offered an all-synchromesh four-speed manual transmission (another first from Alvis), but for the first few years, a preselector transmission was standard. This precursor to an automatic retained a clutch pedal, but made shifting easier by eliminating the need to match engine revs to gear changes. The ENV pre-selector fitted to the feature car was one of several brands available. Wilson units were also utilised for UK-built cars, while Cotal pre-selector ‘boxes were common on French cars.

From its launch, the Crested Eagle was offered in two different wheelbase lengths – 10’3” and 11’ – with the former aimed at the owner driver and the latter at the chauffeur-driven market. The larger cars came with a 2.5-litre six producing 19.82hp (taxable, 77hp actual), while the smaller cars ran the same 2.1-litre engine as the Silver Eagle, but could be optioned with the 2.5 six.

By 1936, a 2.8-litre six (77hp) had replaced the 2.5, and the aforementioned all-synchro manual gearbox was standard. A year later, a 3.6-litre six (106hp) was introduced and would be sold alongside the 2.8 until Crested Eagle production ended in 1939.

Charlesworth Style

The car featured carries a ‘six-light’ (ie. six side window) saloon body by Charlesworth, who like Alvis, were based in Coventry. Founded in 1907, Charlesworth became a preferred body supplier for Alvis, but not before a rocky start with the marque. Charlesworth had produced a four-seater body for the 10/30, but when the two-seater body became more popular, the Charlesworth body was discontinued.

A decade passed before Charlesworth bodied another Alvis. In the interim, bespoke bodies for a wide variety of British and European cars were produced, along with bodies built to contract for the likes of Morris, Daimler and Hillman. As the Great Depression hit in 1931, Charlesworth was re-organised and re-named, but new management brought in new business and a reacquaintance with Alvis.

While the likes of Hooper, R.E.A.L. (R.E. Allman), Cross & Ellis, Holbrook, Mayfair and dozens of other coachbuilders would body Alvis cars from 1932 through to 1939, Charlesworth would account for around 70 per cent of their annual output in this period. These were predominantly stately looking six-light (limousine) and four-light (saloon) bodies, with some sporting drophead coupes and other body styles also produced.

Of course, many Alvis cars sent to overseas markets like Australia and New Zealand were shipped in chassis form to receive bodies by local coachbuilders. For the Australian market, Martin & King and James Flood seem to have been a preferred option over “volume” coachbuilders like Holden and TJ Richards. In New Zealand, while some cars were locally bodied, it seems to have been more common that they were supplied complete, as is the case with this example.

Many Years, Many Owners

The 1934 Alvis Crested Eagle featured was factory fitted with a Charlesworth six-light body and sold new in Wellington, New Zealand, in July, 1934, through J.R. Hancock and Edward Riddiford. Since then, this car has passed through 13 other Kiwi owners and is now for sale through Waimak Classic Cars in North Canterbury.

The fact this car is still in largely original condition is remarkable, but the fact it’s survived at all is even more so. As pre-war Alvis models gained popularity in the 1960s and ’70s, Crested Eagles were cannibalised to provide parts for the Speed 20, Speed 25 and other sports models. Stripped of their engines, transmissions and other essentials, many Crested Eagles were then scrapped, as they simply weren’t considered valuable – or valuable enough to restore/preserve - at the time. Appreciation has grown more recently, but Crested Eagles, and Alvis saloons in general, still lag behind the sporty coupes in terms of popularity and value.

This car still has its original 2.5-litre six, matched to an ENV preselector four-speed transmission. Controls for this are mounted on the steering column, with the boss carrying the horn, as well as controls for the ignition, throttle and lights. Like the running gear, most of this is also original.

Gauges are arranged in the centre of the dash, with a large speedometer and revcounter flanking the secondary gauges for fuel level, amperes, oil pressure and a clock. For practicality in New Zealand summers, an engine temp gauge has been added. A thermo fan has been fitted to the radiator for the same reason.

The dash and door cappings are trimmed in beautiful varnished timber, with a cloth headlining and brown leather on the seats and doorcards. Whether this leather is original or retrimmed is unclear, but if it’s the latter, it must have been done some time ago, as it’s well patinated.

Outside, this car is finished in a regal black over green, with black guards and black centre-lock wire wheels.

Obviously, a car of this age – 91 at time of writing – is very analogue, but Alvis innovations, like the self-energising brakes and preselector transmission, mean that it's not an intimidating prospect for newcomers to vintage motoring. To further ease use and maintenance, there’s central chassis lubrication and built-in jacks. These operate like a normal scissor jacks, but are fixed to the underside of the chassis.

The 2.5 six is capable of propelling this large, heavy (around 1,850kg) car to a top speed of around 115km/h, so it’ll handle highway speeds, but the brakes are still mechanical drums, so the driver needs to apply the pedal accordingly, ie. early! Period road tests stated that a Crested Eagle could go from 50km/h to a standstill in around 10 metres, which was reflective of braking performance back then.

One for the Road

According to the online Alvis Archive, 602 Crested Eagles were built from 1933 to 1939. As of 2014, there were 42 remaining in complete, running condition, plus a handful reborn as specials or in project spec. Of the survivors, most (23) are Charlesworth saloons located in the UK, with others scattered around the globe, from the USA to Sweden, Italy and even Namibia. The same source identifies three Crested Eagles in Australia, all with different saloon bodies – one Charlesworth, one Holbrook and one from Melbourne coachbuilder, Martin & King.

The feature car is one of two Crested Eagles in New Zealand (both with Charlesworth bodies) and the only one running, with the other in pieces, awaiting restoration.

Thanks to regular maintenance, this car remains in very good, usable condition, despite its age. Mementos of its time on past Alvis Car Club events, including the 2020 Centenary Tour in New Zealand, show that it’s been reliable enough to be campaigned regularly. It has also appeared on TV and been used for weddings.

For newcomers to Alvis, this car may appear a little daunting, but the Alvis Car Club of New Zealand is a strong and supportive one that would welcome a new member.

As mentioned at the top of this article, those that own an Alvis love them. It’s time for a new owner to fall in love with this one.

For Sale

A rare example of an equally rare marque, this 1934 Alvis Crested Eagle is the only example in running condition in New Zealand. An NZ car from new, and in mostly original condition inside and out, this Crested Eagle has been well looked after. The original 2.5-litre six-cylinder engine remains, with some subtle upgrades added to improve usability. Listed mileage of 110,432 is most likely accurate.

The asking price is NZ$38,500. Prospective Australian buyers should contact Waimak Classic Cars for information on pricing and shipping options. For more details, contact Waimak Classic Cars on 0064 3 310 6485.

See the advert online at www.justcars.com.au with the ad code JACFD5331776.