How It All Started

Hail the Vauxhall Prince Henry, Britain’s first road car designed for pure enjoyment. Malcolm Thorne gets the rare privilege of a proper drive

Certain everyday objects are so ubiquitous, it can be a struggle to imagine an age where they didn’t yet exist. Think of the ballpoint pen or the sliced wholemeal loaf. To those of us, for instance, who occupy a world of oily fingernails, carburettors and owners’ clubs, there is nothing more ubiquitous than the Great British sports car. There was, of course, a time when such a concept had yet to emerge, but that idea is somehow puzzling. And to those with but a superficial knowledge of our rich motoring heritage, it’s maybe perplexing that the car widely considered as the prototype British sports model came from a marque better known today for mass-market hatchbacks. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the origin of the species: the Vauxhall Prince Henry.

The Vauxhall Iron Works – named after the London borough it called home – was founded in 1857. The company specialised in pumps and marine engines, but in 1903 it branched out into the avant-garde world of the horseless carriage, offering a single-cylinder 5hp model with chaindrive and tiller steering. In 1905 the firm moved to new premises in Luton, and by 1907 it had been renamed Vauxhall Motors. A plethora of quality three-, four- and six-cylinder machines ensued, establishing the enterprise among the upper echelons of early British manufacturers until its acquisition by General Motors in 1925 shifted focus to more mainstream products.