1920S VAUXHALL 30-98 OE-TYPE - 100.7mph

A century ago, the very idea of a production car achieving 100mph would have been eulogised by schoolkids and automobile makers alike.

Competition cars had plied their ton-up wares at tracks such as Brooklands since the Edwardian era, but they were pared-down beasts making no concessions to road use. Replicating such high speeds in a car wearing number plates and full bodywork would be quite another thing.

Vauxhall was a company at the forefront of performance engineering, its C-10 Prince Henry model of 1911 already acknowledged as the first true production sports car. And it was because of that reputation that businessman Joseph Higginson approached company seniors in late 1912, asking them to build an unbeatable roadgoing car to compete in hill climbs. Using a development of the A10 engine, famed Vauxhall technical director Laurence Pomeroy created a car with the lightest-possible running gear and bodywork. Known as the 30-98 E-type and rated at 85mph - an extraordinary speed, pre-WW1 - the car was delivered to Higginson in 1913, and soon afterwards he set a 55.2 secs time at Shelsley Walsh, a record that stood for eight years.

The potential for still more performance was evident, though. Pomeroy's post-war successor at Vauxhall, CE King, was soon to develop an overhead-valve pushrod engine for the 30-98, reducing its capacity by 301cc to 4224cc, but increasing power from 98 to 115bhp. The origins of the model's name are always debated, with both its initial output and bore size being 98bhp and 98mm respectively. However, the Vauxhall-published book Vauxhall 1857-1946 suggests 30' was for the projected bhp at 1000rpm, and '98' for the original output, the name retained even after it increased.