The Alvis Car Company has announced that it will unveil its new Lancefield Continuation model at the 2025 Automobile Council in Chiba City, Japan, scheduled for April 11-13.
This significant occasion marks 88 years since the first special order left Alvis’ Coventry factory for the 1938 London Motor Show. The 2025 Lancefield celebrates the glamorous Art Deco era of automotive design by harnessing modern engineering and British manufacturing to create a 21st-century Alvis that’s fully homologated for road use.
The car was built exclusively by Alvis artisans in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The elegant, five-metre-long machine was created by capitalising on Alvis’ vast archives. Over 25,000 drawings, 23,000 car records and 300,000 original parts were referenced during the Lancefield’s development.
A genuine Continuation car, the Lancefield uses various parts curated from Alvis’ new old stock reserves that were retained when car production originally ended in 1968. Alvis engineers have also sympathetically integrated modern conveniences such as power steering, electronic engine management and servo-assisted brakes without diluting the Alvis’ pre-war character. To adhere to road-compliance regulations, a catalytic converter, indicator lights and a collapsable steering column were also installed.
The original Lancefield – built especially for the London Motor Show – left the Alvis factory on August 19, 1937. At £1350 (roughly £78,000 today), the Lancefield was more than twice the price of the average house at the time. It was designed by Lancefield Coachworks Limited and was intended to capture the public’s imagination with its graceful styling.
It became something of a myth over the following decades, frequently vanishing and reappearing from official records. Its selection as one of the world’s most beautiful cars in 1982 for Germany’s Autoshow der Superlative-Veedol Starparade in Berlin only heightened its mystique. The car spent time in the US, Germany and even Jamaica before finally coming home to the UK in 1994.
Today’s Alvis artisans used a combination of modern tools and traditional techniques – including painstakingly forming aluminium over a bespoke ash frame for 3800 hours – to authentically recreate the car’s gorgeous bodywork.
Beneath the two-tone cream-finished body is a 4.3-litre straight-six motor built to the same specifications as the original – albeit with fuel injection and electronic engine management for a touch of modern convenience. The powertrain and body are mated to a fully galvanised steel chassis stamped with a consecutive chassis number.
Alvis’ work has resulted in a stunning dual-purpose tourer that can be enjoyed over long distances while offering perhaps more performance than its graceful appearance might imply – 0-60mph is achieved in under ten seconds.
Before delivery, the Lancefield was road-tested on the same Warwickshire routes as were used for the original car and its stablemates in the 1920s and ’30s. It also comes with an updated owner’s manual, faithfully based on the original.
The car was commissioned by a discerning Japanese enthusiast, and follows three other Alvis Continuation models exported to the country through local agent Meiji Sangyo – the marque’s original distributor more than 50 years ago.
“The Lancefield Continuation car is a clear demonstration of Alvis’ rich legacy and our dedication to quality,” said Alvis Car Company owner Alan Stote. “The 1938 original is a car very close to my heart, and it’s wonderful to continue the legacy of this special machine with a brand-new build.”
Further Alvis Continuations are scheduled to roll out of the factory in 2025, including a drop-head Graber. Prices start at £325,000 for pre-war Continuation Series cars, and every model comes with a three-year warranty.
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