I had heard about them for years, but had never seen one in the metal. Sure, actually seeing a front-wheel-drive Alvis was not at the forefront of my mind, but in that same mind the car had taken on a sort of legendary status. I had read about them and seen many a photo, but over the years had yet to catch actual sight of one. Almost mythical, like the legendary Roc or Garuda.
Then, last August, I was at the All British Day set in the glorious grounds of The Kings School in Sydney, Australia. Walking through the section reserved for the Vintage Sports Car Club, my eye was immediately attracted to a Speed 6 Bentley, but its size obscured a smaller white car that, while it looked familiar, was unusual at the same time. It was unusual as its bulk appeared to be balanced toward the front of the car. A few seconds later I realized that it was an Alvis, not just any ordinary example but a front-wheel drive version of the English marque, of which less than 150 were made between 1928 and 1930. As one does, a quick introduction was made with Bob Blacket and yes, he was more than happy for Vintage Roadcar readers to be pulled along for the ride.
When compared with other British manufacturers of the period Alvis was a relative newcomer to the automotive industry when it built its first car in 1920. The name of Thomas George John is certainly innocuous, but during 1919 he founded a company by the name of T.G. John and Company Limited. Its first products included stationary engines and carburetors. In 1921, following concerns raised by the Avro Aircraft Company, the name of the company was changed to The Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd.
The Name
The origin of the name “Alvis” is open to conjecture, with many historians looking for something deep and meaningful. However, time has now led many to state that the name was chosen because it was simple and easily said no matter the language.
From its early days, Alvis adopted the slogan, “The Hare Leads the Hounds.” This led to a radiator mascot in the form of a hare and the story is that Alvis apprentices had an annual competition to see who would design the hare for that year. It’s doubtful whether this is true or not, but it’s a good story. What is true, however, is that the hares do differ from year to year. Later Alvis cars had different mascots, such as the eagle on the Speed 20.
By the end of its first decade, Alvis vehicles had acquired a reputation for performance, reliability, ruggedness and innovation. In addition, very early in its history, Alvis was a strong supporter of 1½-liter speed events, particularly with its 12/50 model that was first introduced in 1923.
In the below-1½-liter class the main Alvis adversaries were the French make Talbot-Darracq and the English AC. While the 12/50 engine design was modern for its day, with pushrod overhead valves, it did not produce sufficient power for the model to be a constant front runner. Pondering the situation, Alvis engineers decided on experimenting with a Roots-type supercharger drawing its fuel from a large Solex carburettor. With its blower drive taken from the front of the engine some 100 bhp was produced, but it still wasn’t enough.
The next step was to build a lighter car while continuing to provide the required stability. The idea of front-wheel drive was explored on the basis that if the engine, gearbox and so forth were at the front there would be a considerable saving in weight by doing away with the driveshaft and rear axle.
Producing a front-wheel drive in England or Europe during the 1920s was very much a gamble as it had not been tried beforehand. There were some front-driven cars in the U.S., in the early days of the Twentieth Century, but they lacked the success their designers had hoped for.
FWD Alvis
The new front-wheel-drive Alvis was shown to the press in March 1925. By coincidence, the front-wheel-drive Miller made its Indianapolis debut in May 1925. Success followed for the Alvis with excellent results in hillclimbs at Kop Hill and Shelsley Walsh, as well as at Brooklands.
Buoyed by success, Alvis went on to produce a Grand Prix car featuring a supercharged, straight-eight cylinder engine of 1,497-cc, making the mechanicals very similar to that fitted to the Talbot and Delage opposition. However, those cars were fitted with DOHC engines while the Alvis engine had twin camshafts located high in the cylinder block. The only other make that could have been considered in opposition was the Bugatti with its single overhead camshaft engine. Building such a car can only be seen as a brave attempt by Alvis, especially when you consider that the company itself had started just five years beforehand.
By 1927, the Alvis engine was fitted with double overhead camshafts, allowing for hemispherical combustion chambers with valves angled at 90-degrees, in a non-detachable cylinder head. Interestingly, this Alvis was the first European GP car to position the driver in the center of the chassis. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to last, as the 1½-liter formula was to finish with the end of the 1927 season. As a result, Alvis didn’t pursue its GP interests and focused on sports cars.
FWD Sports Cars
When the FWD Alvis sports car was introduced in 1928 it wasn’t made available on the open market. Only well-heeled motorists who had experience in competition were to be sold the new model. Once sold, they were expected to continue on using their new cars in competition.
The new Alvis was well thought of by the motoring press of the day as not only were they good looking, but they had excellent performance as well. What also impressed was that being independently suspended all around meant that it handled the roughest of roads with ease. In fact, many motoring writers believed that the FWD Alvis handled corners a good 20-percent faster than other cars of the day.
The standard engine fitted was a single-overhead-camshaft, four-cylinder of 1,482-cc producing 50 bhp in normal form or 75 bhp if fitted with a supercharger. The front suspension was the same as fitted to the 1927 GP car, but its rear was independent with each wheel attached to forward-facing torque arms, with springing provided by a reversed quarter-elliptic spring.
Unsurprisingly, Alvis launched its new model into the sports car racing of the day with entries at Le Mans, Ulster Tourist Trophy, Brooklands and the Georges Boillot Cup race at Boulogne, France.
While the majority of the FWD Alvis cars were fitted with two-seater sports car bodies, some were fitted with extended chassis and open four-seater and saloon bodies.
There is no doubt that the FWD Alvis was a significant model in the manufacturer’s lineup, but accessibility, servicing and repairs could not be seen as a strong point. For instance, the whole engine had to be removed just to re-line the inboard front drum brakes!
While they were fast, and no doubt a success in competition, the FWD Alvis was seen as flying in the face of the reputation of Alvis to produce trouble-free cars. Before 150 were made, Alvis ceased production to focus on more conventional, but still very well made, vehicles.
Alvis as a company continued on until 1965 when Rover took a controlling interest and subsequently became part of British Leyland in 1981. The company built its last motor vehicles in September 1967, but continued on in the aero and military industries. In 1968, the stock of Alvis car design plans, records and staff were transferred to a private company by the name of Red Triangle. Originally specializing in Alvis spares and restoration, Red Triangle in 2009 acquired the Alvis car trademarks. The commencement of the 21st Century saw a continuation model under production featuring a 4.3-liter engine produced on the 1936 design using modern technology.
An Alvis Owner
As is usual when we manage to persuade an owner that we should drive their car, we also sit down for a chat.
“It’s a 1928 Alvis FD with the short chassis,” Bob Blacket answered to my first question about his car. “It’s fitted with a supercharged, SOHC, four-cylinder, 1500-cc engine that delivers a surprising amount of horsepower. Alvis started racing FWD vehicles back in 1923, but they didn’t start to sell FWD cars to the public until 1928. In total, they made around 150 cars for sale to the public. Of these there is about 50 left in the world, and while there started out being 12 in Australia there are now 10. Not a bad percentage out of those still in existence.
Apart from some low key early club racing, my car doesn’t have any competition provenance, but there are a few about that have a number of Australian Grand Prix entries to their name.”
Sitting next to the Blacket’s FWD Alvis was a 12/50, and I was interested if the engine in our test car was the same as other Alvis models of the period. Does it drive out the front or is the engine turned 180 degrees around?
“No not at all!” Bob answered. “It’s a completely different engine to the 12/50. Many people say that it’s the same engine turned back to front, but that’s not the case. The spacing of the cylinders is different, everything is. The bellhousing is at the front of the car, which is straight into the gearbox, which is close-coupled to the differential. There is nothing unconventional about the gearbox except that it has straight-cut gears and, of course, it’s a crash box. It has the usual Alvis arrangement with the clutch friction linings on the flywheel, while the pressure plate is simply a steel disc. That’s the same as on the 12/50. The front brakes are inboard.”
As mentioned, I had seen photos of the front-wheel-drive Alvis before, but in the metal it looks to be something else again and what seems to be very complicated for a car built in 1928.
“You could say that,” Bob said. “It has all-independent suspension, but originally it didn’t have any front shock absorbers. That was taken up by tightening these little springs on the main leaves, which works well, but it wears the hell out of the leaves. At the front there are four springs for each wheel. The back is also independent, with quarter-elliptics that are forward facing. All pretty radical!
The inboard front brakes are interesting at saving unsprung weight, but it’s a real pain when it comes time to reline the shoes. There is no such thing at the front like a constant velocity joint as they used what is called a pot joint. At the end of the axle there is about a three inch right-angle piece, and on this are two rotating steel balls that fit into a slot, or the pot on the driven hub at the end of the axle. It’s like three balls, with the two outer ones being the rotating ones and the middle one is like a ball-end on the outer axle that is bolstered up and machined to take a pin. They all fit into a three-holed drive in the wheel hub, but it’s not a constant velocity joint. It’s a very simple arrangement, but when you have the steering on full lock you can feel that it’s protesting a little.
“Of course there is no back end,” Bob added. “This means that sometimes you end up doing silly things. Recently, we were on a rally and I wasn’t impressed when I got to my second flat rear tire. So I jacked it up, changed the tire, jumped back into the car and drove off. Only I had forgotten to remove the jack, but being front-wheel drive it just drove off the jack with a thump.”
Light on
There is no connecting shaft or axle between the two rear wheels, so each is completely independent of the other. So my next question was on whether the rear of the car felt lighter with the car tending to be a little tail happy.
“It does squeal a bit,” Bob answered. “I don’t think it’s as well behaved as the 12/50, like if you ask it to go round corners a bit hard, it’s not as comfortable and tends to understeer. It’s truly independent, as is the front. The front part of the chassis is massive and going back to after the engine it drops to about a third of the thickness, which is probably a weak point where it changes from a channel section about eight or nine inches deep to around five inches. I assume that as there was nothing much at the back it could be made much lighter. The seating position is interesting too with the driver and passenger almost sitting over the rear axle.
“I have been involved with Alvis cars for some time and when I think about it, the 12/50 has been with me for close to 40 years. Then I bought a 12/70 and have had the front-wheel drive for about six years, and when I got it home for the first time I can recall questioning myself about what I had done. It was in awful condition, almost as if it was just thrown together. I must admit that I didn’t have a burning desire to own one, but when I heard of it I thought it was a bit of a challenge. It came from Queensland and we trailered it back to Sydney. While I was quite excited at the prospect of owning it, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with its condition. The blower wasn’t fitted, and in its place were twin carburetors, and on top of that it wasn’t going. It needed all sorts of things attended to.
“The front-wheel drive certainly has more grunt than the 12/50, but it isn’t as well mannered. The supercharger runs at 1½ times the speed of the engine and the most boost I have seen on the gauge is about 4½ pounds. Most don’t have a boost gauge, but I made up one from something I got from the army. The engine is a single overhead camshaft and instead of the cam being driven by a chain there are a total of seven different straight-cut gears between it and the crankshaft. There are also three gears within the supercharger as well.”
“As happens with cars of this vintage there have been some changes with the chassis. The owner before me declared that its chassis was unserviceable so he found and bought another one. Following that he parted the car and fitted the chassis to my car and then cut up the original chassis with an oxy torch and dumped it.
“Before that there were 12 in Australia and after all that there were only 11. Years ago it was taken to an Alvis rally and after that wasn’t seen again ,til I bought it. It was sold new in England and brought out to Australia in 1932.”
Radical
“When I put the car back on the road I did a few radical things,” Bob added. “Things like having new conrods made with slipper bearings, and following on from that it’s wise to fit an oil filter. Easier said than done as these cars are absolutely awful to fit an oil filter. The new plumbing arrangements are a challenge, but we eventually got there. Interestingly when new, for providing lubrication to the supercharger, Alvis recommended mixing oil with the fuel in a 1:12 basis. I stopped doing that as the amount of oil required was quite large, so I have installed lubrication for all the bearings and also the blower drive train. I suspect that the oil is constantly being flushed by the fuel, but on runs I drive the car all day and haven’t had any problems.
“I have restored the car mechanically, and since then have used it quite a lot. As happens there were a few hiccups to start with, such as lumps of silicone in the fuel and cooking the generator, and then the float sunk in the carburetor, which I managed to solder along the way. Then a
mudguard fell off, which was entirely my fault, and then the icing on the cake was that the supercharger seized.
“I had set the supercharger up with too-fine tolerances, and when it was really cold during winter it seized. We managed to free it by using a hairdryer from the motel, but the car still had to come home on the back of a flat-bed truck.
“The problem with the blower was really a blessing in disguise,” Bob remarked. “I didn’t touch the car for about a year, but I hadn’t set the diff up correctly so I had twelve months to work myself up to doing that as well as fixing the blower. The diff still whines, but being a straight bevel gear they all do.”
Comfortable
“It’s a comfortable touring car,” Bob concluded. “However, it just hasn’t got long enough legs because of the diff ratio. Currently, it’s running a 4.5:1 and it started out with a 4.7:1, which would have been even worse. To change all that would be to have a new diff specially made and then the whole lot would have to come out again including the engine. I’ve had everything out three times now, and I don’t know whether I want to go through all that again.
“They are not forgiving cars, as they need to be set up exactly before you can really get it going perfectly. The engine is good and holds over 60 pounds of oil pressure. It certainly is noisy, which is normal. The gear change is lovely and the steering is quite sensitive. The brakes are quite good with twin leading shoes at the front. Plus, there is lots of luggage space for touring.
“I don’t know whether I want to spend some more time tinkering with it, such as installing a higher diff ratio. It would make it a lot more desirable, as I really couldn’t imagine driving it across parts of Australia how it is. The 12/50 is happy to sit on 60 mph, but the FWD isn’t because of the diff. I would say that it’s more of a scrapper, a hillclimber or a hoon machine for around the suburbs than it is for gracious touring.”
Hot Alvis
We had to pick a hot day to sample the FWD Alvis! With the mercury cruising around the three-figure mark we met up with Bob and Denise Blacket at their home located near the northern beaches of Sydney.
It was interesting to see the car parked next to the Blacket’s 12/50 Alvis, and while the FWD is certainly the bigger of the two, it isn’t a large car. Weighing in at just under 1,800 pounds doesn’t make it all that heavy either. So I was looking forward to seeing how a 1928 Alvis with all of 1,482-cc (albeit blown) would perform.
As is my normal procedure I always let the owner show me how it’s done, and sitting next to Bob it all seemed as easy as pie, even with the center-mounted accelerator pedal.
I soon found out that under Bob’s command the FWD Alvis is a very spritely performer, especially as he allows the engine to rev through each gear. I watch his feet as they dart from pedal to pedal as it’s been some time since I have driven a car with a center accelerator. The gear change, especially in Bob’s hands, seems simplicity itself.
Soon it’s my turn and I make one of my usually not too reliable mental notes of just where the accelerator pedal is located. I sit behind the average sized, four-spoke steering wheel and the right-hand gear change comes easily to hand. It’s not the largest motor vehicle cockpit I have been in, and it’s best said that Bob and I were in somewhat of a “Chummy” situation.
So away in first and the gear change, while very purposeful, proves to be straightforward, but I would be speaking with forked tongue if I said that there weren’t a few less than savory crunching noises coming from the car. However, they become less and less as I keep reminding myself where the accelerator is.
After a little time, I felt in charge of the FWD Alvis and found that the gearbox and I were on good talking terms. Soon my right foot was also very friendly with the brake and accelerator pedals and, providing I planned ahead when braking, I was feeling very confident and comfortable driving the car.
Like most of us, I have driven quite a few front-wheel-drive cars and have rather liked how they felt going around corners. It certainly was easy to tell that the Alvis was front-wheel drive, as while I wasn’t going overly quickly, the feeling of understeer was present and I did find the steering a little heavy.
After my stint at the wheel I was somewhat reluctant giving the car back to Bob, but he wanted to show me how it performed in among modern traffic. And perform it did, with Bob giving the engine its head at every occasion, so much so that the car wasn’t a hindrance to anyone else on the road—in fact quite the opposite.
All in all I found Bob Blacket’s 1928 front-wheel-drive Alvis a wonderful motor car that’s truly idiosyncratic and just a ball of fun to drive. Many thanks to both Bob and Denise for their friendship and hospitality.
SPECIFICATIONS
Body: Alloy body over metal frame
Chassis: Steel box section
Wheelbase: 8feet 6 inches
Track: 4feet 6 inches
Length: 12feet 4 inches
Width: 5feet 9 inches
Weight: 1,792 pounds
Suspension: Front: Independent by eight transfer quarter-elliptic springs, two upper and two lower per side. (Andre Hartford friction shocks on test car) Rear: Independent by longitudinal torque arms and reversed quarter-elliptic springs
Engine: Four-cylinder single overhead camshaft
Displacement: 1,482-cc
Induction: Supercharged
Power: 75bhp
Transmission: Four-speed, non-synchro and reverse
Brakes: Rod/cable-operated drum brakes on all four wheels (inboard at front)
