1923 Alvis 12/40

Description

Ex-Beaulieu Motor Museum; in single-family ownership for 93 years; Cross & Ellis coachwork; one of only around 1,600 made and a tiny number surviving; highly original; just how we like them!

The company which later became Alvis was founded by Welsh aero engineer and naval architect TG John in 1919 but it was to be another two years before it was renamed The Alvis Car & Engineering Co Ltd. Arriving in 1922, the Alvis 12/40 replaced the original 10/30 and 11/40 models and was thus an important stepping stone in the history of the company, being the first car produced under the Alvis banner.

Marketed as ‘The Car for the Connoisseur’, the 12/40 employed an uprated version of the earlier side-valve, four-cylinder engine, the capacity enlarged to 1,598cc which put it into the RAC 12hp taxation category, with an actual brake horsepower of 40bhp. Allied to a four-speed gearbox, this gave the 12/40 a top speed of 70mph – most impressive for the time. The engine was notable for its use of aluminium pistons and pressure lubrication, again unusual for the era.

Available with various body styles from independent coachbuilders, the 12/40's production life was relatively short as it was soon overshadowed by the overhead-valve 12/50 which came out in 1923 and secured the company's financial future. As a result, only around 1,600 12/40s were made before the model was discontinued in 1925 and it is believed that fewer than 40 still survive today.

A copy of the factory build record shows that this 12/40 left the works in December 1922 with Two-Seater Deluxe coachwork by Cross & Ellis finished in Royal Blue with an occasional double dickey seat under the swept tail at the rear. Supplied new via HG Henley & Co of London (their plaque is still on the dash), it was registered as XN 6563 in April 1923, the first owner being a distinguished Army officer, Lt Col John James Aitken CMG DSO OBE of Surrey (whose name is also on a plaque on the dash) and it was to remain in the family for the next 93 years.

Colonel Aitken subsequently gave the Alvis to his daughter who was married to an RAF officer, Wing Commander BH Newton OBE CVO. A Canberra bomber pilot tasked with gathering atmosphere samples during the testing of the British hydrogen bomb at Christmas Island in 1956, Newton later became Gentleman Usher to Queen Elizabeth II when he retired from the RAF in the 1990s.

Correspondence on file shows that Wing Commander Newton loaned the Alvis to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in time for its official opening in July 1972 when it replaced the original Montagu Motor Museum. It was to remain on display at Beaulieu until 1984 when Newton (by now Air Vice Marshal) was apologetically asked to take it home again because the museum was running out of space.

Invoices show that the Alvis was subsequently recommissioned by R Harcourt-Smith of Newbury in 1987 at a cost of over £3,000 (a substantial sum at the time). It also went back there in 1997 for another bout of fettling. Most recently, another £2,800 was spent on a major service and check-over at Tim Walker Restorations of Aylesbury.

The Aitken/Newton family used the Alvis regularly and kept it right up until 2016 - there are copies of various photos of them enjoying days out in the car from the 1930s up to the 1990s and beyond. During this time the 12/40 was featured in the book 'The Vintage Alvis' by Hull and Johnson, a photograph showing Mrs Newton with the car in 1927. There are also photos of the car as it looked in 1975 when it was featured among the famous ‘Golden Age of Motoring’ cigarette cards used to promote Doncella cigars.

As you can see in the photos, this rare Alvis has a wonderful patina, a plaque on the dash indicating that it was ‘Renovated by Page & Hunt Ltd, Wrecclesham’, but this must have been very early in the car’s life because they were a high-end coachbuilding firm who only operated under this name from 1920 – 1929 when they became Abbotts of Farnham, making bodies for the likes of Rolls-Royce and Lagonda in the 1930s, Healey and Bristol in the 1950s and estate bodies for Ford in the 1960s.

Our vendor acquired the car from The Motor Shed of Bicester in 2022, the invoice showing that it cost him £20,750. He has used it occasionally for shows and local runs and tells us that it drives as it should. Unused for the last couple of years, it has been kept on static display as part of his carefully curated collection of highly original Vintage cars and motorcycles.

Presented in good running order with healthy 30psi oil pressure (as shown in the video), it will require some light recommissioning before returning to the roads once more - the vendor advises that the fuel filter he fitted between the gravity-fed fuel tank and the carb when he was using the car more regularly is now interfering with the smooth supply of fuel to the engine.

Currently sporting a pair of Lucas headlamps that were fitted in the 1930s, the vendor has managed to source a pair of the original 1920s CAV headlamps which will be made available to the winning bidder by separate negotiation if desired (see last photo). The hare radiator mascot famously used by Alvis during the 1920s and early '30s is still present and is included with the car.  

We can only find records of three other Alvis 12/40 models being sold in the last dozen years, only two of them in roadworthy condition and only one with Two-Seater and Dickey coachwork (by Carbodies which the vendors, Red Triangle, claimed to be the sole survivor), so it could be a very long time before you see another for sale, let alone as original and well-historied as this one.

Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – [email protected]