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The classic Vauxhall model, the 30-98, was built in 1913, to the special order of Mr. Higginson who invented the "Autovac". He wanted a faster and more competitive car for Hillclimbs, in which he was a regular competitor. So he contacted Laurence Pomeroy to build a suitable racing car. The design was laid down under Order number 2007 and it was completed in record time. The new Vauxhall was sucessful on its first outing and caused a sensation. After the First World War Vauxhall decided to put the car into production 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. The first car left the factory in December 1919. 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. The designation 30-98 has been the subject of controversy ever since, but I believe it came about as follows: The 30 stood for the chassis which was made from a cutdown 30hp Vauxhall chassis, I have the original drawing, and the 98 was as a result of the engine being overbored to 98 mm, a usual designation for Vauxhalls of the period.

The original Vauxhall 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 200 Vauxhall 30-98's were built in side valve form, 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 until July 1924 (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 strange design of brakes know as "the kidney box" due to the shape of the box for the compensating mechanism between the front dumb irons, was the work of Vauxhalls designer, Dan Oliver, who was apparently something of an eccentric, he used to wear white socks with his dinner jacket.

The last Vauxhall OE was produced in 1927 – two years after Vauxhall had been taken over by General Motors of the USA – there being 312 in the total OE production. Sadly, GM never again allowed Vauxhall to make such a distinguished machine.

After the 1918 armistice, the D-type remained in production, along with the sporting E-type. Pomeroy left in 1919, moving to the United States, and was replaced by C.E. King. In spite of making good cars, expensive pedigree cars of the kind that had served the company well in the prosperous pre-war years were no longer in demand: the company struggled to make a consistent profit and Vauxhall looked for a major strategic partner.Quoted in an 1924 Vauxhall publicity as 'the finest sporting car the world produces ' classic car connoisseurs still agree entirely with this slogan 84 years later !

From the relatively small number of 599 30/98 models produced by Vauxhall, between 1913 and 1927, 60% went to Australia.]]> en-us Gallery 2 RSS Module, version 1.1.0 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:19:55 -0600 120 http://www.motorsnaps.com/d/1292-6306/Vauxhall+30+98.jpg http://www.motorsnaps.com/v/Cars+V/Vauxhall/Vauxhall+30+98/