The Alvis Three Litre Series II, also known as TD21, was a British sports saloon or coupé made by Alvis Car between the end of 1958 and October 1963. It was a revised version of the TC 108G, the body was made by

Park Ward Park Ward was a British coachbuilder founded in 1919 which operated from Willesden in North London. In the 1930s, backed by Rolls-Royce Limited, it made technical advances which enabled the building of all-steel bodies to Rolls-Royce's high st ...

who were better able to supply them to the quantity, quality, and price required. The cars were slightly taller and a

drop-head A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving exp ...

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

was added to the range. They were both lighter. The 2993 cc engine was again uprated, now producing mainly by an improved cylinder head and increasing the compression ratio from 8.0:1 to 8.5:1. A new four speed gearbox from the

Austin-Healey Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and des ...

appeared and

Borg Warner BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive and e-mobility supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. As of 2023, the company maintains production facilities and sites at 92 locations in 24 countries, and generates revenues of US$14.2 bil ...

three speed automatic transmission was offered. Overdrive was available on the manual transmission from late 1960 to 1962. Suspension was similar to the TC 21, independent at the front using coil springs with leaf springs at the rear but the track was increased by to and a front anti roll bar added. Wire spoked wheels became an option. From 1959 the all drum brake set up was changed to discs at the front retaining drums at the rear.John Price Williams, ''Alvis: The Post War Cars'', Motor Racing Publications, Croydon, 1993 A car with manual transmission was tested by the British magazine ''

The Motor ''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine founded on 28 January 1903 and published by Temple Press. It was initially launched as ''Motorcycling and Motoring'' in 1902 before the title was shortened. From the 14 ...

'' in 1960 and had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 13.5 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £2827 including taxes.

Series II

In April 1962 the car was upgraded with four wheel Dunlop disc brakes in place of the disc/drum combination and named Series II. Door frames were now constructed of aluminium for lightness as well as being panelled in aluminium to alleviate persistent problems with the Park Ward body's wooden door pillar. The previously stand-alone fog lamps were built into the front of the car, recessed in the middle of new circular air intakes, one for the heater, the other for the carburettors. The rear number plate and the various lamps and reversing lights were re-arranged. In October that year there was a switch to a five speed manual ZF

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

; the Borg-Warner automatic remained available as an option. File:Alvis TD21 Convertible Gen4 Mk.I TD21 1958-1962 frontleft 2012-06-17 A.jpg, series I File:Alvis TD21 Convertible Gen4 Mk.I TD21 1958-1962 backleft 2012-06-17 A.jpg, series I File:Alvis TD21 Serie II 2.jpg, series II File:Alvis.td21.arp.750pix.jpg, series II

Graber Switzerland

Graber continued to mount their own bodies on the Alvis chassis.

In popular culture

A Series II Alvis TD21 features heavily throughout the historical crime novel set in 1973 ''The Nicholas Duncan Mysteries : Everyday'' by Stuart Tidman (2022, ), as the vehicle of choice of the afore-named lead character, a Detective Sergeant in the Coventry Police. A sky blue 1959 Series I Alvis TD21 is the vehicle in which former spy

Jim Prideaux Jim Prideaux is a fictional character created by John le Carré. He appears in ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and is a minor character in ''A Legacy of Spies''. He is the head of the "scalphunters", a division of MI6 (called "The Circus" in le Carr ...

, now a teacher, instructs one of his students William to drive, claiming it to be "the best car in England", in the 2011 film '

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by the author and former spy John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of the taciturn, ageing spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. Th ...

Series II

Graber Switzerland

In popular culture

References

Further reading