THE VAUXHALL YEARS - Part I

Jonathan Wood charts the rise of the cars from Luton

Above: The six-cylinder L Velox of 1948 revived a famous pre-war name

In 1987 General Motors sold its Millbrook proving-ground where Vauxhall cars were once put through their paces. Only opened in 1969, and built at a cost of £3½ million, the facility's demise marked a demonstrable end of the British-designed Vauxhall for, although the cars are still built, since 1979 Vauxhalls have basically been rebadged Opels and therefore created in Russelheim, Germany, not Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.

Above: The L Velox period interior.

Above: The big boot of the E Velox

Yet, in the 50's and 60's, Vauxhall was one of Britain's most prosperous car makers and the demise of its financial fortunes coincided, almost exactly, with the arrival of the overhead camshaft FD Series Victor in 1967.  Although Luton has been Vauxhall's home since 1905, the car takes its name from the Thames-side south London suburb of Vauxhall, which was where Alexander Wilson, a Scottish Engineer, established his business at the Vauxhall Iron Works in Wandsworth Road in 1857. The firm of Alexander Wilson and Company specialised in the production of small, high-pressure steam engines for Admiralty pinnacles and the pleasure steamers that plied the Thames between Westminster and Hampton Court. For his company bade, Wilson adopted the griffin, half eagle, half lion, of the Norman, Fulk le Breant, as the site of his house on the south bank of the Thames became corrupted from Fulk's Hall to Vauxhall and so gave the area its name.

Wilson appears to have been a better engineer than he was an accountant and one contemporary remembered that "his desk was usually covered with a mass of papers, and the office cleaner had strict instructions that they were on no account to be disturbed." In due course, Wilson's haphazard accounting methods overtook him because, although the business became a limited liability company in 1892 and a managing director was appointed, he departed in 1894 and established himself in London's Fenchurch Street as a consulting engineer. A receiver, J.H. Chalmer, was appointed in 1896 and, with Wilson's departure, the company was reconstructed as the Vauxhall Iron Works Company Ltd. At that time, F.W. Hodges, who had served his apprenticeship with Wilson, joined the firm and he seems to have been the prime mover in the company's decision to embark on car manufacture.

Above: The Vauxhall 10 Saloon of 1938

His first effort, a 5hp single-cylinder car, was chain driven in the manner of the American Oldsmobile. This lasted until 1904 and three-cylinder models were built until 1905, when the firm's first four-cylinder car of 18hp, made its appearance. Early that year, Vauxhall moved from south London to the small country town of Luton, Bedfordshire, which was its home ever since. There, on a one-acre site, then located in the open country, Vauxhall continued to build cars , though 1904's record production of 76 cars was not surpassed  until 1908, when 94 cars were built. By chance, it was discovered that Fulk le Breant had once held the manor of Luton, to the firm's perpetuation of its griffin badge was historically correct!

PRE-WAR GROWTH

The move to Luton may have been connected with the West Hydraulic Company's location there, because Vauxhall, which was still producing marine engines, merged with this next-door neighbour in 1906 to form the Vauxhall and West Hydraulic Company. Consequently, in 1907, the car business was hived off and established as Vauxhall Motors Ltd. Its creation owed much to the initiative of a young Old Etonian, 25-year old Leslie Walton, who had trained in a private bank in the City of London and came to Vauxhall prior to working for his father as a hop merchant. Walton became Vauxhall's chairman and was to remain so until 1947. He shared the managing directorship with Percy Kidner, who was soon actively campaigning Vauxhalls in hill climbs and speed trials. This new competitive approach was the result of young Laurence Pomeroy arriving at Luton in 1906 as Hodges' assistant.

Above: the Ten coupe was proclaimed as the £1,000,000 car and was

the work of talented stylist David Jones.

Pomeroy, soon to emerge as one of Britain's foremost automobile engineers, found an opportunity to prove his worth while Hodges was taking a holiday in Egypt during the winter of 1907-08. the company decided to enter the RAC's 2000 Mile Trial of 1908 and the 3-litre 20hp car that 24-year old Pomeroy designed for it, was head and shoulders above any Vauxhall had produced until then and many of its British contemporaries.

Above : Easy access to the interior of the Ten saloon

Echoing the latest continental practice, its engine boasted monobloc construction and pressure lubrication and the car was capable of around 45mph at 2500rpm. As a power unit, it was to form the basis of Pomeroy's work at Vauxhall for the next six years.

The 20hp model went in to win its class in the 2000 Mile Trial, Pomeroy became Vauxhall's chief engineer in 1912 and, from his 20hp, sprang the famous Prince Henry of 1910, so named after its participation in that year's Prince Henry trials in Germany and often regarded as the first ever sports car.

In 1914, the year the First World War broke out, Vauxhall built a record 529 cars and the D-type, introduced in 1913, was manufactured throughout the war as a staff car, a total of 1998 having be3en built by the end of hostilities. Vauxhall decided to keep this proven model in production, along with the equally Edwardian 30/98 sports car, which constituted the firm's range until 1921.

-Illustrations by Brian Hatton

Next month - Part II : But changes were taking place at Luton...