Originally the Vauxhall Iron Works Ltd of South London, a firm of marine engineers, Vauxhall built its first motor car in 1903 before relocating two years later to Luton in Bedfordshire, which remains the company's base today.

Laurence Pomeroy's tenure as Chief Engineer saw Vauxhall produce some of the truly outstanding designs of the Edwardian era, commencing with the 20hp Prince Henry in 1910.

A larger (4-litre) version of the Prince Henry's four-cylinder side-valve engine was developed for its D-Type successor, introduced in 1913, which was followed later that same year by the company's best known sports model, the 30/98 E-Type.

Despite producing some of the finest designs of the period, Vauxhall was far from secure financially and fell into the clutches of General Motors in 1925.

From then onwards the firm concentrated on solid, well-engineered models aimed at the middle classes, such as the Cadet.

Introduced in 1931, the GM-styled Cadet was a powered by a 2.0-litre, overhead-...