Lot Ended
Description
In the current ownership for 50+ years; originally a fabric-bodied
Weymann Saloon; rebodied in Princeton Tourer style about 30 years ago when it
was still in regular use; now in need of substantial renovation
The first
Vauxhall car, a five-horsepower model with tiller steering, was built by the
Vauxhall Iron Works in 1903. A whole range of magnificent machines were soon to
follow including cars like the mighty 30/98 and the 25/70 which cost as much as
a Rolls-Royce and were every bit as well-engineered. However, by the mid-1920s
the market for expensive luxury cars had largely collapsed and Vauxhall found
itself in financial difficulties.
In December
1925, General Motors stepped into the breach and bought Vauxhall for $2.5
million, their plan being to turn the firm into a high-volume producer of
smaller, lower-priced cars – a strategy that was to save the company during the
Great Depression which soon followed, but also caused a lot of adverse publicity
in the UK as the press bemoaned the cheap ‘Americanisation’ of a once-great
marque.
However, before the first of these
smaller, cheaper cars came online, one last giant was to be produced, the
Vauxhall 20/60, introduced in 1927. Although GM-influenced, it was still very
much a Vauxhall and the advertising campaign made much of the fact that it was
comprised of 97% British materials and was built by British craftsmen.
Furthermore, the six-cylinder 60hp overhead
valve engine was designed by Laurence Pomeroy's successor at Vauxhall, the
engineer and philosopher Clarence King. For the initial R-Type it had a capacity
of 2,762cc, rising to 2.9-litres for the 1929 T-Type. A range of body styles
were available, from short wheelbase tourers to a long wheelbase limousine. The
20/60 remained in production until 1930, the vast majority of the c.5,400 made
being sold abroad.
First registered in Kent in
April 1930, this 20/60 has the larger engine and started out in life as a
four-light Saloon with a Weymann fabric body. Our vendor can’t remember exactly
when he bought the car but it was well over 50 years ago.
He used it regularly for many years, telling us that it always went
very well indeed. In fact it went so well that large chunks of the fabric body
eventually blew off while he was barrelling along an A-road! While this rather
put an end to his time in the driving seat, it did present an ideal
opportunity for some open-topped motoring in the future.
The injured
Vauxhall was duly sent to coachbuilder Ric Llinares of Kirkby Lonsdale who made
the Princeton Tourer-style wooden coachwork that you see today. And what a great
job he made of it, the quality of the workmanship being plain to see (the
front end of the car is, of course, original).
This was all at least 25
years ago and as our vendor also had a Lagonda and a Rolls-Royce
Silver Ghost to run around in at the time, the 20/60 got somewhat forgotten
and has been languishing in storage ever since.
As you can see in the photos, time has taken its toll on the car
and it is now in need of substantial renovation. Some parts may also have gone
astray over the intervening years but our vendor thinks there is a slim chance
he may still have some of them lying around which he would be happy to pass on
to the new owner. He certainly has a spare engine which will be made
available to the winning bidder by separate negotiation if desired, although
this will need to be collected from the Liverpool area.
Whie there is very little history with the car, we do have a copy of
the V5C which looks like it was issued in 2015. Retaining its original
Kent-issue number plate, KR 3027, it comes with some useful technical literature
and drawings of the Tourer body (as pictured), plus a quantity of parts stored
behind the front seats.
On offer here at no
reserve and a strictly 'what you see is what you get' basis, this
powerful Vintage tourer now needs an enthusiastic new owner who can get it back
on the road where it belongs.
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com