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From Hendon to Hurlingham - The 20-60 Story Following the purchase of Vauxhall by General Motors, Vauxhall had to endure a high degree of hostility to the GM takeover. In an era where the motoring press was seldom to venture any strong opinions for fear of upsetting the manufacturers and their advertising revenues, The Motor and Autocar were particularly critical of what they saw as a “sell-out to the Yanks”. Their suspicions were fuelled by the fact that Vauxhall cars were now distributed by General Motors Hendon, although still manufactured at Luton. This press criticism coincided with the appointment of university educated Arthur Francis Palmer Phillips as sales director at Vauxhall. Phillips, who went on to serve for over twenty years, decided to take on the press and operated a campaign of non-cooperation and reduced advertising spend in the offending magazines. He also dedicated a whole page in each catalogue to explain the new sales set-up. Such adverts that did appear carried the slogan “British & Vauxhall” and emphasised the fact that Vauxhalls used 97% British material and were built by British workmen. Phillips stood his ground when lesser men might have backed down and eventually won the press back on Vauxhall’s side. A side effect of this stand-off is a dearth of road tests for Vauxhall models in this period. The car that was to bridge Vauxhall from its engineering led past to its mass-production future was the 6-cylinder 20-60, which replaced all prior models. and fell somewhere between the 14-40 and 23-60 in price, the lower end of the luxury market. Vauxhall’s first 6 cylinder since 1915, it was offered with a wide range of catalogued body variants from short wheelbase tourers to a long wheelbase limousine. It went through four iterations, R, T, T-80 and “Silent 80”, starting in 1927 and finishing in 1932. In that time the 20-60 engine was increased in size three times, but not always to coincide with a designation change. The R-Type started life with a 2.7 litre engine and received a 2.9 litre version in 1929 which was carried over into the T-Type. The T-80 featured a 3.3 litre engine, the 80 referring to the bore size. The last manifestation of the line was the “Silent 80”, so-called because it featured a new gearbox with a constant mesh third gear. Very much an interim design, the cars were a curious cultural mix. The R-type has obvious US design influence but appears to be a totally Vauxhall engineered job with many obvious Vauxhall design elements like the rugged C.E. King designed overhead valve engine. It also had complex, expensive, but, at last on a Vauxhall, an effective coupled braking system. This cable operated layout utilised no less than 132 separate components between brake pedal and shoe and featured a drilled king pin in which the operating rod pushed on cams and knife edge applicators which in turn pushed out the shoes. This system did not originate in Detroit!  That it worked and at last buried Vauxhall’s reputation for indifferent brakes can be born out by today’s MOT testers. The gearbox up to the introduction of the “Silent 80” was basically the same unit as used in the 23-60 and 30-98. However, the top cover was modified to take a central ball type gear shift lever as opposed to the older car’s traditional gated right hand lever.  One piece of more obvious US influence introduced on the R-Type was a standard radiator cap “mascot” in the form of an art deco bird. In the twenties most cars were produced with a plain radiator cap but it became fashionable to adorn this otherwise functional part of the car with elaborate mascots. Many Vauxhalls were fitted with a splendid upright griffin facing forward, unlike the “over the shoulder” pose in the Vauxhall badge. Presumably it would look silly if it faced backwards when mounted on the prow of a sporty car! In 1927 Vauxhall body designer Arthur Bracher was asked to design a contemporary mascot and he delivered a stylised bird / aeroplane composition which became known as the Speedbird. Produced in various sizes they appeared on all Vauxhalls until 1935, long after the disappearance of the radiator cap under the bonnet. Further “rocket ship” styled variants on the theme appeared as bonnet emblems until the end of E-Type production in 1957. It is believed that the speedbird symbol adopted after the war by BOAC (forerunner of British Airways) was based on the Vauxhall design. The T-Type was introduced for the 1930 model year and showed more in the way of direct US influence with an AC mechanical fuel pump replacing the Autovac, increased crankshaft bearing area, longer springs with revised shackle mountings, a better braced chassis, Hardy Spicer universal joints and Lovejoy hydraulic shock absorbers replacing the Hartford friction type. Luvax-Bijur central chassis lubrication took care of the 1000 mile service while on the move by delivering lubricant to 27 chassis points, apparently in precisely measured dollops due to varying delivery pipe bores. Never press the pedal on your own driveway! The T-Type was also the last Vauxhall to have a central accelerator pedal layout, the T-80 moving to today’s conventional layout. Chromium plating was introduced for the exterior brightwork and two new variants announced: the Hurlingham roadster and the Kingston sportsman’s coupe. The latter were used as company transport by William Lyons and his partner in the early days of the Swallow Sidecar Company and became the direct styling inspiration for the first SS sports car range which formed the foundations of today’s Jaguar legend. The Hurlingham roadster was Vauxhall’s last attempt at a semi-sporting car until the Viva GT of the sixties and had echoes of the boat bodied 30-98 Wensum, although being based on a near “cooking” chassis it looked a little awkward from some angles compared to its illustrious forebear. Perhaps as a reward for the Motor magazine previewing the T-Type range favourably in October 1929, Vauxhall advertised the Hurlingham in the Motor on December 3rd 1929, referring to it as the Hurlingham 2-seater, suggesting that the single dickey, rumble or “mother-in-law” seat situated in the tail was not intended to be used as a true third seat, something with which anyone foolish enough to sit in it today would readily agree. The advert also featured the latest of Phillips patriotic inventions, a Britannia figure with the legend “Pride of British”. Priced at £650 with its voluptuous boat type aluminium body resplendent with motorboat style scuttle vents, standard bolt-on wire wheels and twin V-screens, the Hurlingham represented good value by the standards of the day. The art deco detailing was superb, with a chrome strake on the scuttle that swooped up to form the central windscreen pillar. This line was then picked up in the cockpit by the shape of the seat back divider which merged into a central fin down to the tail of the car. On the down side it’s ridiculously difficult to get into for a 14 foot long, two seat car. The 20-60 chassis was also modified to create a Hurlingham. The catalogue talks about the car having “a higher back-axle ratio and is otherwise specially equipped to secure a higher speed performance.” In adverts a higher compression ratio is mentioned and experience indicates that the valve springs may also have been stronger whilst the road springs had fewer leaves to both reduce the height of the car a little and adjust the ride for the lighter bodywork. Nothing is known about the origin of the distinctive Hurlingham body as contemporary records have been destroyed, or at least not yet found. Plainly the body shape and roadster name is US inspired and it has been suggested that there was a contemporary Chevrolet body style of this type and that surplus bodies were shipped to General Motors Ltd at Hendon for fitting to Luton built 20-60 chassis. There is no evidence to support this and there is a further curiosity in that the Hurlingham was a Registered Design, no. 747777, held by Vauxhall. The body beyond the standard 20-60 bonnet and wings is aluminium and bears no body builder’s name or other identification. It has all the hallmarks of an in-house project, but which house and by who remains a mystery. Nor is it possible to be sure today how many Hurlinghams were produced. The total T and T-80 production was only 1796 and given that there are only around 25 surviving examples, maybe less than 50 were Hurlinghams. One T-80 that has survived in one-family ownership is campaigned by Nigel Irving at VSCC speed hill climb venues. Modified by his father to take two children in the dickey, the picture shows father, sister and dog and perhaps also illustrates why few Hurlinghams still have their original weather protection. The Hurlingham narrowly missed a far larger role in the history of motoring. Vauxhall were approached by racing car preparation firm of Fox and Nicholl, who up to 1930 ran the works Lagonda racing team at Le Mans and Brooklands. For 1930 Lagonda took the racing team in-house, leaving Arthur Fox to seek a quick replacement. His first choice was the newly launched Hurlingham. He requested three cars modified with twin carburettors and £200 towards the running of each car. Apparently, everyone at Vauxhall from C E King downward was enthusiastic but GM would not agree to the deal. Fox and Nicholl went to their second choice and the Fox and Nicholl Talbot 105 team cars became successful racers and sought after classic cars. © Ian Coomber 2006 Photographs courtesy of Ian Coomber and Vauxhall Motors.