The Alvis 4.3-litre and Alvis Speed 25 were British luxury touring cars announced in August 1936 and made until 1940 by

Alvis Car and Engineering Company Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company in Coventry from 1919 to 1967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and oth ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

. They replaced the Alvis Speed 20 2.8-litre and 3½-litre. They were widely considered one of the finest cars produced in the 1930s.

New engines

The Speed Twenty’s 2½-litre, 2.8-litre or 3½-litre engines with four main bearings were replaced in the 4.3-litre and 3½-litre Speed Twenty-Five with a strengthened new designed six-cylinder in-line unit now with seven main bearings.

Chassis

The leaf springs at the rear were longer than on the previous model. The brakes had servo assistance.

Coachwork

Alvis did not make any of the bodies for the Speed 25. The cars were supplied in chassis form and firms such as

Cross & Ellis Cross & Ellis was a British vehicle coachbuilder. It was founded in Coventry in 1919 and continued in operation until 1938.A-Z of British Coachbuilders. Nick Walker. Bay View Books 1997. Harry Cross and Alf Ellis worked together in the bodyshop ...

(standard tourer) Charlesworth (standard saloon and Drop Head Coupé) as well as

Vanden Plas Vanden Plas is the name of coachbuilders who produced bodies for specialist and up-market automobile manufacturers. Latterly the name became a top-end luxury model designation for cars from subsidiaries of British Leyland and the Rover Group, ...

, Lancefield, Offord and others would fit suitably elegant open touring or saloon car bodies. The car was built on a heavy steel chassis with a substantial cross brace. With its sporty low slung aspect, all- synchro gearbox,

independent front suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in ...

and servo-assisted brakes, this was a fast, reliable and beautifully made car, although at almost £1000 it was not cheap. The survival rate for what was after all a hand-built car is surprisingly good. Later models featured increased chassis boxing, and to reduce the car’s weight Alvis cut numerous holes in the chassis box sections, which was also a solution tried less successfully earlier in the decade by

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarter ...

when confronting the same challenge with their enormously heavy

Mercedes-Benz SSK The Mercedes-Benz SSK (W06) is a roadster built by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz between 1928 and 1932. The name is an abbreviation of ''Super Sport Kurz'', German for "Super Sport Short", as it was a short wheelbase development ...

L. ;Minor improvements Minor improvements to both cars announced at the October 1938 Motor Show included a dual exhaust system said to quieten the engine and improve power output.Cars Of 1939. ''The Times'', Saturday, 1 Oct 1938; pg. 8; Issue 48114. From the show the press reported the 4.3-litre four-door sports saloon to have "a most imposing front with very large headlamps, fog and pass lights, and post horns." There were to be only detail changes for 1940Alvis Cars For 1940. ''The Times'', Saturday, 26 Aug 1939; pg. 12; Issue 48394

References

External links

{{Commons category, Alvis Speed 25
Alvis 4.3 litre -four door saloon & pillarless saloon by Vanden Plas- sales brochure 1936 (Including prices for fitted raw chassis, Standard Four Door Saloon, and Pillarless Saloon by Vander Plas)

4.3-litre Pillarless Saloon by Vanden Plas, 4-Door sports saloon by Arthur Mulliner and Alvis Standard 4-Door Saloon- sales brochure September 1936

Alvis archive
Speed 25 Cars introduced in 1937 1940s cars