A09.229 Update
A09.229 made huge progress in 2023. From a driving chassis at the start of the year, to a bodied car awaiting coach painting, trim and final fitting up, Target date to be on the road is May '24!
A09.229
DK Jan '24
The Discovery of A198/A192
By Ian Parsons
A198/A192
I find the history of our cars fascinating and little was known about my Vauxhall’s discovery by Alan Hale in Queeensland. Although he had died in 1972, I was determined to find out more. Distances in Queensland are huge and I am full of admiration for those early motorists in N Queensland who were driving entirely on dirt roads and many miles from towns.
Alan Hale was an enthusiastic Vauxhall owner and collector as well as quite a character. He lived in Brisbane, working for a petrol company, and travelled around Queensland. He discovered the A Type with Engine A186, West of Brisbane, and found the car with Engine A 192 in Northern Queensland, the chassis frame of which was cut in half to fit on his trailer. I believe he did not reveal exactly where they were found. Both cars were kept at his home. He wrote to Jack Newell in March 1964 describing the two cars as well as his two 30-98’s. The car with engine A186 was sold to Peter Harris in late 1971.
Unfortunately, Alan Hale died in a petrol fire at his home possibly in 1972. Brian Brown collected the car with Engine A192 from Alan Hale’s widow. He also acquired the remains of a 30-98 and the ex Max Wurst Prince Henry from other sources. The whole collection of parts was sold to Nigel Price in 1972 who was then living in Sydney but in 1973 moved to Christchurch. After Nigel had rebuilt the PH, having used the lights and front axle from the A Type, Nigel then sold the A Type to Tony Airs in 1976. It came with an original Identification Plate stamped Car A170 but with no engine number stamped and this was used to obtain a NZ Registration Document. Tony bought a front axle from George Gilltrap and sourced a CAV lighting set.
In 2011 I visited Russell Massey in Brisbane, the owner of car A35. He introduced me to Peter Harris, Howard Kenward, Bob Collett and George Gilltrap. Howard told Russell Massey that Alan Hale and Alan Sypher were in the Ravenswood area in the 1960’s and found the car on a station near Ravenswood. As they only had a box-trailer they cut the chassis in half and hid the axles to collect later. George Gilltrap had a copy of the 1920 Queensland Motor Manual that listed all Registrations by district in numerical order and included the owner’s address and make of car. There were only nine Vauxhalls registered in Queensland in 1920, seven with Brisbane registrations, one in Warwick and one in Hughenden. I was pretty certain that the Vauxhall owned by W J Tomkins, Inglewood, Warwick is the car Peter Harris owns and the Hughenden one, which was owned by a C K Peel of Antrim Station, is mine but I needed further proof. The Massey car was in Clermont and not registered in 1920 as it was in a garage there having suffered flood damage. It had been bought new by the Tolsons of Glenmore Downs near Clermont. Following correspondence with Peter Harris about his car and his recollections of purchasing it from Alan Hale we realised that the Identification Plate I had should have been on his car. So his car is A170 with its original engine and, from the Vauxhall Build Records, mine is actually A198 also with its original engine. I shall have to rectify this change of Car Number with the DVLA in the UK at some time.
C K Peel was a well-known person in North Queensland. He bought Antrim Station, 60 miles south of Hughenden in 1914. It was 45,000 acres and he had shorthorn cattle, sheep and a stud of race horses. He modernised the homestead and built various outbuildings including a fine motor garage. There was a lengthy biography in about 1922 of him in “the History of Queensland” with photos of Antrim homestead. He was president of the Hughenden Jockey Club, a member of the Flinders Shire Council and a JP. He was evidently a man of some substance and influence. I do not know what caused him to buy a Vauxhall but it is possible that he knew the Tolsons, keen horse race owners of Glenmore Downs near Clermont and was impressed with their car, A 35. The Edkins family had properties in Longreach and would have known the Tolsons so perhaps that resulted in their Vauxhall ownership. A198 was manufactured in November 1914. There is no record of its original body type but it would have either been a tourer or a 2 seat Ascot. It would have arrived in Queensland in early 1915. The Vauxhall was registered P91 in 1920 and Q 4458 in 1923. A series of droughts caused Peel to limit his horse breeding and he died in 1933 and his wife later that year. They had no children and Antrim Station was left to the station foreman, who was related to Mrs Peel, and sold to the Tindells in 1954. The original homestead was destroyed in a fire in the 1960’s and a replacement property built. I suspect that A198 was only used for special occasions as there was also a Hupmobile registered to him, but I have found no mention of the Vauxhall in any contemporary press.
I was initially confused about the mention of Ravenswood as this is an abandoned gold mining town near Charters Towers and 200 miles from Hughenden. I met Brian Brown and Nigel Price on subsequent visits to Christchurch. Brian Brown confirmed his collection of it as more or less a complete car from Alan Hale’s but confused me with reference to an un chopped chassis frame coming from John Giddy of Kenthurst, NSW. Nigel gave me photos of the car parts in Sydney and on its arrival in Christchurch clearly showing a chassis cut in half. Then in 2016 I visited Russell Massey as we had planned to visit Clermont and Charters Towers to try and find out more. He told me he had talked to Graham Wilkinson in Brisbane who had accompanied Alan Hale on one of his camping trips in a pick-up. Graham was a retired policeman and had kept a record of this visit. We went to see him and imagine my delight when he produced four photos he took, maps of where the vehicle was found which was at Lennox Station, East of Aramac and North of Jericho. He could not remember the exact date but late 1950’s early 1960’s. He told me that it was open in the yard facing a fence. There was the bonnet and the remains of the front seat tub. The car was dismantled on site and a photo shows the engine, radiator, steering column and lamps in the pick-up. The flywheel was left behind as the pick-up was overloaded. This is clearly the same engine photographed at Nigel Price’s so is the definite proof that these parts are from my car and is the car owned by Peel. I believe that Alan Hale went back with Alan Sypher sometime later and collected the remaining parts and cutting the frame in half to fit the trailer. Graham went back to Lennox a few years ago to see if any of the car was still there but there was no sign of it and the property looked deserted. Lennox Station had poor grass and was used as an outstation of Laglan. It was used as a stopover when driving livestock to a rail station. It is about 120 miles from Antrim Station and there is a homestead called Ravenswood 8 miles East of Aramac so the original reference to Ravenswood was correct but we assumed the wrong one. I presume that there was a problem with the car and it was abandoned as it had served its useful purpose by then and it really was a long way from repairers.
Tony Airs found that the mechanical components were not terribly worn so the car had not been abused as a hack. He started the restoration with a friend of his, Alan Lake. The offside front crankcase mounting had cracked and there were signs of the subframe, a pressed steel U section, cracking around the front crankcase bolt. He welded the chassis halves back and strengthened the subframe with rolled U Section steel reinforcement. They completed about 80% of the work including a replica of the Ascot body but restoration stalled after the death of his friend and hardly any further progress was made. I bought the car from Tony Airs from Christchurch in September 2007, shipped it to the UK and finished it.
I would be delighted if anyone could add further to my findings. I am indebted to Russell Massey how has helped me enormously in this search for information which has been fascinating.
Alan Hale was an enthusiastic Vauxhall owner and collector as well as quite a character. He lived in Brisbane, working for a petrol company, and travelled around Queensland. He discovered the A Type with Engine A186, West of Brisbane, and found the car with Engine A 192 in Northern Queensland, the chassis frame of which was cut in half to fit on his trailer. I believe he did not reveal exactly where they were found. Both cars were kept at his home. He wrote to Jack Newell in March 1964 describing the two cars as well as his two 30-98’s. The car with engine A186 was sold to Peter Harris in late 1971.
Unfortunately, Alan Hale died in a petrol fire at his home possibly in 1972. Brian Brown collected the car with Engine A192 from Alan Hale’s widow. He also acquired the remains of a 30-98 and the ex Max Wurst Prince Henry from other sources. The whole collection of parts was sold to Nigel Price in 1972 who was then living in Sydney but in 1973 moved to Christchurch. After Nigel had rebuilt the PH, having used the lights and front axle from the A Type, Nigel then sold the A Type to Tony Airs in 1976. It came with an original Identification Plate stamped Car A170 but with no engine number stamped and this was used to obtain a NZ Registration Document. Tony bought a front axle from George Gilltrap and sourced a CAV lighting set.
In 2011 I visited Russell Massey in Brisbane, the owner of car A35. He introduced me to Peter Harris, Howard Kenward, Bob Collett and George Gilltrap. Howard told Russell Massey that Alan Hale and Alan Sypher were in the Ravenswood area in the 1960’s and found the car on a station near Ravenswood. As they only had a box-trailer they cut the chassis in half and hid the axles to collect later. George Gilltrap had a copy of the 1920 Queensland Motor Manual that listed all Registrations by district in numerical order and included the owner’s address and make of car. There were only nine Vauxhalls registered in Queensland in 1920, seven with Brisbane registrations, one in Warwick and one in Hughenden. I was pretty certain that the Vauxhall owned by W J Tomkins, Inglewood, Warwick is the car Peter Harris owns and the Hughenden one, which was owned by a C K Peel of Antrim Station, is mine but I needed further proof. The Massey car was in Clermont and not registered in 1920 as it was in a garage there having suffered flood damage. It had been bought new by the Tolsons of Glenmore Downs near Clermont. Following correspondence with Peter Harris about his car and his recollections of purchasing it from Alan Hale we realised that the Identification Plate I had should have been on his car. So his car is A170 with its original engine and, from the Vauxhall Build Records, mine is actually A198 also with its original engine. I shall have to rectify this change of Car Number with the DVLA in the UK at some time.
C K Peel was a well-known person in North Queensland. He bought Antrim Station, 60 miles south of Hughenden in 1914. It was 45,000 acres and he had shorthorn cattle, sheep and a stud of race horses. He modernised the homestead and built various outbuildings including a fine motor garage. There was a lengthy biography in about 1922 of him in “the History of Queensland” with photos of Antrim homestead. He was president of the Hughenden Jockey Club, a member of the Flinders Shire Council and a JP. He was evidently a man of some substance and influence. I do not know what caused him to buy a Vauxhall but it is possible that he knew the Tolsons, keen horse race owners of Glenmore Downs near Clermont and was impressed with their car, A 35. The Edkins family had properties in Longreach and would have known the Tolsons so perhaps that resulted in their Vauxhall ownership. A198 was manufactured in November 1914. There is no record of its original body type but it would have either been a tourer or a 2 seat Ascot. It would have arrived in Queensland in early 1915. The Vauxhall was registered P91 in 1920 and Q 4458 in 1923. A series of droughts caused Peel to limit his horse breeding and he died in 1933 and his wife later that year. They had no children and Antrim Station was left to the station foreman, who was related to Mrs Peel, and sold to the Tindells in 1954. The original homestead was destroyed in a fire in the 1960’s and a replacement property built. I suspect that A198 was only used for special occasions as there was also a Hupmobile registered to him, but I have found no mention of the Vauxhall in any contemporary press.
I was initially confused about the mention of Ravenswood as this is an abandoned gold mining town near Charters Towers and 200 miles from Hughenden. I met Brian Brown and Nigel Price on subsequent visits to Christchurch. Brian Brown confirmed his collection of it as more or less a complete car from Alan Hale’s but confused me with reference to an un chopped chassis frame coming from John Giddy of Kenthurst, NSW. Nigel gave me photos of the car parts in Sydney and on its arrival in Christchurch clearly showing a chassis cut in half. Then in 2016 I visited Russell Massey as we had planned to visit Clermont and Charters Towers to try and find out more. He told me he had talked to Graham Wilkinson in Brisbane who had accompanied Alan Hale on one of his camping trips in a pick-up. Graham was a retired policeman and had kept a record of this visit. We went to see him and imagine my delight when he produced four photos he took, maps of where the vehicle was found which was at Lennox Station, East of Aramac and North of Jericho. He could not remember the exact date but late 1950’s early 1960’s. He told me that it was open in the yard facing a fence. There was the bonnet and the remains of the front seat tub. The car was dismantled on site and a photo shows the engine, radiator, steering column and lamps in the pick-up. The flywheel was left behind as the pick-up was overloaded. This is clearly the same engine photographed at Nigel Price’s so is the definite proof that these parts are from my car and is the car owned by Peel. I believe that Alan Hale went back with Alan Sypher sometime later and collected the remaining parts and cutting the frame in half to fit the trailer. Graham went back to Lennox a few years ago to see if any of the car was still there but there was no sign of it and the property looked deserted. Lennox Station had poor grass and was used as an outstation of Laglan. It was used as a stopover when driving livestock to a rail station. It is about 120 miles from Antrim Station and there is a homestead called Ravenswood 8 miles East of Aramac so the original reference to Ravenswood was correct but we assumed the wrong one. I presume that there was a problem with the car and it was abandoned as it had served its useful purpose by then and it really was a long way from repairers.
Tony Airs found that the mechanical components were not terribly worn so the car had not been abused as a hack. He started the restoration with a friend of his, Alan Lake. The offside front crankcase mounting had cracked and there were signs of the subframe, a pressed steel U section, cracking around the front crankcase bolt. He welded the chassis halves back and strengthened the subframe with rolled U Section steel reinforcement. They completed about 80% of the work including a replica of the Ascot body but restoration stalled after the death of his friend and hardly any further progress was made. I bought the car from Tony Airs from Christchurch in September 2007, shipped it to the UK and finished it.
I would be delighted if anyone could add further to my findings. I am indebted to Russell Massey how has helped me enormously in this search for information which has been fascinating.
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OD832 - Update
Phil Cordery sent the pictures below a while ago, so progress is certainly even more advanced now. Phil also owns OD1096, and OD955 & OD1076 both live close by, so he has plenty of reference points to work from. Looking forward to seeing this one back on the road soon!
November 2019
November 2019
From Queensland to Wales - OD832
In Dave Stuart's October 2018 Newsletter, he mentions OD832, a 23-60 originally sold in Queensland. There are some period photos of the car on the Photo Archives (AUS/NZ) page.
The restoration was started many years ago by James Meera. However, earlier this year James decided to sell the project, and so the car moved to Wales. Phil Cordery reports that a lot of good work has been done, but there remains a lot to do. The photos below shows work in progress as at October 2018.
The restoration was started many years ago by James Meera. However, earlier this year James decided to sell the project, and so the car moved to Wales. Phil Cordery reports that a lot of good work has been done, but there remains a lot to do. The photos below shows work in progress as at October 2018.
A09.229
James Gunn is making excellent progress with Alex Hayward's A09 project.
A major milestone was reached just before Christmas when Alex and family visited. The engine start up was captured here.
Almost ready for a body now!
December 2017
A major milestone was reached just before Christmas when Alex and family visited. The engine start up was captured here.
Almost ready for a body now!
December 2017
Edwardian Gearboxes by Ian Parsons
My 1914 16-20 A Type is currently fitted with a 23-60 gearbox. I wanted to fit an Edwardian gearbox in order to make the car more correct and Julian Ghosh managed to source one with the serial number W403 & 4 A11 220. The input and output shafts had been butchered but good replacements were provided. I have now overhauled this gearbox and have taken many photos learning along the way about Edwardian gearboxes. The following is my understanding about Edwardian gearboxes and I welcome comments as I am a relative newcomer to these cars.
A09. This had the first version of the 4 speed gearbox and had a one piece casing with three point mounting and a hexagonal not splined mainshaft. Vauxhall have drawings for the internals of this gearbox. The November 1910 Auto Journal shows a B type chassis with this gearbox but with four point mounting. I believe that there are only two or three cars surviving with this gearbox.
A11. This had a redesigned gearbox with a splined mainshaft. The casing was in two halves with pattern numbers 403 BAC and 404 BAC cast on the bottom and top halves respectively. The layshaft bearings were self-aligning and mounted in eccentric steel sleeves which allowed the backlash to be adjusted. A drawing of this gearbox was published in the 1911 Automobile Engineer show review. The Motor in November 1911 had a photo of the 20 hp chassis and noted that the redesigned gearbox was shorter and had improvements to the gear change and interlock. This gearbox type had several modifications over the years, mainly to the method of mounting the coupling on the input shaft which went from a parallel shaft with two parallel keys to a splined shaft with a retaining nut. Finally a taper with a woodruff key was used although I am not certain if this modification was used on the A11 type gearbox. If it was then it was after 1916. At least four different arrangement drawings of this gearbox were published in the press over the years. The drawings show the layshaft gears keyed onto the shaft with a separate key for the 1st pinion although my gearbox has one long key.
During my gearbox overhaul I did not use self-aligning bearings but ordinary ball races. I used a shielded bearing for the large input shaft bearing and sealed bearings for the mainshaft and front input shaft bearing. I hope this will reduce oil leaks. I stoned off the burrs on the gears and I turned up a fully floating bronze spigot bearing. The main problem was in fitting the old gears to the supplied mainshaft as there were pitch errors in the splines and also a slight pitch error in the top gear dogs. Fortunately the mainshaft is not hard so with judicious filing and lapping with fine valve grinding paste I was able to achieve free movement of the sliding gears. I also discovered that the ¼” keysteel for the layshaft needed to be eased to fit the gears although it was a good fit in the shaft so ended up with a slightly stepped key. I shall have to make a new flange for the coupling on the input shaft and fortunately Peter Weir provided me with a drawing. It will probably be March before I try the car with this gearbox. I expect it will be noisy
I have a full set of photos of the disassembly and reassembly of my gearbox and can provide notes if required.
A09. This had the first version of the 4 speed gearbox and had a one piece casing with three point mounting and a hexagonal not splined mainshaft. Vauxhall have drawings for the internals of this gearbox. The November 1910 Auto Journal shows a B type chassis with this gearbox but with four point mounting. I believe that there are only two or three cars surviving with this gearbox.
A11. This had a redesigned gearbox with a splined mainshaft. The casing was in two halves with pattern numbers 403 BAC and 404 BAC cast on the bottom and top halves respectively. The layshaft bearings were self-aligning and mounted in eccentric steel sleeves which allowed the backlash to be adjusted. A drawing of this gearbox was published in the 1911 Automobile Engineer show review. The Motor in November 1911 had a photo of the 20 hp chassis and noted that the redesigned gearbox was shorter and had improvements to the gear change and interlock. This gearbox type had several modifications over the years, mainly to the method of mounting the coupling on the input shaft which went from a parallel shaft with two parallel keys to a splined shaft with a retaining nut. Finally a taper with a woodruff key was used although I am not certain if this modification was used on the A11 type gearbox. If it was then it was after 1916. At least four different arrangement drawings of this gearbox were published in the press over the years. The drawings show the layshaft gears keyed onto the shaft with a separate key for the 1st pinion although my gearbox has one long key.
During my gearbox overhaul I did not use self-aligning bearings but ordinary ball races. I used a shielded bearing for the large input shaft bearing and sealed bearings for the mainshaft and front input shaft bearing. I hope this will reduce oil leaks. I stoned off the burrs on the gears and I turned up a fully floating bronze spigot bearing. The main problem was in fitting the old gears to the supplied mainshaft as there were pitch errors in the splines and also a slight pitch error in the top gear dogs. Fortunately the mainshaft is not hard so with judicious filing and lapping with fine valve grinding paste I was able to achieve free movement of the sliding gears. I also discovered that the ¼” keysteel for the layshaft needed to be eased to fit the gears although it was a good fit in the shaft so ended up with a slightly stepped key. I shall have to make a new flange for the coupling on the input shaft and fortunately Peter Weir provided me with a drawing. It will probably be March before I try the car with this gearbox. I expect it will be noisy
I have a full set of photos of the disassembly and reassembly of my gearbox and can provide notes if required.
A Vauxhall Story by Ian Parsons
The 20hp A type Vauxhall, introduced in October 1908, was the first of the Pomeroy designed cars that culminated with the E type. The 16-20 A type was the final development of the A Type and was introduced in November 1912 concurrently with the 25hp D type. It had a narrower chassis and shorter wheelbase than earlier A types as the larger coachwork that customers were demanding could now be fitted to the D type chassis. The 3053 cc engine produces about 42 bhp and drives through a multiplate clutch to a four speed gearbox. About nine 16-20 A types survive out of 275 made although some chassis frames have been used to create other models. Four different variations of chassis frame appear to have been used on the 16-20. My car, A198 engine A192, was despatched from the works on 4th Nov 1914 and shipped to Australia. It would not have arrived until January or February 1915 and went to Queensland. Very few Vauxhalls were sold in Queensland and some early Queensland registration records survive so I was hopeful of discovering who the original owner was. These records however do not record the Car Number.
Following a visit to Christchurch and Brisbane in February/March 2011 I have managed to piece together the car’s recent history. My car was discovered in the early 70’s in North Queensland by Alan Hale. It is believed it was discovered in the Ravenswood/ Home Hill area. Alan was a well-known Vauxhall owner in the VCCQ. The story is that he had a box trailer full of car parts and that in order to load the Vauxhall onto the trailer the chassis was sawn in half and the front axle was left behind to be collected some months later. Queensland is a large state and the chassis was discovered some days drive from where Alan lived. I do not believe the body had survived although the firewall had. At about the same time Alan also rescued A170. Peter Harris in Warwick, Queensland was offered one of the cars and chose A170, the car with the complete chassis which had Engine No A186. He did not get the car identification plate which went with my car. Unfortunately Alan died shortly afterwards in a refuelling fire. It was at this time the identity of my car became switched. A Brian Brown then collected my car together with the ex Max Wurst Prince Henry, an OE 30/98 and other Vauxhall parts. These were sold to Nigel Price and shipped to Christchurch NZ in 1973. The lights and front axle beam of A198 were used to complete the rebuild of the Prince Henry. In 1976 Nigel Price sold A198 to Tony Airs in Christchurch who started to rebuild it and Tony welded the chassis back together. A front axle beam was bought from George Giltrap and a lighting set found. Tony had a replica of the Ascot 2 seat torpedo body built by John Millward and panelled by Alan Stanton of Auto Restorations but by the 1990’s work on the car stalled as Alan Lake who was helping Tony with the rebuild died suddenly. The rebuild was about 80% complete with all the major mechanical work having been completed and the main body panelled and painted leaving the rear luggage compartment to be panelled.
Tony also has an Alvis 10/30 and I met him in 1996 and again in 2004 on rallies in NZ. We mainly talked about Alvises but I mentioned that I had started my career with Vauxhall at Luton as a student apprentice and if ever he thought about parting with the Vauxhall I would be very interested. In May 2007 I had an email from Tony saying that he realised he would not finish the A Type and would like to offer it to me on a first refusal basis. This was an offer I could not refuse and the car arrived in the UK in December 2007. The car needed the bonnet, front wings, running boards and petrol tank making. It was untrimmed and without a hood frame. All the controls, linkages, pipework and major units required connecting. The
body was trimmed by Andy Taylor in 2008 and the front wings, bonnet and rear panelling made by John Selway in early 2009.
Completing the rebuild was an interesting process as there were no UK survivors of the 16-20. I wanted to get the details correct and some detective work was necessary. A very original 1913 car was being restored in Brisbane by Russell Massey and photographs of this were an enormous help. I also had a close look at the Cheverton 1914 Prince Henry at Beaulieu and Tony Smallbone’s E Type. These cars helped me to get the feel for the way Vauxhall arranged the control linkages and the fuel and air pipework. My car has its original firewall and the screw holes and witness marks enabled the correct positioning of the oil and air piping to be determined. It was satisfying to use the original fuel pipe clips and holes in the chassis for these pipe runs. I also discovered that the bolt holes in the chassis for the running board brackets were for the later pressed steel brackets introduced in mid 1914.
I had the original castings for the silencer and these were used to make a straight through silencer to the same external dimensions as the original. A complete and correct Zenith 36mm DEF carburettor was sourced from France. The car first ran in September 2009 and after a few experiments with carburettor jets the maiden journey was to the Kop Hill Climb, a round trip of 130 miles. The car ran a little hot but advancing the ignition cured that.
On the way to the 2010 LCES Welsh Weekend in April the car suddenly ran its big ends. A big disappointment as the car had been going so well. The subsequent strip down revealed that the oil pump drive had dis-assembled itself causing a total lack of oil flow. The engine was back together for the Summer Rally in June and the following year’s trip to Llandrindod Wells was uneventful. On the way home the car was cruising at 50 mph although the fuel consumption was about 17mpg, however it does runs a little rich.
Since completion the car has now been driven 11,000 miles with only a few minor problems. The 9” rear brakes are not really very effective so traffic lights and roundabouts need to be approached with caution. The steering is light as is the gearchange so on the open road the car is very relaxing to drive. The 815 x 105 beaded edge tyres now seem to last about 7,000 miles. It is a wonderful car to drive and makes one realise how outstanding the Edwardian Vauxhalls were with their ability to eat up the miles hour after hour with ease.
Ian Parsons
12 October 2016
Following a visit to Christchurch and Brisbane in February/March 2011 I have managed to piece together the car’s recent history. My car was discovered in the early 70’s in North Queensland by Alan Hale. It is believed it was discovered in the Ravenswood/ Home Hill area. Alan was a well-known Vauxhall owner in the VCCQ. The story is that he had a box trailer full of car parts and that in order to load the Vauxhall onto the trailer the chassis was sawn in half and the front axle was left behind to be collected some months later. Queensland is a large state and the chassis was discovered some days drive from where Alan lived. I do not believe the body had survived although the firewall had. At about the same time Alan also rescued A170. Peter Harris in Warwick, Queensland was offered one of the cars and chose A170, the car with the complete chassis which had Engine No A186. He did not get the car identification plate which went with my car. Unfortunately Alan died shortly afterwards in a refuelling fire. It was at this time the identity of my car became switched. A Brian Brown then collected my car together with the ex Max Wurst Prince Henry, an OE 30/98 and other Vauxhall parts. These were sold to Nigel Price and shipped to Christchurch NZ in 1973. The lights and front axle beam of A198 were used to complete the rebuild of the Prince Henry. In 1976 Nigel Price sold A198 to Tony Airs in Christchurch who started to rebuild it and Tony welded the chassis back together. A front axle beam was bought from George Giltrap and a lighting set found. Tony had a replica of the Ascot 2 seat torpedo body built by John Millward and panelled by Alan Stanton of Auto Restorations but by the 1990’s work on the car stalled as Alan Lake who was helping Tony with the rebuild died suddenly. The rebuild was about 80% complete with all the major mechanical work having been completed and the main body panelled and painted leaving the rear luggage compartment to be panelled.
Tony also has an Alvis 10/30 and I met him in 1996 and again in 2004 on rallies in NZ. We mainly talked about Alvises but I mentioned that I had started my career with Vauxhall at Luton as a student apprentice and if ever he thought about parting with the Vauxhall I would be very interested. In May 2007 I had an email from Tony saying that he realised he would not finish the A Type and would like to offer it to me on a first refusal basis. This was an offer I could not refuse and the car arrived in the UK in December 2007. The car needed the bonnet, front wings, running boards and petrol tank making. It was untrimmed and without a hood frame. All the controls, linkages, pipework and major units required connecting. The
body was trimmed by Andy Taylor in 2008 and the front wings, bonnet and rear panelling made by John Selway in early 2009.
Completing the rebuild was an interesting process as there were no UK survivors of the 16-20. I wanted to get the details correct and some detective work was necessary. A very original 1913 car was being restored in Brisbane by Russell Massey and photographs of this were an enormous help. I also had a close look at the Cheverton 1914 Prince Henry at Beaulieu and Tony Smallbone’s E Type. These cars helped me to get the feel for the way Vauxhall arranged the control linkages and the fuel and air pipework. My car has its original firewall and the screw holes and witness marks enabled the correct positioning of the oil and air piping to be determined. It was satisfying to use the original fuel pipe clips and holes in the chassis for these pipe runs. I also discovered that the bolt holes in the chassis for the running board brackets were for the later pressed steel brackets introduced in mid 1914.
I had the original castings for the silencer and these were used to make a straight through silencer to the same external dimensions as the original. A complete and correct Zenith 36mm DEF carburettor was sourced from France. The car first ran in September 2009 and after a few experiments with carburettor jets the maiden journey was to the Kop Hill Climb, a round trip of 130 miles. The car ran a little hot but advancing the ignition cured that.
On the way to the 2010 LCES Welsh Weekend in April the car suddenly ran its big ends. A big disappointment as the car had been going so well. The subsequent strip down revealed that the oil pump drive had dis-assembled itself causing a total lack of oil flow. The engine was back together for the Summer Rally in June and the following year’s trip to Llandrindod Wells was uneventful. On the way home the car was cruising at 50 mph although the fuel consumption was about 17mpg, however it does runs a little rich.
Since completion the car has now been driven 11,000 miles with only a few minor problems. The 9” rear brakes are not really very effective so traffic lights and roundabouts need to be approached with caution. The steering is light as is the gearchange so on the open road the car is very relaxing to drive. The 815 x 105 beaded edge tyres now seem to last about 7,000 miles. It is a wonderful car to drive and makes one realise how outstanding the Edwardian Vauxhalls were with their ability to eat up the miles hour after hour with ease.
Ian Parsons
12 October 2016
A198: Click once on the pictures to enable Lightbox
OD949 - In progress
Prince Henry recreation
The recreation of the Prince Henry Vauxhall entered in the Swedish Winter Trial of 1912, by Alisdaire Lockhart.
| princehenry1912.doc |
OD1115: The unveiling (July 2016)
D2908: Storyboard
| michael_kenwoods_d_typevauxhall_story_board.pdf |
