Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd.

was a manufacturer based in Coventry from 1919 through to 1967.

In addition to motorcars designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured vehicles.

After becoming a subsidiary of Rover in 1965, car manufacturing ceased although armoured vehicle manufacturing continued.

Alvis then became part of British Leyland and, in 1982, was sold to United Scientific Holdings which renamed itself to Alvis plc.

Geoffrey de Freville (1883-1965) designed the first Alvis engine and is also responsible for the company name.

The origin of the name Alvis has been the subject of a great deal of speculation over the years.

Some have suggested that de Freville proposed the name Alvis as a combination of the words 'aluminium' and 'vis' (meaning 'strength' in Latin).

De Freville however vigorously rejected all of these theories.

In 1921, he specifically stated that the name had no meaning w...