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 when the silk of En...