Description
1923 Vauxhall Type OD 23-60 Malvern Tourer
Registration no. SV7736
Chassis no. OD720
This Vauxhall 23-60 Malvern tourer was delivered new to Australia and comes with a list of owners in that country dating back to 1932. In May 1998 the car was imported into the UK by Andrew Booth (Orchid Cars), registered as 'SV 7736' and sold to a Mr Ray Harris of the West Midlands. The car then had one further owner before its acquisition by the previous owner in February 2015. We are advised by the seller that the Vauxhall has been repainted and reupholstered but remains all original and with its chassis number on the scuttle, floorboards and so on; both wings are even date-stamped. Previously maintained by Keith Pointing, who rebuilt the engine, the car has no known faults, while the rare and spacious seven-seater Malvern tourer coachwork makes it an even more attractive prospect. Offered with a good history file.
Writing in Motor Sport magazine's December 1949 edition, Vauxhall 23-60 owner Captain Donald Gill concluded his article thus: "For someone who yearns after a real Vauxhall, but for one reason or another is denied a 30-98, the 23-60 commends itself as a not at all unworthy substitute for non-competitive motoring, and the preservation of a few more examples of the type would be a definite gain to the vintage world."
The car starts readily & drives beautifully with the big 4 litre engine providing very ample power. It compares very very favourably with 3 litre bentleys & comes at a fraction of their cost. The engine is essentially the four-cylinder engine of the preceding 25 hp car which chief engineer C E King had modified adding an overhead valve head and, because such largish engines now usually had six-cylinders for smoothness, the harmonic balancer invented by Dr F W Lanchester at the centre of its crankshaft.
The dynamo is driven from the clutch casing so it is generating while the engine is running. The nearside of the engine carries the generator and magneto, the carburettor and its water-heated induction pipe with a proper hot-spot and the vacuum tank on the dash. The offside of the engine has the starter, steering-box, exhaust manifold, oil-dipper gauge and oil filler. The water connection between the lower casting and the cylinder head is through large external aluminium ports so there is a single compression joint between castings.
