| Drophead
Coupé or DHC. "Convertible" coachwork,
usually 2 door, with a folding hood. It is better appointed than other
open cars, with sliding glass windows in the doors, allowing better vision
than the Perspex sidescreens of the tourer, especially in the wet. Normally
can be expected to leak, but less than other open cars. They tend to rattle
once past the first flush of youth. Nowadays fashionably referred to by
its French name "cabriolet". The 4 door variant was referred
to as an "all-weather" up to about 1933. |
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1938 Speed 25 Charlesworth Drophead
Coupé
© Nick Simpson Collection
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1932 Silver Eagle 20 Mayfair
6-light D-back limousine. From the sales catalogue.
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1932 TL 12/60 Replica Sports
2-seater
© Robin Gilbert
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TA 14 Mulliner 4-light
saloon
© AOC Archive
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1928 SD 12/50 sports 2-seater
© McDonald Collection
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1939 12/70 Mulliner tourer
© Nick Simpson Collection
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| Fixed
Head Coupé - FHC. As above,
the roof usually looks as though it would fold but doesn't. Sometimes
the front part of the roof slides back - a "sedança coupé". Some mis-describe
2 door saloons as fixed head coupés, no doubt hoping to exact higher prices,
a common practice with the post-war TD 21 and its variants. French
equivalent is a "faux cabriolet". |
| Limousine
A large saloon, with glass division separating the
front compartment, intended for chauffeur drive. Usually six light, and
splendidly formal. Normally with "D" shaped back up to about
1933, "swept tail" thereafter. The chauffeur's compartment is
often cramped and upholstered in leather whilst the rear is spacious,
with the seating in cloth or Bedford cord. Many have occasional seats
in the rear which fold into the division or the floor. Usually the division
has sliding glass or winds down. Sometimes a speaking tube facilitates
communication with your lackey up front. |
| Replica This
expression means that the original body has collapsed or simply been discarded,
to be replaced by a more desirable, usually open, variant, but of a recognisable
Alvis type. Sometimes anachronistic. |
| Saloon
A closed car, two or
four door, from about 1933 to about 1955 usually with sunshine roof. Pre
- 1933 or so with separate luggage trunk carried on a folding grid, thereafter
a boot integral with the body. Four light means there are two windows
on each side; six light means three on each side. "Sports saloon" just
means a more rakish and compact saloon, popular early thirties onwards.
"Close coupled" means the footwells for the rear seat passengers
extend under the front seats |
| Sedança
de Ville A limousine,
the chauffeur's compartment of which is covered with a sliding roof. The
paid servant can thus sit out in the rain whilst maximising pose potential
for the owner, snug in the back. Very rare on Alvis chassis. "Town
Car" in transatlantic parlance. |
| Special
Usually found where the original coachwork has disintegrated.
Frequently the chassis has been shortened and a more sporting body fitted
to the owner's own design, often home-built. Other mechanical alterations,
such as larger engines and multiple carburation are often found. These
are often used in competition. A special may bear little resemblance to
anything which left the Alvis factory as an entity. |
| Sports
2 - seater A "sports"
car, usually with dickey seat for one. The hood, if fitted, is for the
benefit of the front seat occupants only. Some variants have a "disappearing"
hood, which fits under a neat metal panel when folded. May have one, two
or no doors. Less common after 1932, and difficult to fit on the later,
longer chassis without spoiling the proportions. |
Tourer
An entirely open car, with
hood and (later on) removable Perspex sidescreens, allegedly offering
some weather protection. Not necessarily a sporting car, 2, 3 and 4 door
variants are to be found. Some Alvises have a 2-seat tourer body with
a large dickey seat intended for two occupants, colloquially referred
to as the "wide 2-seater" The tourer's popularity declined rapidly
from about 1926 to 1931, when it was supplanted by the saloon as the most
common body style. By the late 1930s it had become uncommon and very few
indeed were built after the war as original coachwork on Alvis chassis.
None was catalogued as standard bodywork, the TB 14 and TB 21 being classed
nowadays as sports 2-seaters.
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