THE VAUXHALL YEARS - PART III

With Vauxhall now profitable,  in 1931 came the first significant GM-influenced car in the shape of the £280 Cadet, powered by a 2-litre overhead valve six-cylinder engine. It also featured the famous Vauxhall fluted bonnet, a feature of the marque since 1905.

In 1932 the model became the first British car to be fitted with synchromesh, between second and third gear of the three-speed gearbox, in line with the Cadillac, which had pioneered the system in the 'States in 1928. From thereon, Vauxhall, would be a front-line exponent of General Motors' formidable technological resources. In 1933 came the Light Six, which offered 12hp motoring for £195, while the innovative tempo was maintained in 1035 when it was fitted with Dubonnet "knee action" independent front suspension, a year after it had appeared in Detroit. It was the first cheap British car to be offered with this facility and helped Vauxhall to sell 26,240 cars in 1036, a year in which profits soared to a record £1.1 million.

Above: The E-series models of 1951 replaced the stop-gap L-series range

The really significant Vauxhall of the decade was the celebrated Ten 0f 1938, which was the first mass-produced British car to employ unitary body construction. General Motors had already pioneered this system with its 1935 Opel Olympia, the Corporation having purchased Germany's largest car maker in 1929. Although C.E. King had remained at Luton after the American take-over, most of the design and tooling for the new Ten was undertaken in Detroit. In 1937, two of General Motors' most respected engineers, Alex Taub and Englishman Maurice Olley, arrived at Luton to finalise the design.

Taub, unusually for an American, was a keen advocate of fuel economy. Working in conjunction with Zenith, he had the Ten's carburetor re-designed so that the two phase unit would provide a weaker mixture on part throttle than a full one. for his part, Olley re-thought the Dubonnet suspension so that a short torsion bar and case took the place of the coil spring previously employed. The idea was that it would give a soft ride under normal driving conditions. If the road surface deteriorated, the suspension would stiffen up.

Above : Curves, fins and chrome of the PA Cresta

The Ten was introduced at the 1937 Motor Show where Vauxhall proclaimed it as "The £1,000,000 Car" and, in addition to its unique body construction, the firm made great play of its fuel economy. In a test undertaken with a 10hp rival, Vauxhall proclaimed that "we drove to London on the busiest route and then simply drive about in the thick of London's traffic for an hour and a half. After that we returned by way of the Barnett By-Pass and had some high speed bursts." the unnamed rival returned 35.0mpg, while the Vauxhall managed "over 40 mpg". Less desirable was a peculiarity of the new suspension that rose, rather than fell, during heavy braking, giving the car a curious "reverse curtsey" posture. The model's trans-Atlantic ancestry was revealed by its three-speed gearbox and six volt electrics, though there were no demands on the latter from the windscreen wipers, which were driven off the engine's camshaft, and this curious arrangement was to remain a Vauxhall feature until 1957.

In 1938 the 1.2-litre Ten was joined by a related Twelve of 1.5-litres and this, along with a pair of sixes, constituted the Vauxhall range at the outbreak of the Second World was in 1939. Vauxhall profits again broke the £1 million barrier that year, which made its surplus the third highest in the industry, behind Morris and Ford. Charles Bartlett's financial prudence had taken Vauxhall from being a modest car maker to a respected member of Britain's Big Six motor manufacturers, even though its record 34,367 cars produced in 1939 was the smallest of its mainline contemporaries.

During the war, car production dropped to a trickle, though 2548 were delivered to the Ministry of Supply. Bedford truck production, by contrast, was massive with 249,000 built at Luton and at a new factory established at nearby Dunstable. The firm also developed and built the Churchill tank within a year and 5640 were made during the war.

In 1944, Charles Bartle3tt was knighted for his services to the war effort. A pioneer in industrial relations, in 1941 he had established the company's Management Advisory Committee, which greatly contributed to Vauxhall's good labour relations record in the post war years. Vauxhall's wartime activities were set down in a factory publication, An Account of our Stewardship, and again, no mention was made f its General Motors parent!

Above : An ingenious conversion to floor gear change was available for the Victor

Post-war, the H Series Ten and Twelve, and six-cylinder Fourteen, were perpetuated, though the Ten was discontinued in 1947, with the impending arrival of a flat-rate of car tax, which cancelled out its price advantage. For the 1948 Motor Show, stylist David Jones, who had joined Vauxhall from the Royal College of Art in 1934, cleverly re-worked the pre-war Twelve, with a new alligator bonnet and enlarged boot, though this put its weight up from 18 to 19¼ cwt. This L Series car was erroneously named the Wyvern, which is a mythical two-legged dragon, in the mistaken belief that it was the creature depicted on the Vauxhall badge. The 1½-litre engine, however, was virtually unchanged, which made the model a gutless performer that could only manage an economical but breathless 60mph plus.

Above : The long rear spring system used on the Victor

Above : the E Velox had a full unitary body