Cost Price New:
Basic	£420.00
Plus 4 light body	£145.00
Number Plates	£1.00
	£566.00

 

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The history of a 1937 Alvis Silver Crest

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After

Despite none of my family owning or being able to drive a car, as a young teenager I began to take an interest in old cars. My interest was whetted by a book called The Restoration of Vintage and Thoroughbred cars by Wheatley and Morgan and Coleman’s drive, the adventures of John Coleman which described his journey from Buenos Aires to New York in a 1925 Baby Austin seven ‘chummy’ which I subsequently saw in the Montagu Motor Museum.

The book on the restoration of classic cars inspired me when I saw what could be accomplished from a virtual write off culminating in a pristine finish.

My opportunity to possess an old car was achieved in 1981 when I saw an advert for an Alvis. I didn’t know anything about Alvis cars at the time except I remember seeing an early post war one and noticed it had a built-in jacking system.

I decided to purchase the car and duly went to Wrekenton with a friend and a trailer to bring the car home to where I lived in Middlesbrough. The car was a non-runner and hadn’t been on the road since 1965. The last registered owner had been John Joseph King of West Denton Newcastle. The current owner had decided it was too big a project for him to take on which I suspect was also the view of his wife who cheered and waved at the car as we set off from their house.

The first thing I did when I got home was to find out as much as possible about the car and its model. Everything appeared to be on the car apart from the offside rear wing which was on the back seat as it couldn’t be attached to the body as much of the wing that would be pinned onto the body had rotted away as had the wood frame that it would have been attached to.

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The car was an Alvis Silver Crest T.F.16/95. It was manufactured from September 1936 to 1940. In total 521 cars were produced.

It was designed by George Lanchester, who was appointed Assistant Chief Engineer (Cars) after the Lanchester company which he and his two brothers had set up was taken over by Daimler.

Priced at £565, the car was a 6-cylinder engine of 2362 c.c with triple S U carburettors. The wheelbase was 10 feet with a length of 15 foot 5 inches and width of 5 feet 10 inches. Its height was 5 feet 5 and weighed 33 cwts with a turning circle of 40 feet. Its maximum speed was recorded as 71.50 mph with a 0-50 time of 15.1 seconds. Its petrol consumption was 18mpg.

The car was notable for having independent front suspension and a full synchromesh 4 speed gearbox. Its chassis number was 14009, car number 18915 and engine number 14471. It had a Tecalemit self-lubricating system which removed the task of having to grease a lot of joints on the chassis as well as a jackall system for independently jacking up each individual wheel

It was a four light saloon manufactured by Sam Holbrook Ltd and finished in Dark Blue with standard brown leather interior and black wheels. The car was dispatched to Messrs. J H Galt of Glasgow on the 3rd of July 1937 with a note on the car record that stated that ‘All the latest improvements are done on this car’

The cost of the car new would almost buy 2 semi-detached houses in the north of England or 3 Austin 10’s. It was no surprise therefore with the threat of war looming and the financial restraints of the time, sales of this model were slow. The car in question wasn’t sold by James Inglis of Edinburgh until 9 months later in May 1938.

The first recorded owner was John R Prentice a notable Grain Merchant of Berwick. It was sold to him on 7th May 1938 who traded in his 1936 model Silver Eagle for £240. He was also charged an extra £1 for the supply of the number plates.

The Prentice family had the car 11 years covering the war years and during the period of ownership, Mrs Prentice was the driver. According to her, the car never gave the slightest trouble and was a pleasure to drive. It was so well built the local Garage Manager remarked to Mrs Prentice on one occasion ‘what a good car it was, solid and built like a battleship’

Mrs Prentice noted in her letter to me that ‘It was a happy car and was used like a pram with 5 children and a dog when I went shopping.’

She remarked that the car was always well cared for ‘I used to keep the handles and hinges oiled so that the doors opened and closed with ease, I took very badly to slamming car doors. The result of this though sadly was the cause of my small son being thrown from the car while it was travelling, he just slightly touched the handle but was not seriously injured.’

Her brother-in-law also experienced driving the car having recorded in a letter to me that its main virtue was the way it held the road in bad conditions. On one occasion he recalls ‘I was driving the car from Berwick to Edinburgh one very frosty morning. I struck a patch of black ice the car pivoted completely round on its own part of the road and stopped on the road facing the way we were going. Not bad I thought!!’

In 1948 the car had quite an experience. Whilst on holiday in the Prentices’ holiday home which was situated on the banks of the river Whiteadder and during continuous rain, the river rose 20 feet. The car was in an open cart shed and the river flowed right over it in a raging torrent. The following day the car was covered in silt even inside and including the engine. It made a wonderful recovery after being thoroughly cleaned. Mrs Prentice recorded in her letter to me of 24th of October 1983 that she wanted to see it back at her place when finished.

We had an extension built onto the house in 1983 to house the Alvis but within 3 months of its completion we moved home as I had been offered a job in East Yorkshire.

The new job took up much of my time as I had to travel a lot, so no progress was made in the early years.

Another disaster struck the Alvis in 1991 when a fire occurred in the garage where the car was housed. It was the same fire that engulfed the Ford Cortina that I have written about in another article. The latter was more accessible and much lighter than the Alvis so did not suffer as badly. The Alvis couldn’t be moved and so the fire completely engulfed the car although after the fire was put out I was able to go and inspect the car. Superficially it appeared to look OK in the beam of a torch but as far as the building was concerned my daughter remarked ‘point your torch upwards dad’ all I could see at 3 in the morning was a lovely starlit night the roof and much of the building was gone!

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The car continued to languish in the now rebuilt garage, with work and raising a family taking preference.

With the neglect and fire of the previous year I now had a car which looked very much like one of the ‘before’ pictures in Wheatley and Morgans book! Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for taking on the restoration of the car far outweighed my skills and so the car continued to deteriorate in the garage. One day we discussed what to do with the car and, like the Cortina, it was felt that we couldn’t get rid of a car which had been part of the family for the past 31 years so it was decided to look around for a firm that could restore the car to look like one of the ‘after’ pictures in Wheatley and Morgans book. After a few false dawns we came across a local firm Paul Dilley Ltd of Burstwick that fitted the bill perfectly.

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Once in their workshops they set about dismantling the car to just the chassis ensuring each step of the way was captured on camera to assist in its reassembling in the future. It was decided to complete a chassis up restoration to ensure that any issues that may be found were remedied before the car was back on the road.

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This was a very prudent approach as it was subsequently discovered that the oil filter was a Brasso tin filled with wire wool and the distributor was from a Bedford lorry.

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It must be remembered though that after the war, parts were not readily available and any tricks to keep these cars on the road were tried. Added to which when the mini arrived in 1959 it was a case of repairing these old pre-war cars as cheap as possible. Hence by 1965 when the minis were well established and cheaper motoring was available, it was the death knell for these iconic pre-war individually coach-built cars like the Alvis.

Gearbox rear axle and steering box were all stripped and inspected

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The radiator was rebuilt

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A full rebuild of the engine was also carried out replacing the old 8 spring set up with one spring per valve

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Carburettors were also rebuilt and reassembled onto the engine

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While this work was ongoing all chrome pieces were sent off for re chroming, first having any dents removed and the old chrome stripped off.

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The radiator chrome was also refurbished with new chrome grille strips which were already fragile and non-existent after the fire. Each strip was of a different length so the task of the rebuild was that much more time consuming

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The instrument panel was not made of wood but was made of metal and then painted to look like wood veneer. A skill now lost so another method of replicating this needed to be found which turned out to be hydro dipping. The metal panel was blasted to remove old paint and rust and then it went through the hydro dipping process.

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As with many pre-war cars built by coachbuilders, they were made of an ash frame and metal was then attached to the frame. It was decided to completely replace the ash frame which was a wise choice as became obvious as the bodywork was dismantled.

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The sliding roof was no longer in place when the body was stripped down only a metal plate covered the roof where the sliding roof had previously been. A new sliding roof was therefore manufactured and fitted.

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Once the ash frame was complete the job of repairing and replacing rusted panels began, starting with the doors.

The top of the doorframes where fine but lower down the door rusting had taken its toll so the whole of the bottom part of the doors were cut off and replaced

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The whole of the back panel had to be replaced, and this was done by making and shaping the various pieces then welding them all together.

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Next were the wings. They needed patching near the running boards, lights and where they were attached to the chassis.

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Finally, all body panels were attached to the chassis to ensure all were a good fit.

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After all panels had been treated with red paint for rust protection they were sprayed with 2-3 coats of filler. The car was then heavily blocked, a technique that ensured a smooth surface, ready for a professional-grade paint finish. The wings were kept on the car for rigidity during this process.

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The bodywork was then stripped off the chassis for final 3 coats of surface primer.

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The final finish was 2 coats of 2 pack in dark blue.

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The final stage was the body being reunited with the chassis by 10 bolts.

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All other body parts were then refitted

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The wood cappings and wooden dashboard were made and fitted

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Once all assembly was complete the car was transported to the Upholsterer Martyn Dawson in Malton. As well as the upholstery the roof lining was replaced and the cord grab handles at the back and the newspaper rack that had been badly burned in the fire was remanufactured courtesy of Master Ropemakers of Chatham

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With only one good hub cap that came with the car and the likelihood of finding further ones very unlikely due to the model’s very short run, it was decided to have some made via laser scanning. The brass plate attached to the hub cap was also subject to the same process.

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On return the wooden cappings and dashboard were stained to match the upholstery and polished and all other components were installed. The transformation in the instrument panel was outstanding.

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The car was now transformed and ready for getting back on the road after 68 years.

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