The TA 21's new three-litre six hid an odd trick: its timing gears sat at the REAR of the block, not the front, paired with a 7-bearing crank for smoothness.
Median 70 hp across 21 similar cars
Lead trim: TA 21 2993 cc six (83 bhp)
Alvis Three Litre TA 21TA 21 · 1950–1953
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Alvis Three Litre TA 21 yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe TA 21's new three-litre six hid an odd trick: its timing gears sat at the REAR of the block, not the front, paired with a 7-bearing crank for smoothness.
The Alvis Three Litre TA 21 is a luxury car produced by Alvis between 1950 and 1953 (1,316 made), announced at the opening of the Geneva Motor Show on 16 March 1950. The larger 3-litre engine had an equal bore and stroke for flexibility in top gear, independent front suspension replaced transverse leaf springs with coil springs, free-standing headlamps became semi-recessed and the rear wheels gained aprons. It came as a four-door Mulliners-bodied saloon and a Tickford drophead coupé (302 made), the centre section of the body carried over from the TA 14 and the engine and luggage compartments new (accounting for the extra length); the front doors remained rear-hinged. The 183 cu in (2,993 cc) engine was new and produced 83 bhp (62 kW) with a single Solex carburettor and 7.0:1 compression, with timing gears at the rear of the block and a 7-bearing crank; it was the first appearance of the engine that would power Alvis cars until they withdrew from passenger car production in 1967 (output rising progressively to 150 bhp with triple SU carburettors in 1965). Hydraulic 11 in Lockheed drum brakes were a first for Alvis. A 1952 Motor test of a saloon recorded 88.7 mph and 0-60 mph in 15.5 seconds at a test-car price of £1945. Wheelbase 111.5 in (2,832 mm), length 182 in (4,623 mm), width 66 in (1,676 mm), height 62.5 in (1,588 mm).
Collectors Spotted in the Alvis Three Litre Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Alvis Three Litre yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
One published trim in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TA 21 2993 cc six (83 bhp) | 1950–1953 | 3.0 L Inline-6 | 83 hp | — | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
This was the last car Alvis ever built. After nearly 50 years making cars in Coventry, the company closed out production with the TF21.
Spot the stacked lights: this Alvis wore its twin headlights mounted one above the other, a Graber-styled, Mulliner Park Ward-built body unlike anything else Alvis made.
This Series II TD21 switched its door frames to aluminium mid-production — a fix for persistent problems with the wooden door pillar Park Ward had been using.
Alvis didn't build the TD21's body itself, it handed the job to coachbuilder Park Ward, who could supply bodies at the quantity, quality and price Alvis needed.
When The Times road-tested the Alvis TC 21/100 'Grey Lady' in 1955, the reviewer singled it out as one of the few British cars that didn't ape American styling.
The Grey Lady's name came with a promise -- Alvis guaranteed 100 mph from this 1953 model, squeezed out by raising the compression ratio and improving the exhaust.
The TA 21's new three-litre six hid an odd trick: its timing gears sat at the REAR of the block, not the front, paired with a 7-bearing crank for smoothness.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Simca beat Fiat to market by three months with what was essentially Fiat's own Topolino design.
The Simca 1000 began at Fiat: Simca boss Henri Pigozzi picked one of six boxy clay models from Fiat's "Project 122".
The last Simca 1000 ever built, the 1978 Rallye 3, was also the rarest — just 1,000 were made in the model's final year, a quiet send-off for a car that had sold nearly two million.
To drum up buzz at launch, Simca briefly swapped 50 of its Paris taxi fleet's Ariane sedans for tiny new 1000s, making the little car a familiar sight on the capital's streets.
The PL 17's name is a sum: 5 fiscal horsepower, 6 seats, 6 litres per 100 km, kept a digit below the Citroën DS 19's.
The humble Tagora spawned a one-off concept, the Présidence, decked out with Connolly leather and electronics way ahead of 1981 — a built-in telephone, dictaphone, text-message receiver and a TV with VCR.
Talbot fed the Tagora's V6 old-fashioned triple carburettors instead of fuel injection — and the extra power briefly made it the most powerful French car on sale. Only 1,083 were ever built.
Switching the 96 from a two-stroke to a Ford V4 was such a closely guarded secret that Saab invented a fake company, Maskinverktyg AB, just to buy the new engine's parts without its own purchasing department finding out.