Description From a deceased estate; restored in the late 1990s; on display as part of an impressive private collection of Wolverhampton-made machines for the last dozen years; extremely rare model in super condition Founded by the Lisle family of Wolverhampton in 1898, the Star Motor Company is largely forgotten today but was a major force in the British car industry before the First World War with more than 30 different models on offer with engines ranging from 6hp to 40hp.

A near neighbour of Sunbeam and the maker of equally high-grade machines, by 1914 Star was the sixth largest car manufacturer in the UK, producing 1,000 cars per year, virtually every component being made in-house using only the finest materials.

However, such quality came at a cost and Stars were far more expensive than lesser machines from rivals like Austin and Morris.

To compound the problem, Edward Lisle positively shunned modern manufacture, his adverts imploring: ‘Why buy the cotton of mass production whe...