Provedance Hypothesis

In 1910, the Vauxhall works competition group built three specially modified 3-litre 20hp engines, installing them in modified A.09 frames, fitted with a distinctive wind cutting radiator design specifically for that year’s Prince Henry Trial in Prussia/Germany. The cars departed the UK for Germany on 21st May 1910. One of the cars was fitted with the engine identified as C10.2..[1]

On return to the Vauxhall works in Luton, all three competition cars that took part in the ‘Prince Henry Trial’ were soon stripped and re-bodied as single seater racing cars fitted to further modified A.09 frames in order to be used in the event known as the O’Gorman Trophy, run at Brooklands on October 5th, 1910. These cars had shortened radiators that were uniquely installed at 90° to the direction of travel. The car allocated to Vauxhall’s driver Jock Hancock was fitted with engine C10.2.,[2] and won the White and Poppe Handicap

Trophy. Then on October 26th, the Vauxhall works competition group returned to Brooklands with the same car, and with it, Hancock broke the highly coveted 1/2 mile world record for the 20hp class, averaging 100.083 mph.

Early in 1911, Percy Kidner, Vauxhall’s Managing Director entered one car in the Imperial Russian Automobile Club’s Reliability Trial to be run between September 17th and 25th. The doorless car was built on a modified Vauxhall

A.11 frame and fitted with a tuned 20hp engine, described as “identical to the famous BROOKLANDS 100 mph record breaker” engine, with it most likely being the same actual C10.2. engine.[3]

For 1912 Kidner entered two Vauxhalls in the Great Winter Reliability Trial of the Royal Swedish Automobile Club, run in February of that year. For this event, Kidner’s car was one of the newly released models now identified as Prince Henry Vauxhall. The ageing engine C10.2. from Hancock’s record breaking 100 mph single seater was installed in the car for the event.[4]

So, by way of all the above information and period photographs gleaned from Vauxhall historian, Nic Portway’s definitive volumes on Vauxhall history, titled ‘VAUXHALL CARS 1903-1918’, published in 2006, it is apparent that the 1910 20hp engine identified as C10.2. was a busy competition engine used in both Europe and the UK, in numerous cars over almost two years by the Vauxhall Motors, Ltd. motorsport group. The old ‘grandfather’s axe’ paradox, as most of us know it, applies to the C10.2. engine as it does with all other well used competition engines. That is, during its life, following various modifications and repairs the engine remains identified as C10.2., even though many original components have been upgraded or replaced at least once during its life. It does always continue to be known as the same C10.2. engine.

By 1910, Australia’s very successful 45 year old industrialist, Mr. H.V. (Hugh Victor) McKay was one of its wealthiest individuals.[5] He was owner of the Sunshine Harvester Works which at the time employed more than one thousand five hundred workers. He was soon, in mid year 1911, to acquire an Australian based Vauxhall importing and distributing business, immediately renaming it as Sunshine Motors Pty. Ltd.[6]

In April 1910, he and his wife arrived in England for a six month tour of the UK and Europe.[7] The prime objective for McKay’s visit was to follow up on work already done in planning to manufacture his harvesting and associated rural equipment in the UK[8], with the plan to keep the Australian based concern operating to manufacture for the Australian market. The UK plan was to manufacture equipment for distribution to all his existing and future international markets, including South America and Russia. His view was that manufacturing in Australia was going to be very difficult and costly given the impending union labour strife that he foresaw.

McKay had already been negotiating or having discussions with well chosen manufacturing firms in the UK, those who might make suitable partners in the manufacture of his Sunshine equipment. One of those firms was Vauxhall Motors Ltd, already having had lengthy communication on the subject directly through the managing director, Percy Kidner.

Soon after arrival in the UK one of McKay’s first visits was to meet with Mr Kidner. During the visit, and not related to the harvester manufacturing business discussions, but certainly of general interest to him were the competition Vauxhalls that he was shown. Mr Kidner talked him through the work of preparation for the three Prince Henry Trial cars that were almost ready for shipment to Prussia/Germany for the event which was imminent. McKay was suitably impressed with the cars and the vehicle manufacturing operation. This and further exposure to the competition Vauxhalls would certainly have influenced his decision to acquire the car business back in Australia.

Later during his six month tour, he was again visiting Vauxhall Motors Limited where he was pleased to see the successful Prince Henry Trial cars back in the competition shop being stripped and prepared for the Brooklands O’Gorman Trophy event. There was also talk of the proposed future Vauxhall world record attempts for the 100mph speed/distance events. In addition, he was shown the successful 3-litre 20hp competition engines, with C10.1, C10.2 and C10.3 being prepared for the next event.

Both McKay and his wife became firm friends of Mr. and Mrs. Kidner during their lengthy UK visit. They arrived back in Australia in the last few days of September 1910.

Just one month later Kidner advised McKay of the success Vauxhall had had in securing the 100mph half mile world record for 20hp class vehicles, with Jock Hancock at the wheel behind the powerful C10.2. engine.

Then, three and a half months later in Australia on the 17th February 1911, McKay’s Sunshine Harvester workers went on strike for a period of three months. On February 24th McKay despatched a cablegram advising that UK Sunshine Harvester manufacture was now going ahead.[9] He also advised that he had purchased industrial property in the UK and was to build a factory in that country to establish UK manufacturing.[10] On May 12th it was announced that the strike had been settled, and the men returned to work. It transpired that the strike had not been over wages, but instead about non-union labour.

On July 13th 1911, the general press announced that McKay had purchased a motoring business in Melbourne dealing in Vauxhall cars, and from the 1st of July had renamed it Sunshine Motors. Percy Kidner had previously advised McKay that a new model Vauxhall was in the pipeline, and it was to be known as the Prince Henry Vauxhall model. McKay immediately put up his hand wanting one of the cars as soon as possible following his July acquisition of the Melbourne dealership. Then he advised Kidner that he and his wife were to again visit the UK and Europe for an extended period from December 1911 through to September 1912, during which time he planned visiting Russia in relation to his Sunshine Harvester business.

[11] In the meantime, Kidner had allocated the new Prince Henry Vauxhall C10-517 to Sunshine Motors, and for expediency, planned to build it incorporating his virtually new ex-Russian Trial car chassis frame and most of its running gear. McKay was in agreement, but requested that it also have the competition C10.2. engine installed. It had been McKay’s hope that he could take delivery of the car on arrival in the UK for use during his visit, following which he would take it back to Australia. However, Kidner and the Vauxhall competition shop wanted the engine C10.2. to be used in a works competition car for the forthcoming Great Winter Reliability Trial of the Royal Swedish Automobile Club, run in February 1912. So, on the return of the competing vehicles to Luton from Sweden, the engine was given a tidy up, and then installed in PHV C10-517 with the car being handed over to Hugh McKay in April 1912.

On the UK departure of McKay and his wife, for their return to Australia, they took the PHV C10-517 car (fitted with engine C10.2.) with them, arriving in Perth’s port of Fremantle on September 4th 1912.

Come the 3rd of March 1913, the first press announcement appeared  advising that  Mr. H.V. McKay was standing for the electoral seat of Ballarat in the approaching Australian Federal Election. During his election campaign he often used the PHV for private transport throughout the rural electorate. On failing to win the seat in the election, McKay returned to his normal active life, which then included taking part in his first club hillclimb competition using the PHV C10-517 and winning the event.[12]

With the 1912 appearance of Vauxhall’s 4-litre Prince Henry at Luton and the 1913 Higginson 30-98  prototype  engines,  and  with  their i m m e d i a t e s u c c e s s f u l  m o t o r s p o r t involvement, any interest back at Vauxhall Motors for continuing to use the old 20hp engines in competition events evaporated almost immediately.[13] As a consequence, all references to the special racing C10.2. 20hp engine and its brothers of 1910 ceased, even though the works competition group still had a number of 20hp competition engines and numerous competition parts on hand at their Luton workshop.[14]

Seventy years later, in 1982, the C10.2. engine number reappeared, but this time it was in Australia. This has given rise to the Ellis PHV car story which is a strong hypothesis. It continues here with the knowledge that the camshaft from the Vauxhall Works original C10.2. 100mph record breaking racing engine

and the original A11-517 numbered clutch drum from the C10-517 Prince Henry Vauxhall car, both came with the vehicle components purchased by John Ellis in 1982.[14]

Twenty years later in December 2002, John wrote the following to UK based, Dr. Alisdaire Lockhart … “My car is referred to as C10-517 in the A11 Running Shop Records. It’s correlation with C10.2 is from physical evidence.” The Vauxhall Works ‘Erecting or Running Shop Records’, a recognised confusing document,[15] contains the following information relating to the ELLIS car.

(also see pg. 11 below) …

Car number… C10–517 Engine number… 517 Engine bore… 90 mm Engine stroke… 120 mm Petrol supply… G (gravity) Magneto make… Bosch

Carburetor make… W&P 40mm Brake diameter… 12”

Size of tire… 880 X120 Rear axle ratio… 16.62

Date of manufacture… 8.11.11

Luckily, back in 1912 there was still a good degree of interest being shown for 20hp Vauxhall competition components by eager motorsport oriented individuals in Australia and New Zealand. As a result, some competition Prince Henry performance cars and parts were sold and shipped to the likes of W.B. (Wally) Scott in Christchurch,[16] NZ and others in AUS. Wally was wanting to continue his motorsport activity by still using a Vauxhall car, and so negotiated with Vauxhall (UK) for the December 1912 acquisition of one of the works Coupé de L’ Auto racing cars. Prior to that in 1911 and as already noted, H.V. McKay had negotiated separately and quietly with Luton to purchase his new model PHV car fitted with the old and much revered 100mph record breaking engine C10.2.. Hugh’s intention was to use the outwardly standard 1911 PHV car, fitted with the highly modified 1910 C10.2. engine, both on the road and in competitive hillclimb events. He wanted to promote Vauxhall cars in Australia and to enjoy his involvement in such activity, without actually disclosing the provenance of the non-standard record breaking competition engine installed in it.

As recorded above, McKay competed in his first motorsport hillclimb, it being held on Saturday 13th September 1913 at Wheeler’s Hill. With 78 cars competing and to be decided on formulae, he was successful in winning the event in his special PHV. That was the first and unfortunately the last competition event for the C10.2. engine and the C10-517 car, in Australia or anywhere.

Two and a half months after the Wheeler’s Hill competition, on the afternoon of Monday 1st December 1913, the C10.2. powered PHV C10-517 driven by Hugh McKay, along with his brother Samuel McKay and a chauffeur as passengers, crashed at speed and overturned on a main country road in central Victoria.[17] They were on a Sunshine Harvester Works business trip and had departed Melbourne at about half-past 1 o’clock in an attempt to dash nearly 300 km north across Victoria to the town of Berrigan in New South Wales. As the intention was to arrive before sundown, Hugh McKay had taken the wheel so that they might speed safely along the country roads.

Two hours later and adjacent the town of Mangalore, travelling at high speed on a relatively long straight road, the C10.2. engine blew up and destroyed itself. In the process, McKay lost control of the car and ran off the road where it rolled over, landing upside down, in a damaged state and with the occupants thrown clear. Fortunately no serious injuries were sustained by the three men other than a number of fractures to one of Sam McKay’s arms. The car however received a bent front axle, damaged wheels, radiator and s ide l amps, destroyed windscreen and hood, bent steering column and steering wheel. The body was twisted, the running boards damaged and the chassis bent.

A policeman visiting the Mangalore area and a local grazier were co-opted to right the vehicle and drag it with the aid of a team of horses to a place out of sight in a nearby paddock. Hugh and his passengers were taken south to the larger town of Seymour for medical treatment and an overnight stay, returning the following day to Melbourne. The C10.2. PHV was collected from the Mangalore area paddock during the week, being loaded onto a McKay owned Daimler flattop truck and taken to his rural property at Mount Macedon, about 100 km distant. There the car was offloaded and stored out of the weather under a lean-to shed alongside one of the large farm hay sheds.

McKay was 48 years old at the time, and during the same week of his crash he provided his favourite Melbourne newspaper, the Argus, with a spurious cock and bull story about the C10.2. PHV crash and rollover. He led them to believe that, in spite of the crash on Monday, he was still intending to use that same PHV car in just a few days time in the forthcoming Saturday 6th December 1913 Wildwood Hill Climb (see pg. 10 below). Then at that event, McKay actually won the ‘CLOSED EVENT Class B’ category in a PHV with a time of 1’ 23¾”. The winner of the ‘OPEN EVENT Class B’ was a Mr. P. A. Coxon who also drove a PHV, but recorded the much faster time of 1’ 15”, some nine seconds quicker than McKay. This clearly points to the fact that McKay had not competed using his quick C10.2. engined C10-517 Prince Henry which would have shown a faster time than that achieved by Mr. Coxon.[18]

The Argus newspaper, strangely, even published the exact same spurious PHV crash story twice within the same week which was most unusual.

After McKay’s crash, the damaged car was purposely hidden at his Mount Macedon rural property from the general public and any possible future new PHV purchasing customers, as he did not wish to have the Vauxhall product sullied with the news of both the destruction of the engine in the rolled PHV, nor the rollover damage done to the car. So, the C10.2. engined PHV was then out of sight and out of mind on McKay’s farm property. It was possibly in the ‘too hard basket’, as vehicles from Vauxhall were then changing and also WWI was approaching.

On Mon 25 Apr 1914, Hugh competed in another Wildwood Hill Climb. He gained 12th place in the ‘Chassis Competition’ class using a 25hp PHV.[19] This event was to be McKay’s third and last competition in a PHV.

Twenty five years later in the first week of January 1939, the so-named ‘Black Friday Bushfires’ were out of control and affecting around 75% of the state of Victoria including Mount Macedon, burning 4,900,000 acres.[20] One of the fires swept into and past the late Hugh McKay’s property destroying the timber and fabric remains of the crashed and forgotten C10.2/C10-517 PHV car, still stored under its lean-to shed. Quite soon after that disaster the Australian Government were promoting the community collection of scrap metal across the whole country in order to supply what was required for the WWII effort. Aluminium was easy to collect and carry by individuals and much sought after. As a result, the castings, body panels and numerous other aluminium components of the C10.2. engine and PHV were disassembled, collected and given to the scrap collection movement.

The second oldest veteran car club in the world is the Sporting Car Club of South Australia (SCCSA), based in Adelaide. It was formed in January 1934. A very early member and also active motorsport participant was Laurie Vinall, who competed in the 1938 South Australian Grand Prix driving his Vauxhall 30-98.

In 1980, Laurie contacted another member of the SCCSA, a youngish 37 year old John Ellis, advising him of an auction of a very important collection of A.11 and Prince Henry Vauxhall components that was soon to take place.[21] John, being a ‘go getter’ and with a strong interest in veteran and vintage Vauxhalls was immediately enthused. John’s involvement in motorsport was also strong, having unbelievably, nine years earlier at the age of only 28, been the racing manager for the successful Chrysler Australia national touring car racing team. He was the youngest person to have been placed in such a position in Australia, and possibly the world, and it probably remains so.[22]

After the news from Mr. Vinall, John leapt excitedly from his South Australian base, to cross the state border into Victoria and attend the auction of the Ivan Smith Vauxhall bits scheduled for Saturday, 2nd Feb 1980. It was being conducted in the rural town of Kyneton, 667 km from Adelaide, 87 km NNW of Melbourne, and just 28 km from the old H.V. McKay rural property at Mount Macedon. The parts were identified on a typed pre-auction promotional page as item or lot #3 as follows, “VAUXHALL Prince Henry or ‘A’ type chassis, front and rear axles and wheels and Gear Box (9’ 6” wheelbase)”. Ellis was the highest bidder on all the parts that day, but unfortunately did not meet the reserve price. Two years later in 1982, after regular bartering with the owner of the parts, he was successful in purchasing all the veteran Vauxhall components. Very soon after purchasing, John returned to the auction site with an Adelaide friend in a large tray top International truck. The many Vauxhall components, including the chassis, front and rear axles, wire wheels, engine components, gearboxes etc. were loaded and carted home to South Australia.

The parts were then closely examined and John noted in a 1984 letter to a friend, the following component markings … A11-517 on clutch drum, 517 on both headlamp brackets, C10.2. on camshaft, A11.98 on gearbox, A11/5P 16:62 on rear axle case and T486 on a bent front axle and one stub axle. He also advised… “One con rod is missing and one of the three survivors is bent. These rods are very severely lightened to the point where nearly all the web is drilled away and the bolt bosses are cut away so that the caps sit on about a 1 mm wide land.

… The front of the chassis frame, from the end spring fitting to the radiator crossmember, is double thickness, while there is evidence of the front spring rear hanger bracket having been moved back. The original holes were tapped and a new piece of plate screwed in and locked.

… There is virtually no wear on any chassis components of my car, even down to spring shackles and the face of the pedals. It would seem that it only enjoyed a short life before the engine blew up.”

The three unmarked 90mm pistons each of which were attached to a 253mm con rod, were no doubt from the 1910 C10.2. competition engine. The con rods are definitely not of standard Vauxhall 20hp specification, each having been drilled with ten varying sized holes to no doubt achieve a high degree of lightness.

The bent con rod is now missing from the collection, but two still remain in the Ellis parts bin. From that time, John was ever vigilant in his search for A11 and Prince Henry Vauxhall components, managing over time to acquire quite a few from collectors in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, including a complete restored A11 from Queensland that he sold on to a friend.

The C10.2. engine camshaft is damaged and the restoration decision was made to have it copied. This left the original camshaft, along with the two remaining lightened piston/con rods for mounting in a wall hanging frame for displaying in a prominent place in the office.

John spent numerous hours over many years attempting to find Vauxhall historical information that would enable him to identify what he actually had. Unfortunately, in the early days of Vauxhall, the company had not been at all professional with their factory output documentation records. The records that do exist from the pre-WWI period are very confusing.

During John’s search he was able to form a friendship with Nic Portway in the UK. Nic wrote the following in 2003, for his small group of Vauxhall comrades, before in 2006 publishing his wonderful set of two books on the history of Vauxhalls through to the end of WWI. Nic’s observation was as follows … “In doing what I have done, I have tried to use original source material, rather than going and looking at surviving cars. I believe that almost all the C.10 remains have been mucked about with in some way between their conception and the present, quite a number of them in the first month or two of their life, before they left UK. There is practically nothing that exists today which represents what Vauxhalls produced in its truly original form. There is the added complication that most of the remains are in Australia, which firstly is difficult for me to get to and secondly was used by Vauxhalls as a disposal ground for works cars of various kinds and oddballs, all hidden amongst the normal production models. Add to that the coming of so-called ‘Colonial’ models, ‘C’s with ‘D’ chassis etc., and the picture is very complicated”. Those words were and are most likely still Mr. Portway’s view, as the pre-eminent early Vauxhall historian on the planet. Portway believes that the Ellis car has the “mortal remains” of C10.2..

In personal communication, Nic Portway, wrote the following to John’s wife, Mrs. Marjorie Ellis in 2019 … “Regarding the car which you call A.11.517, I believe that John had the mortal remains of this car, and had added other bits from a variety of sources to complete the vehicle. With these Vauxhalls, very few components were marked with the chassis numbers, so it is well nigh impossible to be sure of the sources of parts. Another factor comes into play here, the ‘C’ type Prince Henry cars were drawn from the production of A.11 cars and built up to the higher specification Prince Henrys, and were often known by both their ‘A’ type and ‘C’ type numbers, all rather confusing. Amongst the parts which John acquired was the camshaft marked C10.2., undoubtedly from the engine of one of the first three Prince Henrys built. Vauxhalls would build up a car for a particular competition in those days and the way in which individual engines were used, was not recorded in any way that we know of. There is no doubt, however that parts of the first three Prince Henrys were used in other competition cars, and this goes a little way to explain how this particular camshaft found its way to Australia, presumedly in another sporting Prince Henry. Which car, one can only guess, but probably one destined for competition work”.[1]

John Ellis decided to identify the vehicle he was building from the wonderful collection of parts, as a 1911 Vauxhall Car No. A.11.517 with Motor No. C.10.2.. Not only was such identification needed by government for current car registration and road use purposes, but he believed that his car should be linked to its motor competition past.

A replacement engine crankcase/sump sourced from Queensland, and a new timing gear cover cast in the UK, were both numbered by John in the traditional Vauxhall fashion. He also thought it best to build the car in the style of the Percy Kidner driven competition car used by the Vauxhall Works in the 1911 Imperial Russian Automobile Club’s Reliability Trial, a car that it may actually have originally evolved from. That Kidner car was the last identified formally, as using the engine C10.2.. John wanted to make use of as many of his original Kyneton auction sourced parts as possible. The bent front axle, numbered T486, was professionally straightened and reused for the rebuild. He did not want to build the car as a replica of H.V. McKay’s promotional PHV marketing sports car, the car supplied by Vauxhall and imported to Australia in 1913, fitted with engine C10.2., and crashed soon after in the same year.

Mr. Portway wrote the following in a personal communication with Mr. Ralston Rainsford in 2019 … “John had acquired a large number of Vauxhall components of the period, and the mortal remains of A11–517. He had also owned for a long time the camshaft marked C10.2., which came from one of the original 1910 Prince Henry Trial cars, actually the one driven by Hancock. This car was extensively altered by the works for use in competition and carried at least three different bodies before it even left England for a life in Australia. As a 40 mm W&P carburettor is amongst the parts inherited by John, it seems to me highly possible that the car, as imported into Australia, was fitted with this instrument. Using a 40mm carburetor such as this was a normal modification to the standard engine carried out by Vauxhalls on these cars for competition, but as far as I know they were never fitted to normal Prince Henrys supplied to customers”.[23]

The building and restoration of the Ellis Vauxhall in a style similar to the Percy Kidner 1911 Russian Reliability Trial car has been very competently undertaken by Mr. David Ford of the professional restoration company B A R RY F O R D & S O N S P T Y  LT D i n Queensland. On final road testing, David was moved to comment that the car performs as well as, if not better than the majority of 30-98 Vauxhalls that he has driven.