Alvis TA14 Mulliners Saloon Restoration

Post pictures and stories about your cars both present and past. Also post up "blogs" on your restoration projects - the more pictures the better! Note: blog-type threads often get few replies, but are often read by many members, and provide interest and motivation to other enthusiasts so don't be disappointed if you don't get many replies.
Message
Author
Mash
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat May 07, 2011 9:59 pm

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#41 Post by Mash » Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:06 am

Wow, 200! I do to but having not been around them all that long I don't know all that much about them. I could be wrong about it being american, but they were speaking with american accents and talking about american news, I was quite surprised I must admit, perhaps it was broadcasting from somewhere else though. Maybe you're right about military use, it could have been from an american base somewhere I guess.

User avatar
JPB
Posts: 10319
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#42 Post by JPB » Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:43 am

The military use involved navigation beacons rather than actual voice broadcasting and no American radio sets apart from some of the larger Zeniths - which were intended for global use by travelling US citizens - included LW coverage on the dials however the voices you heard could have been from international Chinese radio which broadcasts at the extreme HF end of the Medium waveband. Their news presenters probably learnt their English from Americans which explains their typically stateside accents and an RF alignment issue, whatever its cause, could make the broadcast appear in the wrong place on the scale though it is also possible to pick up some Asian LW, details are on http://www.asiawaves.net so possibly, you've heard those American voices on one of the frequencies used in that region of the planet. How much aerial wire were you using when you tested the set?

Long Waveband coverage typically heard in the UK mainland includes RTE Radio 1, at 252KHz/1190 Metres, BBC Radio 4 at 198KHz/1515 Metres and the French central LW transmitter at Allouis broadcasts at 162 KHz, having been broadcast on a variety of different frequencies before 1975 when the Geneva Frequency Plan saw to it that all European and UK stations would broadcast on frequencies separated by 9KHz which - as an aside - is why you can't receive much on the MW band on more modern American car radios as the American frequencies are 10KHz apart hence US market MW sets won't pick up much if anything in the UK. Their FM in-car receivers will fail to pick up more than one or two UK stations too, as their FM intervals use only odd decimal places where the UK uses both odd and even ones. Back to LW, there's also a Moroccan transmitter that broadcasts on 171 KHz.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

Mash
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat May 07, 2011 9:59 pm

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#43 Post by Mash » Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:45 pm

Oh right, who knows then, it could have been that. I had it hooked up to probably three of four metres of wire in the form of the removed wiring loom from the Alvis, I may have even wrapped some ends together for good measure :D I'm fairly sure I could make out some arabic on one of the frequencies too, I'm not sure which though, it was a while ago.

User avatar
Luxobarge
Posts: 1898
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 3:12 pm
Location: Horne, Surreyshire

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#44 Post by Luxobarge » Tue Feb 04, 2014 2:07 pm

Mash wrote: I'm fairly sure I could make out some arabic on one of the frequencies too, .
So it can recieve signals from as far away as Bradford then..... ;)
Some people are like Slinkies - they serve no useful purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them downstairs.

User avatar
arceye
Posts: 1904
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:56 pm
Location: Cleveleys, Lancashire

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#45 Post by arceye » Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:07 pm

:o I'm glad this thread is resurrected, very nice work, and I'll be eagerly awaiting more updates on this lovely motor :)

suffolkpete
Posts: 1132
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:54 am

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#46 Post by suffolkpete » Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:29 pm

JPB wrote: Pete, I'll have a look in my pile of bits and see whether I have any of those Motorola preset buttons, they're the same as used by quite a few makers. Exact dimensions and a piccie of the part that fits onto the steel prong beneath would help. ;)
Dimensions, hxwxd are 10 x 14.5 x 23.5 mm I suspect there should be something else that locks on to the steel prong on the set to allow me to pull the button out to preset the tuning.
1974 Rover 2200 SC
1982 Matra Murena 1.6

User avatar
JPB
Posts: 10319
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#47 Post by JPB » Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:57 pm

They're usually nothing more than a good tight fit with the little plastic barbs inside the button as seen in the one pictured below, that I just dug out (it belongs a 1960s 6 Volt Blaupunkt from a Beetle of the same era). I haven't as yet found anything that matches those on the Motorola but will keep on looking.

Image
Mash wrote:....I'm fairly sure I could make out some arabic on one of the frequencies too, I'm not sure which though, it was a while ago.
That would probably be from one of the stations that uses the Moroccan LW transmitter at 171KHz. The only UK mainland-based LW service comes from Wychbold, by Droitwich, on 198KHz and there are a couple of relays in remote parts of Scotland for that but I'm unaware of anything coming from the West Riding of Yorkshire on LW. This doesn't mean that I'm saying Luxo is wrong about this, just that I can't find anything about LW transmitters in that area.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

Mash
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat May 07, 2011 9:59 pm

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#48 Post by Mash » Tue Feb 04, 2014 6:39 pm

arceye wrote::o I'm glad this thread is resurrected, very nice work, and I'll be eagerly awaiting more updates on this lovely motor :)
Thanks, I hope i can fit in some time around work to make some more visible progress soon!
JPB wrote: That would probably be from one of the stations that uses the Moroccan LW transmitter at 171KHz.
Cool, wherever they are transmitting from, it was nice to be working away on the car believing I could be off in some far flung corner of the world without having to leave the garage

Mash
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat May 07, 2011 9:59 pm

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#49 Post by Mash » Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:36 pm

As there may not be any more photos for a while, I thought I would post a few of the car in the state that I received it. Hopefully if anything, they will convince you I was not entirely mad to buy this as a first project, I only wish I had fully appreciated the extent to which car body filler can be used before I parted with almost half the initial budget!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

You may notice the shag pile carpet which had another layer of dense underlay hiding the horrors beneath!

Image

Having seen earlier posts, you can probably see where the fistfuls of filler are in this photo :o It was quite well filled, I think I imagined at the time that it was just a skim coat to hide imperfections.

Image

It did at least have an all original interior! But not much of that is in a usable state either

tractorman
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:22 am
Location: Wigton, Cumbria

Re: Alvis TA14 Mulliners Restoration

#50 Post by tractorman » Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:20 pm

I seem to remember that the Alvis was something grandfather aspired to as it was more "sporty" than a Rover/Bentley or whatever. He wasn't short of a few bob and had to mix in the "higher echelons", so a cheap car wouldn't have been an option though they had to get his mother's Austin 10 from the Isle of Man so he could continue his work: it wasn't easy to buy a new car during the war! Apparently Grandmother's Austin (7?) wasn't suitable - yes, they were well off: two car family in the 30s!

I can see why you took a shine to yours - and Grandfather to his (though I don't know what model he had). I look forward to more reports!

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 36 guests