Dashboards ― "variety is the spice of life"

The surviving Alvis FWD cars are most readily identified by their dashboards, which seem to have diverged over the years more than any other components.  It is quite difficult to determine what the original pattern was, but a few examples seem to have survive almost intact.  Some restorers have taken a lot of trouble to get replica dashboards right, while many other cars have just evolved and their current dashboards reflect their history. 

Hopefully, this compendium will assist those who wish to improve their instrument layouts and reinstate the correct individual components.  However, it would be a difficult decision to replace a nice item that had been on the car for (say) 50 years, merely because it was not there in 1928.  For example, my former car, chassis 7191, was previously owned by a Chief Engineer of Blackburn Aircraft, and had a non-standard aviation-type supercharger gauge, which he probably put on it in the 1950's.  It would be a shame to remove that now.  

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Martin & King bodied 2 seater. Photo taken in 1995, when owned by John Ham.

This dashboard looks very original. (Chassis 7231).

Dougie Hadley's 4 seater.

This dashboard is predominantly in original form. (Chassis 7313)

Rob Gunnell's early FA Le Mans, chassis 6992.

Restored to original specifications. Note ivory finish to the instrument cluster, which was also used on 12/50s.

Honda Museum car.

Restored to near-original specification, by Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations. (Chassis 7315)

Honda Museum car

Restored to near-original specification, by Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations. (Chassis 7315)

Pete Livesey's TT Replica

This dashboard is close to original specification. (Chassis 7308)

David Webster's short chassis 4 seater.

Rebuilt with Philip Kneller body, during Tony Faulkner's ownership. (Chassis 7129)

Tim Crowe's 4 seater.

This dashboard is not the original, but it is quite old and has some spendidly vintage-looking woodworm, visible in the high resolution image, which local opinion says should be preserved. (Chassis 7306)

4 seat Carbodies tourer, with mostly original dashboard equipment except that the 5 inch speedo and rev counter are probably later replacements.

(Photo taken in 1996 while owned by Bill Bunting. Chassis 7317.)

WK8045, while owned by Charlie Reis.

This is a TT Replica body. (Chassis 7316)

Alan Stote's 4 seater.

This car has a special, but original, Carbodies tourer body, and was rebuilt by Colin Crabbe in the 1960s. (Chassis 7275)

Alain Cerf's TT Replica.

Dashboard rebuilt by Gerry Michelmore during Will Tomkins' ownership. Chassis 7193.

Allen Eden's TT Replica.

Chassis 7256.

Max Houston's Le Mans 2 seater.

Chassis 7333.

The "blue car" when owned by Tony Cox.

A charming jumble. (Chassis 7191)

Barry Bowyer's special 4 seater

This car was owned for over 40 years by Tom Wright and was in daily use for most of them. (Chassis 7290)

Ex-Rooper TT car, now in Brooklands Museum.

This car was the spare car for the 1928 Ulster TT but did not run. It has been modified subsequently and awaits restoration. (Chassis 6938)