‘The badge on the front is made of solid gold!’

1933 Vauxhall A type W&M Tourer Rodney and Jean Thompson, Carnforth

This is the very first Vauxhall A-type, bodied and sold by Whittingham Mitchell. It was running on September 1, 1933, but this model wasn’t announced until the motor show in October 1933. The badge on the radiator cowling isn’t made of brass… it’s made of solid gold – possibly because this was car number one. It was owned by one family from 1933 to 1972, then the next owner only drove it for three years until his GP took his licence away. I found the car in a shed on the edge of the New Forest and bought it to restore my A-type.

This one was better, so I restored this instead. It’s original but I had to do everything to get it back on the road including polishing the gold badge. I ran an Opel and then Vauxhall dealership in Carnforth for many years – it must have been the smallest one in the country.