On Saturday 7th September, the Royal Automobile Club awarded its Club Trophy to the magnificent 1920 Vauxhall 30-98 E-Type Tourer 4.5 Litres at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace.
Owner, Jennifer Ann Lees was awarded the Trophy by Club President HRH Prince Michael of Kent, despite stiff competition made up of the best of the best from invited UK car clubs.
After receiving the trophy, Jennifer said: ‘Winning this award was a complete surprise and a real honour. Our Vauxhall 30-98 has an amazing history and we as a family love her to bits. She is used for shopping trips, family holidays, sprints, races and rallies. The Vauxhall is the perfect all round car and this award is the icing on the cake.’
Each year a hand-picked panel of expert judges are assembled to judge displayed cars across four categories: Pre-War, Pre-1960, Pre-1980 and Post-1980, with an overall winner also chosen.
Peter Read, Chairman of the Club’s Motoring Committee, was the Chair of the panel of judges which included HRH Prince Michael of Kent, David Lillywhite (Editorial Director, Magneto Magazine), Ed Wiseman (Assistant Motoring Editor, The Telegraph), Alastair Clements (Editor, Classic & Sports Car Magazine) and 2017 Club trophy winner, Katie Forrest.
On Saturday, the judges spent several hours reviewing entries before agreeing on a worthy overall winner.
The 1920 Vauxhall has a captivating story. Its first owner was an Argentinian horse breeder who purchased it from Harrods in Buenos Aires at a time when Harrods was the agent for Vauxhall in South America. After this it was used by the family for many years including local race events in its later life. Colin Crabbe repatriated it to the UK in 1994 and, after restoring it, won a Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) concours before immediately setting off on a series of world-wide rallies across Russia – where it was driven by HRH Prince Michael of Kent – India and San Francisco.
Its current owner purchased the vehicle in 2006 and since then it has been frequently used for motoring activities which include family holidays abroad and VSCC racing, sprints, rallying, hill climbs and more.
To further celebrate the Vauxhall’s win, ‘H-85455’ will be making an appearance in the Royal Automobile Club’s Pall Mall clubhouse before the end of the year and, having won the Club Trophy, is automatically entered into the main Concours display in 2019.
