The A-Type Vauxhall was a car manufactured by Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...

 from 1908 to 1915 with one more built in 1920. This was to be the first production Vauxhall

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...

 designed by Laurence Pomeroy

Laurence Pomeroy

Laurence Henry Pomeroy was an English automotive engineer.Laurence Pomeroy was born in London and after leaving school served as an apprentice with the North London Railway Company. From there he became a draughtsman with Thornycroft in Basingstoke before moving to Vauxhall Motors in Luton in...

: it became a highly acclaimed 3 litre of its day and at Brooklands

Brooklands

Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...

 on 26 October 1910, it became the first 20 hp car to exceed 100 mi/h of any make in the world.

Laurence Pomeroy had joined Vauxhall in 1907 as an assistant draughtsman at the age of twenty-two. He first made his mark at the 1908 RAC and Scottish Reliability Trial, held in June of that year. His first design, the Y-Type Y1, had outstanding success at the 1908 RAC and Scottish 2000 Mile Reliability Trials. Showing excellent hill climbing ability with an aggregate of 37 seconds less time in the hill climbs than any other car in its class and unparalleled speeds around the Brooklands circuit, the Vauxhall was so far ahead of all cars whatever class that the driver could relax, accomplishing the 200 miles (321.9 km) at an average speed of 46 mi/h, when the car was capable of 55 mi/h. The Y-Type went on to win class E of the Trial.

Such a success that the Y-Type was, that it was decided to put the car into production as the A09 car. This spawned the A-Type Vauxhall.

There were 4 distinct types produced between 27 October 1908 up to when mass production halted in 1914. One last A-Type was put together in 1920.

The Four Distinct versions - A09, A11, A12 and the 16/20 hp

The A09 and A11 were basically developments of the X Type with the Y Type Motor and converted to a four speed gearbox though some of the earliest A-Types had three Speed gearboxes from the X-Type. At least 70 of the first A-Types also retained the sheet copper sump from the X Type Engine. For the A12 there was a major revision of the chassis and for the 16/20 hp A-Type both Engine and chassis underwent major redesign.

The A Type featured a 3-litre forced lubrication side-valve monobloc engine

Monobloc engine

A monobloc or en bloc engine is an internal-combustion piston engine where some of the major components: cylinder head, cylinder block, or crankcase are formed, usually by casting, as a single integral unit, rather than being assembled later...

. The camshaft and magneto were driven by gear on the A09, A11, A12 and then for the 16/20 hp A-Type it was changed to a chain drive.

See the table below for more information.

	A09 Oct 1908 - Oct 1910	A11 Oct 1910 - Jun 1912	A12 Jun 1912 - Nov 1912	16/20 hp Nov 1912 - Oct 1920
Engine Size:	3 Litre 90x120	3 Litre 90x120	3 Litre 90x120 Some 3.5 Litre 95x120	3 Litre 90x120
Cam drive:	gear	gear	gear	chain
Carburettor: White & Poppe Zenith Claudel Hobson	30 mm - -	30 mm - -	30 mm 36 mm -	30 mm 36 mm 26 mm
Magneto:	Bosch D	Bosch D	Bosch D	Bosch D or Eisman EK4
Clutch:	cone	cone or multi-plate	multi-plate	multi-plate
Fuel supply:	gravity	gravity	gravity a few forced feed	forced feed
Brake drums:	12 inches (30.5 cm)	12 inches (30.5 cm)	12 inches (30.5 cm)	9 inches (22.9 cm)
Rear axle ratio:	1:2.95 to 1:4.13	1:3.65 or 1:3.875	1:3.65 or 1:3.875	1:3.875
Chassis length:	9 in 7 in (2,921 mm) or 10 in 3 in (3,124.2 mm)	9 in 7 in (2,921 mm) or 10 in 3 in (3,124.2 mm)	9 in 7 in (2,921 mm) or 10 in 3 in (3,124.2 mm)	9 in 9 in (2,971.8 mm)
Std Wheel size:	875x105	875x105	880x120	815x105
Chassis width: Front: Rear:	30 inches (76.2 cm) 36 inches (91.4 cm)	30 inches (76.2 cm) 36 inches (91.4 cm)	30 inches (76.2 cm) 36 inches (91.4 cm)	28 inches (71.1 cm) 34 inches (86.4 cm)
Sub frame	U section	U section	angle iron	angle iron
King pins:	vertical	vertical	inclined	inclined
Work Orders:	1770–1778	1803–1811	1811 & 1812	1813–1818
Production run:	253 cars	359 cars	57 cars and 21 as 3.5 litre	271 cars

Capable of up to 100 mi/h the A-Type Vauxhall was one of the most acclaimed 3-litre cars of its day, achieving many records for out-right speed and high speed endurance, within the 21 hp limit, as well as having had some parental involvement in the conception of both the Prince Henry

Vauxhall Prince Henry

The Vauxhall Prince Henry was a car manufactured by Vauxhall Motors from 1911 to 1914. It had a length of around and a weight of depending on the model and the coachwork fitted.-History:...

and the 30-98 hp Vauxhalls.

Less than two dozen survive today out of the 950 produced.

Model	Year	Chassis Number	Work Order	Engine Number	Gearbox Number	Steering Box Number	Radiator Number	Cooling	Petrol Supply G.Gravity F.Force	Magneto	Carburettor	Hand Brake Dia	Size of Tyre	Rear Axle Ratio	Date of Manufacture	Location	Status
A09	1908	A09.1	1770	A09.1				Thermo Syphon	G	Bosch D	W+P 30mm	12"	875x105	15-62	24-11-1908	Australia	Restored
A09	1909	A09.73	1771	A09.73				Thermo Syphon	G	Bosch D	W+P 30mm	12"	875x105	17-56	25-06-1909	England	Restored
A11	1911	A11.455	1808	A11.455				Thermo Syphon	F	Bosch D	W+P 30mm	12"	875x105	16-62	29-09-1911	Spain	Restored
A11	1911	A11.487	1808	A11.471				Thermo Syphon	G	Bosch D	W+P 30mm (Current Engine from A11.471 had Zenith 36mm)	12"	880x120	16-62	7-11-1911	Australia	Restored
A11	1911	A11.596	1811	A11.440				Thermo Syphon	F	Bosch D	W+P 30mm	12"	875x105	16-62	5-02-1912	Australia	Restored
A12	1912	A12.670	1812	A12.670				Thermo Syphon	G	Bosch D	Zenith 36mm	12"	875x105	16-62	23-08-1912	Australia	Restored
A12	1912	England	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
16/20 hp	1913	A13	1813	A8	N/A	N/A	N/A	Thermo Syphon	F	Eiseman EK4	Zenith 36mm	9"	815x105	16-62	6-03-1913	New Zealand	Unrestored
16/20 hp	1913	A35	1813	A31	121	1517	31	Pump	F	Eiseman EK4	Zenith 36mm	9"	880x120	16-62	26-06-1913	Australia	Under Restoration
16/20 hp	1913	A58	1814	A151	N/A	N/A	N/A	Thermo Syphon	F	Eiseman EK4	Zenith 36mm	9"	880x120	16-62	20-09-1913	Australia	Restored
16/20 hp	1914	A104	1816	A100	380	N/A	N/A	Thermo Syphon	F	Bosch ZR4	Zenith 36mm	9"	815x105	16-62	12-3-1914	New Zealand	Unrestored
16/20 hp	1914	A170	1818	A186	704	N/A	1601	N/A	N/A	N/A	Claudel Hobson 26mm	9"	N/A	15-62	01-12-1914	Australia	Restored
16/20 hp	1914	A198	1817	A192	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Bosch ZR4	Claudel Hobson 26mm	9"	815x105	16-62	24-11-1914	England	Restored
16/20 hp	1914	A207	1817	A197	N/A	N/A	N/A	Thermo Syphon	F	Eiseman EK4	Claudel Hobson 26mm	9"	880x120	16-62	8-12-1914	Australia	Unrestored
16/20 hp	1914	A210	1817	A207	N/A	N/A	N/A	Thermo Syphon	F	Bosch ZU4	Claudel Hobson 26mm	9"	875x105	16-62	23-10-1914	Australia	Restored
16/20 hp	1914	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Vauxhall Basic Chassis changes 1908-1914 -
The following list outlines some changes seen thoughout the A09, A11, A12 and 16/20 Production

Type	Date Range	Chassis Change Work Order	Car Number / Range of Car Numbers	Change
16/20	21-11-1912 - 02-10-1920	1813-1818		The 16/20... For the 16/20 A-Type Laurence Pomeroy introduced a completely new chassis design. With the first work order for 16/20 cars 1813 the chassis had changed quite considerably. The 16/20 A-Type Work Order 1813 Chassis was drawn up in May 1912 Drawing Number: No663-664 Drawing Date: 19-05-1912. The chassis narrowed at the front and rear to Front: 28 inches Rear: 34 inches.
		1813-1818		Sometime in 1913 the clutch, transmission brake and accelerator pedal design changed somewhat.
16/20	16-08-1913	1814		For the 1814 work order the chassis was redesigned again to
	20-09-1913 - onwards	1814	A58-A104	Sometime between A58 and A104 the support brackets for the running boards changed from a bracket secured by 2 large dome headed bolts to a bracket fixed with 4 smaller bolts. The newly designed brackets slowly were fitted as stocks diminished of the 2 bolt type.

Vauxhall Engine changes 1908-1914 -
The following list outlines some changes seen thoughout the A09, A11, A12 and 16/20 Production

Type	Date Range	Engine Change Work Order	Engine Number / Range of Engine Numbers	Change
A09	xx-xx-1908	1770-1778		The A09...
	24-11-1908 - 25-06-1909	1770-1771	A09.01-A09.73	Sometime between A09.1 and A09.73 the engine sump was changed from a sheet copper sump carried over from the X Type Engine to a Cast Alloy sump.
A11	xx-xx-1908	1803-1811		The A11...
A12	xx-xx-1908	1811-1812		The A12...
16/20	21-11-1912	1813-1818		The 16/20... For the 16/20 A-Type Laurence Pomeroy introduced a completely new engine design with a silent chain drive for the cam-shaft and magneto. The inlet manifold is now cast en bloc with the radiator cooling outlet pipe located at the front where the fan bolts on this was to allow a waterpump to be fitted if required.
	06-03-1913 - 26-06-1913	1813-1813	A8-A31	Sometime between Engine Numbers A8 and A31 the exhaust manifold gained cooling fins located along the top of the manifold.
	26-06-1913 - 12-03-1914	1813-1814	A31-A41	Sometime between Engine Numbers A41 and A100 the external oil level pot located on the side of the engine sump carried over from A09-A12 Production was deleted in favour of a redesigned sump integrating this feature.
	26-06-1913 - 12-03-1914	1813-1816	A31-A100	Sometime between Engine Numbers A31 and A100 the radiator outlet located around the fan on the engine block was relocated to the side of the block near the front under the inlet manifold.
	29-09-1913 - 12-03-1914	1813-1816	A41-A100	Sometime between Engine Numbers A41 and A100 the external oil feed line going to each main bearing in the crank case was deleted in favor of a oil gallery integral to the crank case.
	12-03-1914 - 05-05-1914	1816-1817	A100-A151	Sometime between Engine Numbers A100 and A151 the number of securing bolts holding the radiator inlet ontop of the engine block increased from 4 bolts to 6 bolts.
	12-03-1914 - 05-05-1914	1816-1817	A100-A151	Sometime between Engine Numbers A100-A151 the steel baffles located under the cylinders in the engine block were deleted from production.