Vauxhall’s early cars offered no great distinction, but that changed when L.H. Pomeroy was appointed as chief engineer. With a great love of high-performance engines and cars, he soon persuaded his new bosses that they should back a new sports car, and even dabble with Grand Prix racing. In 1910 the first hand-built sporting Vauxhalls appeared for use in the German Prince Henry trials. These were such a success that a series of road cars, the ‘Prince Henry’ models, went on sale at £600 each.
The first new Vauxhall model, the 30/98, was built in 1913, as a better, faster and more practical development of the Prince Henry, but its career, as a production car, really belongs to the years after the end of the First World War. With a larger engine than the Prince Henry, it was the fastest sports car of its day, guaranteed to reach 100 mph in stripped-out racing form. This, in effect, meant that it was the Jaguar E-type or McLaren F1 of its day, as it was so much quicker than any rival. The chassis price of £900, however, guaranteed that it would always be rare.
Production of this car, with a simple but effective side-valve engine, got under way properly in 1919, when it was known by the factory (and by the customers) as the 30/98 E-type model – this title following the use of B, C, and D-type Vauxhalls of the pre-war period. |
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The original 30/98 was solidly built, which made it heavy, but it was also fast, and combined impressive performance with good roadholding by the standards of the 1920s. The snag was that its price – £1,670 at first, reduced to ‘only’ £1,300 in 1921 – made it a direct rival to the Bentley 3-litre, and both these cars were fighting for a very limited market.
About 270 cars were built before a redesign followed in 1922, which produced the equally-legendary OE-type. The main change was to the engine, which was converted to overhead-valve operation on advice from Ricardo (this explains the ‘O’ of the new title), and produced a rousing 115 bhp. It was an outstanding car, though increasingly this was measured by pre-war standards, and compared with the Bentley it was still a light motor car. Amazingly, the OE-type did not have four-wheel brakes (the Bentley always did), though towards the end of its run, from 1926, (at a chassis price of £950) a 120 bhp version was made available, with four-wheel brakes to control it all.
The last OE was produced in 1927 – two years after Vauxhall had been taken over by General Motors of the USA – there being 312 of that variant. Sadly, GM never again allowed Vauxhall to make such a distinguished machine.
Solidly built with good roadholding for the 1920’s, this car’s price, £1,670, made it a direct rival to the Bentley 3-litre – both cars fought for a very limited market.
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