Vauxhall Motors Ltd., Luton.

5 HP Roadster (1903)

Vauxhall began as Alex Wilson & Company (Steam Engineers) in London in 1857. In 1894 they became the Vauxhall Iron Works, built on the site of a medieval knight's house. (Fulk le Breant – "Fulk's Hall").

The first Vauxhall was a single-cylinder 5hp car with tiller steering and about forty cars were built before it was replaced by a series of 9, 12 and 14hp cars that had the famous fluted bonnet.

The company moved to Luton in Bedfordshire in 1905 which, coincidentally, was the former location of Fulk's country seat.

Vauxhall had great success in the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) and Scottish Reliability Trials of 1908, which encouraged the trend to build expensive cars for the wealthy end of the market.

Prince Henry (1911)

The most famous pre-war model is the Prince Henry, which was produced from 1911 until the outbreak of The Great War. During the war the 25hp tourer was built to War Office requirements.

Despite poor sales after the war Vauxhall still built sports versions of their basic models. Their weak financial position led to the American General Motors take-over of 1925.

In the 1930's the company concentrated on selling smaller cars with the 17hp Cadet in 1930 and the A-Type in 1934. The 10hp H-Type of 1938 was the first mass-produced British car of integral construction.

Wyvern (1951)

After the Second World War the 10, 12 and 14hp models were continued, but replaced in 1948 by the Wyvern and Velox models. These used the same body, the Wyvern had the 12hp engine and the Velox used a new 2.3 litre six-cylinder unit.

The Victor replaced the Wyvern in 1957 with an American type body style.