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Vauxhall

The origins of Vauxhall Motors can be traced to 1857 when Alexander Wilson founded the Vauxhall Ironworks and set up business as a marine engineer in Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London. The company produced marine steam engines, and rather successfully. Unfortunately Wilson, like many of the 19th century engineers, was not particularly good on the accounting side, and by the turn of the century Wilson had left the business. After the company was restructured with limited liability and the name was changed to Vauxhall Iron Works Co Ltd in 1897, the remaining board directors became interested in the "horseless carriage" after the company had constructed a petrol engined launch - one of the first in marine engineering.
In 1903 a 5 h.p. single cylinder car was offered to the public at a price of 130 guineas, and by 1904 76 cars had been sold. In order to expand the company, it was necessary to move out of London and a suitable site was acquired in Luton, Bedfordshire where the company moved in 1905.
In 1907 the company name was changed to Vauxhall Motors.
The Vauxhall car factory was taken over by General Motors in 1925. The factory was expanded and facilities for manufacturing trucks were made. The trucks made were named "Bedford" after the Bedfordshire County wherein the city of Luton and the factory were placed.
The development of existing models continued, and a new model - the 25/70 - with a 6-cylinder 3.9 liter engine was introduced in 1926, but only 50 were produced.