Alvis 1240 TC
Alvis 12/ 40 TC 'Duck's Back' Supersports, year 1923. The car has an unpainted aluminum body with green fenders and green wire wheels. Sage Green leather interior and matching carpet. This fantastic Alvis 12/ 40 TC was shipped to Australia in chassis form on 7 December 1923. After arriving in Australia, the chassis was fitted with a four-seater body by the Charles Kirkham firm of Petersham, Sydney. From new the full history is known and documented. This includes TWO trips from England to Australia and back. Full history is given with the car (in English), here we present a short version. The third Australian owner sold the car to Orchid Cars in the United Kingdom, who sold the car in 2000 respectively (then again only the moving chassis with bulkhead) to ex-Alvis drawing room employee O. Stoke. Due to Stoke's poor health at the time, the nearly completed Alvis (now fitted with 'Duck's Back' Supersports bodywork) was sold in 2006 to Richard Dyson-Harvey who then emigrated to (guess what) Australia taking the Alvis with him. Back in Australia, Tony Heard from Adelaide was commissioned in 2011 to rebuild the Alvis. The Alvis was completely disassembled and rebuilt to perfection. The work was completed in 2013. A detailed photographic record of the restoration is included with the car. Previous owner O. Stoke bought the car unseen in 2014 and the car returned to the UK in 2015.
Since 2020 this beautiful Alvis 12/ 40 TC 'Ducks Back' Supersports is owned by a Dutchman and registered in the Netherlands. The automobile is in superb condition. This is one of the most beautifully crafted Alvis automobiles we have ever seen. The aluminum 'Duck's Back' Supersports body is a work of art, the mechanics look and feel perfect. Alvis has always been an engineering brand; but we were again impressed by the advanced engineering of the chassis and mechanical components. The driving characteristics of Alvis cars from the 1920s were and are far ahead of their competitors of that time!
Alvis was founded by Thomas George John and G. P. the Freville. The first cars under the Alvis name were built in 1920 and the last Alvis (sports) cars came out of the Coventry factory 47 years later. The end of the Alvis brand in 1967 was sealed by its incorporation into the British Leyland concern where it became part of Rover.
The Alvis cars were of excellent quality and finish and were very fast. Alvis developed and manufactured many parts in-house. Production was small-scale and exclusive. Alvis was the first British brand to experiment with front-wheel drive in the 1920s, in 1925 they even built sports and racing cars with front-wheel drive that were also equipped with an overhead camshaft.
This one is built in 1923 12/ 40 and the whole history is known.
This bare aluminium coach is done in Australia by Coachworks Charles Kirkham in Sidney.
In the year 2000 the car was sold to the UK to complete the restoration. Its a very nice and interesting story. You can read it in the documents below. Ther is a lot of documentation en pictures from the restoration. A lot of money is spend on this Alvis, is sold for 64K Australian dollars to the UK and there they spend a lot more to finish the car. On request I can send you a lot of documents and 153 pictures from the restauration.
