This is a story about a dirty non-descript heap of car parts which had appeared in a giant auction at Kyneton, Victoria, Australia in 1980. They attracted some considerable attention from veteran and vintage car enthusiast, John Ellis and others because they were described as Prince Henry Vauxhall parts. Ellis knew that the Edwardian Prince Henry Vauxhall cars were highly prized but further to this, he had been alerted that this “… was a very special car…”1. At the sale, the collection of parts failed to reach the reserve price and were not sold.
After considerable negotiation with the owner, Ellis finally bought the parts in 1981 and brought them home in 1982. Then began a journey of discovery to identify what they were, and why there was an aura of importance attached to them.
Ellis had the parts sandblasted and then noticed stamped numbers on some of them. After an interpolation of the Vauxhall Motors Erecting Shop Records document, he was able to ascertain that he was the owner of the remains of engine C10.2. and chassis A11-517 with a Manufacture Date of 8/11/19112. It appeared that the car was prepared by Vauxhall Motors for sale in the Colonies.
There are many dimensions to this story, and the first is the history of engine C10.2., in the U.K. and Europe (1910-1912) followed by the history of the car (with engine C10.2. in chassis A11-517) in Australia (1912-1913), bought by wealthy Australian industrialist, H.V McKay. Following a newspaper report of a car accident while McKay was driving the car3, the story continues with little information about the ownership of the car or parts from 1913 to about 1959.
From 1982, Ellis started to source period appropriate parts, had some parts made to period specifications and with assistance from others, designed and built both a radiator and replica of the Russian Reliability Trial body in the early 2000’s.
As he learned more about the parts, Ellis provided information to further support the strong likelihood that his car is the remains of the reconditioned Russian Reliability Trial car which was built up by Vauxhall Motors as an ‘assembly shop’ Prince Henry Vauxhall for sale to a ‘Colonial’ customer.
But before the customer took the car, Vauxhall temporarily removed the C10.2. competition engine for use in just one more competition vehicle, a new Prince Henry Vauxhall for the Swedish Winter Trial of 1912. Following return from that Trial, the engine was again checked over, tidied up and reinstalled in the waiting A11-517 chassis for delivery to McKay.
The last part of the story covers the transformation of the original dusty heap of parts into a wonderful complete restoration of the car as a replica of the Russian Reliability Trial car, which includes the “mortal remains” of Vauxhall Motors 1910 20hp engine C10.2 and chassis A11-517.4