Alvis

I was interested to read the Alvis topic. I am going back a very long time, but my grandfather worked and, ultimately retired from the Alvis in the 1940s/50s. Unfortunately, I do not have any pertinent photographs but I understand he was the 'Labour Manager'. I do not wish to disparage his position but I suspect this was a rather grandiose way of describing the man who kept the P45s! As a child of about 7, I was once taken to his office, which was at the far right of the frontage and featured tall, vertical windows. I think he was probably in charge of a number of clerks and recall Grandad appearing from behind what I remember as a counter. I wonder if anybody out there remembers Arthur Wyman from Harris Road, Stoke? He retired at 70 in 1954 or thereabouts.

Mum and I went to the Alvis retail park yesterday. We were also disappointed to find that there was no plaque at the Alvis park saying that the Alvis vehicles were once built there. There was a tank trap shaped stone which said that the park was opened by Princess Margaret and even that we would have missed if we weren't looking for a plaque. That's very sad!

The Alvis figurehead is carved into the ceiling above the entrance to Morrisons. There are also big photos of the Alvis works and its surroundings at the far end of the supermarket between the toilets and the kiddy ride machine.

A good little Alvis album on the Telegraphs website here (scroll to the bottom) including a couple of good Factory shots

There was also this final design, axed by British Leyland in 1967 as it competed with other models in the BL range. Note the glass dome over the exposed carburettor:

Yes that was the Rover P6BS dutchman - It was featured in Octane magazine a few years ago: "The BS was a real 'bitsa', put together in odd corners of Rover's Lode Lane plant at Solihull, and the Alvis factory in Coventry. The rear suspension was adapted P6 De Dion tube and Watts linkage, the seats from an E-type and the steering rack from a Vauxhall Viva. Using the thin-backed E-type buckets allowed room for a potential third seat in the nearside rear - but only one, because the V8 engine was mounted lengthways behind the cabin, and offset by 5½ inches to the right." Development was spread around the BL campus but it was really knocked on the head by none other than Sir William Lyons who thought it would have made the E Type look dated too quickly. Interesting futuristic concept though for 1968. A mid engined V8 was really up there in supercar terms for the era!

Does anyone know when the road under the Alvis bridge was lowered to increase the height under the bridge to allow double deck buses to pass under. I think it was just after the war ended [1945]. I remember it being done and an article and photo in the Telegraph. Each time I pass under it I always look to see the dip in the road.

Hi Colcov, Hi all I do not have a date for this picture, it is off the Old Pictures of Coventry web, that the forum has special access too. I always understood that the bridge was installed for a 15' road clearance, which is actually stated in the construction of the Coventry to Nuneaton railway line history. The Coventry buses would just clear it, but it was always an issue. When BMMO (Midland Red) introduced a new fleet of double decks for their X59 & 159 routes, Coventry to Birmingham in 1948, they were a couple of inches too high, so the road was trenched a few inches about then. What then happened was when the road was resurfaced from time to time, errors were made & occasionally a bus would foul the bridge. I remember a Coventry Transport Guy bus causing damage for that reason, which was about 1953. A former bus conductor told me that it happened again about 1956. Somewhere I have seen a much earlier picture, about 1926, which does show the same as the picture that I have copied for you to see, but looking towards Birmingham.

It still causes problems. Only the other week the driver of a car transporter got out of his cab and measured the height under the bridge himself as he was unwilling to risk damage to his precious cargo.

Philip. Carbodies occupied that site from 1928, so your pic is before that, and then again the car doesn't look as old

Thank you Philip for your reply and pictures, that bridge and the road dip fascinates me even now after all those years.

Hi all Hello Colcov I have found the picture that I had filed of the bridge. I used this photo (black & white) as my template for my model railway bridge advert. That is how I remembered the dimensions of the bridge. To provide clearance for double deckers on my model, needed a minimum 60ml (4ml to the foot) so I provided 62'5ml. As you see from the model, that wasn't over generous, & only just gave clearance for the last of the BMMO buses that used that route.

Most truck drivers, especially those who carry heavy abnormal loads, should have a height recorder in their cab, this is set to the height of the load once measured by the driver. This is just a visible aid, nothing else. He should have no excuse then for colliding with a low bridge. As an aside to this, over height vehicle approaching the bridge on the A5 near Hinckley will trigger a flashing sign on the approach telling the driver to turn back.

The original works before the railway line (nearer town!)

I remember the Alvis. My best friend's dad worked there, on the nightshift if I remember correctly. A regular sight was huge armoured cars being test driven on the public highway, usually Holyhead Road. Another regular sight, which we littl'uns found amusing, was another type of vehicle being test driven on the same roads: buses. A full sized bus, but incomplete: just the chassis, engine, wheels, driver's seat and controls, i.e. the running gear. The driver looked lost, i.e. minuscule compared to the size of the bus. And he (it was always a bloke!) was exposed to all the elements, even when raining or snowing. I'm not sure where the buses were made - did Alvis ever make them, or were they made at some other factory? I daresay vehicle testing as we knew it would not be allowed today, thanks to the H&S brigade. It would probably have to take place on a private vehicle testing ground.