The Vauxhall (Shire Album)

The first Vauxhall was a single-cylinder runabout built by a marine-engineer firm in London in 1903. In 1905 the frim moved to Luton, where they built bigger three-cylinder and four-cylinder cars, and in 1907 the business waas reformed as Vauxhall Motots. The appointment in 1906 of a brilliant young designer, Laurence Pomeroy, brought a golden age, marked by his four-cylinder side-valve cars, and by competition successes at home and abroad, notably with the Prince Henry and 30-98 models. Twin overhead-camshaft racing cars were built for the 1914 and 1922 Tourist Trophy races and the French Grand Prix of 1914, and the D-type Vauxhall was a famous staff car of the First World War. In 1925 the firm was bought by general motors of the USA, which concentrated on producing inexpensive but good-quality family cars, such as the Vauxhall Cadet of 1931. During the Second World War Vauxhall designed and made the Churchill tank. By the 1970's Vauxhall cars needed a facelift and General Motors were amongst the first to institute the international car, entusting design in Europe to their German subsidiary, Opel. Sales soared in the 1980's and the new designs culminated in the Calibra coupe and the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton saloon of the 1990's.