Southern Tablelands Heritage Automotive Restorers Club Inc.

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10^th Anniversary Dinner July 2011	Car of the Month

Chris Forsey’s

1959 Alvis TD21 Coupes

Chris Forsey’s Alvis TD 21 Coupes

Back in April 2008 I purchased a pair of Alvis TD21 coupes. Both cars were advertised in the Canberra Times by the former owner who had imported both vehicles from the USA into Australia in 1998. He had them in storage and earlier this year came to the decision that he was unlikely to commence restoration. He recommissioned both vehicles as running concerns, and subsequently they were advertised for sale.

Since purchasing the cars I have discovered that they both have interesting histories. Chassis 26091 is a 1959 model fitted with a manual overdrive gearbox and wire wheels. The first registered keeper of UVJ 939 was John Greenly of Titley Court, Herefordshire. A search on the internet suggests that he is a direct descendent of William 1 of England and would have been in his mid 40’s when he and his wife purchased the vehicle.

I have managed to establish contact with one of his nephews who remembers his uncles car. John Greenley sold the car in 1965 and it went through a series of at least four owners (and a colour change from blue to maroon) until 1977 when purchased by Michael Cawson of Cambridge.

The history file that came with the car records Cawson’s 11 year history of ownership, during which he undertook substantial renovation. He also shipped the car with him to the USA in 1984 and settled in Arizona where he acquired ‘ALVIS’ registration plates.

The colour was changed again in 1988 from maroon to silver just prior to its sale in 1988. Since publishing this article in the Alvis Car Club magazine Alvibatics, I have been contacted by an Alvis vehicle historian in the USA who has furnished me with a full history of owners whilst the car was in the USA.

Similarly, my USA contact has been able to fill me in on the otherwise patchy history on the second vehicle - chassis 26498 which was delivered to Cyril Williams Motors, Wolverhampton on 29 December 1960 and was first registered in 1961 as 6 COP.

This car was grey (now cream) with red interior and fitted with an automatic gearbox and disk wheels. Unfortunately it is missing its original UK registration book and a new UK registration document was issued in 1967 listing at least three UK owners. However, I have now made contact with the son of the second owner. He too remembers the car and coincidently will be visiting Australia in 2009 and hopes to see the car. The car was exported to the USA in 1986 and remained unregistered up until 1998 when it was exported to Australia.

Both cars are currently driveable but will require a fair bit of tidying and renovation. Initially I intend to focus on 26091 (with the wire wheels) as I believe this to be the better of the two and I hope to get it onto club plates as a rolling restoration.

An interesting postscript to this story is that the USA contact also enquired of me as to whether I was related to a ‘K R Forsey’ (who is indeed my father). It seems that his Alvis vehicle history dates back to the 1950’s, including one record which showed my father owning a 1926 Alvis 12/50 in 1956.

It seems that the guy who bought the car from dad still owns it some 50 years later.

PS—the Plural of Alvis is Alvii and only 1086 Alvis TD21’s were made

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