01
Origins
The 12/70 of 1937 was the entry point to Alvis ownership in the marque's silver age, when the catalogue was crowned by the Speed 25 and the 4.3-Litre. Its 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine drove through a four-speed gearbox with synchromesh, and the chassis carried handsome, well-proportioned coachwork — a compact car with the build integrity and dignified manner of its larger siblings, at a price a professional man could reach. It offered no fireworks and needed none; the appeal was the quality of everything the driver touched. Production ran until the war stopped car-making in 1940, after which the factory turned to aero-engine work and was heavily bombed. When Alvis resumed in 1946, its TA14 was a direct development of this car — the 12/70's sound bones carrying the marque into the post-war world.
Alvis 12-70 DHC front · Redsimon · CC BY 3.0
