Alvis Duncan

BEAUTIFUL 1948 ALVIS DUNCAN TA14. VERY RARE AND DESIRABLE CAR. FANTASTIC CONDITION.

ESA 352 is one of only about twelve surviving Alvis Duncans made by Duncan Industries who made the bodies for Healeys in the 1940s. This stunning car was built as a chassis (21707) on 4-3-48 and delivered 15-3-48. The Duncan body and interior was fitted and first registered 1-9-48. The price then was an amazing £2199. Her restoration was carried out between 1994 and 2012. This was a full body off restoration with the chassis. suspension. engine. body and interior all being restored. The engine now has an unleaded head. The original colour was Silver and is now Silver over Blue. The main body is aluminum with a steel bonnet. All numbers match and are correct. The car is in fantastic condition and drives very well. The 1892cc engine and gearbox pushing the car along at a fair speed for the age of the car (nearly 70 years old). The car comes complete with 2 large history files full of old invoices. MOT's. an original brochure. service manuals. handbook and spares catalogue. There are also lots of pictures of the restoration. The car is Tax and MOT exempt but still has a current MOT with no advisories. There is also a large spares package available by separate negotiation which includes an engine block. crankshafts. cam shafts. manifolds and lots of other Alvis bits. More of the Duncan history below.

Surely one of the most striking Alvis silhouettes ever to grace the highway. the Duncan Alvis was launched in the summer of 1947. The brains behind the car was Ian Duncan. an aeronautical engineer who had taken over an old canning factory in North Walsham. Norfolk. to produce his own mini-car. the Duncan Dragonfly. powered by a 500cc BSA motorcycle engine. To defray the development costs of the Dragonfly (which had many innovative features later seen on the Mini). Duncan began to make a few bodies for the Donald Healey Motor Company. The Reliance Garage in Norwich were Alvis agents and their sales manager. Stan Boshier. was so impressed with the prototype Healey Duncan that he asked Duncan to put a similar body on an Alvis TA14 chassis. Penned by Frank Hamblin. another refugee from the aero industry who was instrumental in the design of the Dragonfly. the body was a daring pillarless construction with a large glass area. an elegant streamlined tail with a useful luggage capacity and wide opening doors for easy rear seat access. The seasoned ash frames were initially made by a firm of Norfolk boat builders and each took three weeks to assemble. using 62 pieces of wood screwed and glued together with Aerolite 300F. the resin used to bond the wooden structure of the Mosquito fighter bomber. The frames were then sent to Motor Panels of Coventry to be clad in high-tensile aluminium alloy panels. Trimming and painting was done in-house back in Norfolk with extensive soundproofing and high quality wood and leather furnishings. “The combination of the Duncan body and the Alvis chassis provides standards of silence and performance which can only normally be obtained in much larger cars. said the sales brochure. The chassis and running gear were exactly the same as the TA14. the 65bhp 1. 92cc four-cylinder engine being good for a top speed of 75mph and a comfortable cruising gait of 65mph. Handling was flat and responsive with Marles steering. Girling brakes and semi-elliptic springing front and rear. “This elegant sports saloon is at once outstanding. its handsome contours creating the impression (later to be convincingly demonstrated) of silent speed. superb acceleration and excellent road manners. wrote Autocar. Weighing some 2. 5cwt less than the Mulliner-bodied TA14 saloon. the Duncan had spirited performance and was guaranteed to draw a crowd wherever it parked. Unfortunately such hand-built luxury did not come cheap and. at £2. 05 including the dreaded purchase tax. it was almost twice the price of a standard TA14. Strictly for the well-heeled motorist only. just 27 examples were sold before Duncan Industries was forced into receivership by a £60. 00 debt to HM Customs and Excise.

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