70 years before the Lotus Carlton shocked Britain, Vauxhall's 30-98 Series of 1919 claimed the country's fastest car.
Continuing our journey back through the Vauxhall archives today we are taking a close up look at the 30-98 Series that was built from 1919 to 1927.
At the time it was the fastest catalogued production car in Great Britain and came with a factory-warranted top speed of 100mph, (imagine that these days), when it was ordered with a high axle ratio and unique minimalist bodywork.
However the majority of Vauxhall 30-98s were sold with a tourer body as seen in the image. This particular boy was made by the made by in-house coachbuilder, Velox. A name to remember for the future.
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Another of Vauxhall’s in-house builders, Wensum created a striking body that had no doors, no roof, flared guards and with it a £150 (A$300) premium, a sizeable increase of over 10 per cent of the total price of the standard Tourer that cost around £1200 (A$2385). Later in the century other carmakers turned this strip out and charge more into an art form.
Over its eight-year production life around 600 E and OE-Type (for ‘Overhead-valve) 30-98s were built, and incredibly around 170 survive to this day, with many remaining in regular use on road and track.
In its day the OE-Type 30-98 displayed exceptional performance with 112hp extracted from its 4224cc engine. There were drawbacks though that made the 30-98 a challenge to drive despite its exceptional speed.
These included a centre throttle, extremely heavy flywheel and extremely weak brakes. So a big dose of bravery was handy.
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part I – Vauxhall’s first car
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part II – Britain’s first racecar
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part IV – The H-Type Ten-Four
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part V – The Cresta
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part VI – The XVR Concept
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part VII – The Firenza HP DroopSnoot
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part VIII – Vauxhall’s first hot hatch
Vauxhall Through the Ages: Part X – The Australian finale
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