Alvis TA 350

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The Alvis TA 350 was a prototype of the British car manufacturer Alvis , which was developed from 1952 as a possible successor to the Three Liter Series . The car was intended for production in larger numbers and, if production had started, the company would have turned away from its previous position as a small series manufacturer. However, development of the TA 350 was ended in 1955 before it was ready for series production.

History of origin

New concept

At the beginning of 1952, Alvis began planning a successor to the Three Liter Series introduced in 1950 , which at that time was sold under the name TA 21 and from 1953 in a slightly revised form as TC 21/100 . The replacement of the TC 21 was planned for 1956. The engineer Alec Issigonis , who had previously designed the mid-range car Minor for Morris , was hired to develop the new model, which was given the internal factory code TA 350 . Issigonis had almost no technical specifications from the company management, in particular, he did not need to fall back on existing technical components. However, the new model should be designed in such a way that it could be manufactured in larger numbers than the previous models.

Issigonis designed a four-door sedan with a self-supporting body in the pontoon style . The TA 350 thus turned away from the current Alvis models, which had a separate chassis with an attached body. The drive was a newly designed eight-cylinder V-engine with 3.5 liters displacement, which was to replace the previous 3.0-liter in-line six-cylinder engine. The engine designer was Chris Kingham, who had already developed the current Alvis engine.

Market positioning

The planned retail price of the TA 350 was around £ 918. The Rover 75 , the Humber Super Snipe or the Daimler Conquest , which were positioned in a similar price range, were possible competitors. In order to be able to enter into competition with them, Alvis would have had to produce the TA 350 in far larger quantities than the previous models.

Tests and failure

Alvis built two prototypes of the TA 350 with bodies and six eight-cylinder engines, which were tested from May 1954. The project was abandoned in the summer of 1955 because Alvis could not bear the high costs that would have required a switch to series production of the TA 350. Alec Issigonis was released in November 1955 and returned to Morris.

Further development

By the time the TA-350 project was abandoned, Alvis' passenger car division was in crisis. The company had recently lost its previous body supplier Mulliners when it was taken over by the high-volume manufacturer Standard Triumph , and the manufacturer Tickford , which had previously been contracted as an alternative, was no longer available after its takeover by David Brown and Aston Martin . The company management then temporarily considered the permanent cessation of automobile production. Ultimately, Alvis returned to the market with the TC 108 / G model . It had the conventional Three Liter Series chassis and a body designed by Hermann Graber and manufactured at Willowbrook in Great Britain. The TC 108 / G was technically less demanding than the TA-350 project. With a few revisions, the Three Liter Series - most recently as the TF 21 - kept on the market.

After Alvis was taken over by Rover in 1966, a prototype with Rover technology was created; of the Alvis GTS (nickname: Gladys) called model, however, only a prototype was created. In 1967 the production of Alvis new vehicles ended.

The brand chronist John Fox reports that Alvis worked on a project called TA 30 immediately before the takeover by Rover in 1966, for which a 3.5 liter eight-cylinder engine was also planned.

description

Body and chassis

The TA 350 had a self-supporting body. The prototypes were designed as four-door sedans. The design followed the pontoon shape, so, unlike the series models of the time, no longer had any molded fenders or running boards. The shape combined lines of the Lancia Aurelia sedan with some details of contemporary Jaguar models. It is not known who designed the body.

The TA 350 had interconnected spring elements (“diabolo”), the concept of which was developed by Alex Moulton . Moulton's suspension concept went into series production on the Mini half a decade later ; but the prototypes of the TA 350 were the first cars in which it was realized and tested.

engine

The eight-cylinder V-engine was a completely new design. The cylinder bank angle was 90 degrees. The engine was designed in such a way that a bank could also be used as an inline four-cylinder with a displacement of 1.75 liters without major changes. Such a project called TA 175 was planned, but was not implemented.

The eight-cylinder engines went through tests on the test bench from October 1953. Their performance was given as 124 bhp at 4000 revolutions per minute. Later, when the engine was installed in the prototype, the output was 118 bhp.

Prototypes

The two prototypes of the TA 350 had bodies that had been handcrafted at Pressed Steel in Cowley, Oxfordshire . In the spring of 1954 they were completed. After Alvis gave up the TA 350 project a year later, both prototypes stayed in the factory for about a decade. In 1964, on the instructions of CEO John Parkes, they were destroyed, including all spare parts and accessories. Four of the six engines were also destroyed. The two remaining engines were taken over by racing driver Mike Parkes , the son of the Alvis CEO, with the intention of using them in a prototype sports car.

literature

  • David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 .
  • John Fox: Alvis Cars 1946-1967: The Post-War Years. Amberley Publishing Limited, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4456-5631-1 .
  • Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, Hartmut Lehbrink: English sports cars . Könemann, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-8290-7449-2 .

Web links

A short description of the Alvis TA 350 with images on the website www.curbsideclassic.com

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 , p. 113.
  2. ↑ a b c David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 , p. 114.
  3. ↑ Brief description of the Alvis TA 350 with images on the website www.curbsideclassic.com (accessed on August 6, 2017).
  4. ↑ Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960. Herridge & Sons, Shebbear 2007, ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 , p. 150.
  5. ↑ David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 , p. 64.
  6. ^ Dieter Günther: Swiss Connection. In: Oldtimer Market. Special issue no. 14: "Luxury, performance and four seats: Gran Turismo - the big coupés". 1994, p. 17.
  7. ^ John Fox: Alvis Cars 1946-1967: The Post-War Years, Amberley Publishing Limited, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4456-5631-1 , p. 74.
  8. ↑ David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 , p. 115.