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In 1857 Alexander Wilson formed an engineering company on the Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London. The company, named Alexander Wilson & Co manufactured a range of steam engines for the navy and river pleasure boats.

In 1892 the company turned its attention to the new internal combustion engines. In 1896, the company was renamed 'The Vauxhall Ironworks' and went on to develop a single cylinder petrol engine which was fitted to a river pleasure boat. In 1903 Vauxhall's history in motorcar production began.

This first motorcar (the 5hp) was rigged with tiller steering, a hand-pull throttle, chain driven, coil spring suspension and two forward gears with no reverse.

The workforce of around 300 produced 43 motorcars in a 14-month production run. In 1905 the company moved to its now familiar site in Luton, although the company were severely restricted in terms of space at the old London site, the move was primarily the result of problems with the lease that could not be resolved on their old Wandsworth Road plant.

The first car to be produced in 1905, at Luton was the 7/9hp, 1300cc, 3-cylinder, however it went out of production almost immediately being very much underpowered.

Vauxhall called their 30/98 a 'fast tourer' but to discerning enthusiasts it was a sports car, a first class one. Successful at sprints and hill-climbs and at Brooklands, it was Britain's fastest sports car.

In 1925 Vauxhall agreed to sell the company to the American automobile manufacturers General Motors, this would be the first American company to produce cars on British soil, and indeed in Europe. The first key sign to be seen in the shift in ownership was clear when the 17hp VY Cadet was launched at the 1930 London Motor Show. This six-cylinder car was firmly grouped in the affordable motoring reach of ordinary people. The VY had a 2048cc rubber mounted pushrod engine and a three-speed gearbox.

In 1932 the gearbox was upgraded, and beat Rolls-Royce to become the first British motorcar to provide synchromesh in second and third gear.

In the mid-30's Vauxhall embarked on an ambitious investment programme to produce a car in numbers for the least possible price, around £1.2 million was invested in tooling. By 1937 the car was launched at the London motor show, the H-type, Vauxhall's initiative paid off, over 12000 cars were sold in the first 10 months, at a cost of £170 each, the company struggled to keep up with demand. With their initial investment doubled and still with the new modern tooling of course, the future looked financially secure.

The Lotus Carlton is derived from Vauxhalls top of the range - in itself a fast and comfortable 5-seater.
The Vauxhall Lotus Carlton is a product of General Motors 1986-94 ownership of Lotus, GM had bought Lotus for Lotus Engineering rather than the low-volume production side and the Lotus Carlton was a flagship for engineering ability as for the Vauxhall range.
Despite its GM ownership, Lotus Engineering was a facility that also worked for other constructors once they were convinced that GM did not have access to the classified files, the Lotus Carlton was shown what could be done. At the time of introduction in 1990 the Lotus Carlton cost £48,000 while the 3.0 litre 24V GSi on which it was based cost a mere £25,000. The Lotus Carlton has twin turbochargers and increased cylinder capacity to 3640. The result was 375bhp@5200 rpm ; 0-60 mph in just over 5 seconds and a top speed of 175 mph; at the time for a true 'for sale production car' the fastest 4dr saloon in the world, I believe the record still holds to this day.

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