Vehicle exhibits

In February 1901, Vickers Sons & Maxim Ltd. acquired Wolseley’s car and machine tool business and set up the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co. Ltd. in a former cycle factory at Adderley Park in Birmingham. The oldest surviving record ledger starts with car number 47; it indicates that orders were accepted in the autumn of 1900, but the earliest delivery date is in March 1901. It is thought that systematic production only began after the Vickers takeover.

The early Wolseley’s, built to a Herbert Austin’s design, had transversely mounted horizontal engines with one, two or four cylinders. They had primary drive by chain to a separately mounted gearbox, with final drive also by chain. Their trademark was the so-called ‘bee-hive’ radiator, constructed of finned tubes which wrapped around the front end of the car. The important models were the 5 and 6hp (single cylinder), 7.5, 8, 10 and 12hp (two cylinder) and various larger four-cylinder cars, including the famous racing cars.

This exhibit was first displayed as a polished chassis at the 1904 Paris Motor Show.

Restored to showroom condition by Sir Len Southward in 1962. It became the first New Zealand based car to take part in the famous London to Brighton Rally. Following on from that Len then won the Hanns Georg Schoof Trophy at the international rally in Germany in the same year.