The Dawn of Motoring Sale 2023 4th August 2023

57 + buyers premium of 12.5% plus VAT (15% incl VAT) on the first £300,000 of the hammer and 10% plus VAT (12% incl VAT) thereafter Prince Albert William Henry of Prussia was a grandson of Queen Victoria and brother to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. He was totally enthusiastic about everything to do with motor cars and motoring and Germany was then (as now) the centre of automotive development. Between 1907 and 1911, he sponsored a 1,200 mile competitive ‘Tour’ which was named after him and many years later morphed into the German Grand Prix. The only cars that were able to compete were ‘open touring’ cars that could seat at least four people, and they had to carry the driver and two passengers. Only cars in regular production could enter as specially designed racing cars were specifically banned. In 1910, Vauxhall entered three cars for this event and, although they didn’t win, Ferdinand Porsche actually took the trophy, all three cars managed to hit 65mph which, in 1911 with three people aboard, was quite creditable, and two of them got full marks for reliability. The publicity did Vauxhall no harm at all with their road cars starting to sell well as a result, and consequently these models have become known as Prince Henry Vauxhalls. More trials success followed including the St Petersburg to Sebastopol Trial in 1911 and Czar Nicholas the Second was so impressed by the car that he ordered two of them. Vauxhall opened a sales and distribution centre in Moscow and benefited from a steady flow of sales in Russia until the 1918 revolution put a stop to all that. Powered by a 3-litre, four-cylinder engine providing 40bhp, the overall design and quality of construction was excellent and it had a useful turn of speed, achieving up to 65mph which, at the time, made it a very fast car indeed. However, they were not cheap and really only available to the wealthy. As usual, Vauxhall sold just a rolling chassis, with the buyer free to commission their own four-seater bodywork from their favourite coachbuilder. Power was increased in 1913 with the arrival of the 4-litre engine, however war clouds started to gather the following year and production was halted in 1915, whilst Vauxhall concentrated on military contracts. Customer cars started to appear in 1919, with new models emerging every few months, and the Prince Henry cars soon became out of date and no longer relevant. It’s not known with any degree of accuracy just how many Prince Henrys were built, but very few, no more than perhaps ten, have survived to this day. Engine Number C10.2. Strange as it may seem, this engine, C10.2, is the thread that runs through this entire story and has been at the centre of it for over 110 years. As mentioned above, three special vehicles, each fitted with a modified 3-litre 20hp engine, were built by the Vauxhall Works Competition Group specifically for the 1910 Prince Henry Trial in Prussia and one of them was powered by C10.2. On return to the Vauxhall works, all three Prince Henry trial cars were soon re-bodied as single-seat racing cars to be run in the forthcoming O’Gorman Trophy at Brooklands in October that year. C10.2 was fitted to the car allocated to Vauxhall’s driver, Jock Hancock, and he duly won the White and Poppe Handicap Trophy. Later that month Hancock returned to Brooklands and broke the, highly coveted, half-mile record averaging over 100mph. Early in 1911, Percy Kidner, Vauxhall’s MD, entered one car in the Imperial Russian Automobile Club’s Reliability Trial to be run between 17th and 25th September. His car was based on a standard A11 frame and fitted with one of the PH engines, ‘the one that had been used at Brooklands’ so presumably C10.2. The car was run again in early 1912 in the Great Winter Reliability Trial organised by the Royal Swedish Automobile Club and on this occasion the engine is documented as being C10.2. So it would appear that C10.2 had performed well in at least four of Vauxhall’s winning cars. Obviously, a bit like ‘Grandfather’s Axe’ the majority of its components would have been changed from time to time, however, it still remains identified as C10.2. With the arrival in 1913 of Vauxhall’s Higginson 30-98 prototype engines at Luton, and their immediate successful motorsport involvement, the 20hp engines were no longer required and (almost) pensioned off. Luckily, there was still a good degree of interest being shown in 20hp competition components by eager motorsport enthusiasts in Australia and New Zealand including Wally Scott in Christchurch NZ and H.V. (Hugh) McKay in Melbourne. It is now believed that the very successful industrialist and one of Australia’s wealthiest men at the time, McKay negotiated quietly with Luton to buy a hot, new-looking, PHV fitted with the old 100mph, record-breaking engine C10.2. His intention was to use the outwardly standard PHV, fitted with the highly modified C10.2 in competitive hill-climb events against friends and fellow competitors without actually disclosing the provenance of the non-standard racing engine installed in it (that doesn’t happen in motorsport, does it?!). Lot 279 1911 Vauxhall Prince Henry 20hp • The ultimate Edwardian touring car - this stunning C-Type has been painstakingly restored to replicate the Works Russian Reliability Trial car of 1911. Running and driving without fault, a very useable motor car suitable for a plethora of events. Registration: UNREGISTERED Chassis No.: A.11.517 Estimate: £250,000 - £350,000 Consignor: Rob Hubbard Telephone No: 07775 511825 More Details Lot 279 Bid On Lot 279