Can we have a little chat about the Vauxhall 10/4?

[egg]

I'm not in a place to buy a car right now, but I've been reading a bit about the Vauxhall 10/4 'H type' - and really - this is a vehicle I've overlooked before as a sensible* pre-war car.

http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-h---ten-four

Let's have a look at those specs:

- Monocoque construction
- OHV rather than side valve
- Hydraulic drum brakes
- independent front suspension
- only 3 gears, but syncro on 2nd and 3rd
- 40mpg in period
- Deluxe spec available which adds some nice extras including leather seats etc.
- available in a few colours other than black!
- they made 42,000 pre-war alone - so they aren't rare.

Downsides might be unadventurous styling, I don't know what parts and club support is like.

Production carried on after the war so they are available into the 40's as well. I hadn't realised that Vauxhall had produced such a technical 'tour de force' for a small family car. Pre-war Vauxhalls aren't shit?

Any views or experience just to further my understanding of the model?

[captain_70s]

Vauxhall at the time was a premium brand and I think they really leaned into it still being a premium product at a smaller scale.

[Mr Pastry]

I've always thought these had a good specification on paper- decent mechanicals and quite ahead of their time, but they seem to be unloved.  It's difficult to assess how they were viewed in period, as contemporary road tests were usually very bland, and of course they weren't really British so couldn't be any good.  Somebody on here I think had one, but didn't speak highly of it iirc.   I should think parts supply would be very difficult now.  And they did, and presumably still do, rot.    

[egg]

19 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Somebody on here I think had one, but didn't speak highly of it iirc. 

Thanks for that - seems like it was @wuvvum?

[egg]

This one is up for £3,750 but sold at auction for less a month ago.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/343274665340655/

[Mr Pastry]

The front suspension is interesting:

[RayMK]

I can't remember seeing many of these around when I was a kid in the 1950s.  Grandad's L type was also a rare sight.  I did read about the 10/4's front suspension when I was in my Meccano phase - always have been a bit of a suspension fanatic and back then would 'invent' my own types, only to discover that it had been done before.  The pseudo Dubonnet front suspension on the 10/4 was certainly novel.  It did not work well in Meccano.

 I've just seen @Mr Pastry's posts!  He is right to point out that finding replacement parts will be tricky and not very easy to reproduce either.

[High Jetter]

It's a new one on me, not that 'Popular'

[catsinthewelder]

Steph's just tested the next one up.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iIELV7mh3r0

[egg]

1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

Steph's just tested the next one up.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iIELV7mh3r0

yes, that video and the 10/4's for sale recently made me start the thread. Only 10,000 12/4's - so it's four times rarer, but otherwise just seems a scaled up version of the 10/4.

[Rocket88]

I ran one of these as a daily…. Brilliant things

[24vdiamond]

Good little motors for the time, bit of niche market which should make them cheap, the Vauxhall Owners Club 1903-1957 would be the place to join for spares/support

[SEATMad]

One thing to say about it, its defiantly different and you'll stand out at classic shows. Maybe in the future you should do it! 

[artdjones]

Coincidentally,I dug out some old copies of Classic and Sportscar last week and one of the articles was a comparison between a Vauxhall 10 as above and a Morris M type 10. The Morris was pretty tired in the suspension department, so didn't handle as well as the Vauxhall, but really scored in having a 4 speed gearbox rather than the Vauxhall's 3.