(a) Preface

When the full story of the British Motor Industry comes to be written, the name of Wolseley will occupy a place therein which will be shared by few others. The Wolseley car was not only one of the first petrol driven vehicles ever to be designed and manufactured in a British factory, but it has survived the passage of more than half a century. This narrative explains the quaint circumstances in which the first Wolseley came into existence. anterior to the "Locomotives on Highways" Act of November. 1896; how the third Wolseley car ever made established a remarkable reputation for reliability in the famous Thousand Miles Trial of 1900 and how this marque has maintained that reputation ever since. This is, doubtless, one of the contributing factors which has enabled the Wolseley name to weather so many storms which have engulfed others, and attain the position it occupies to-day.

As one of the swiftly diminishing band of participants in the Thousand Miles Trial mentioned above, I can recall so vividly the clockwork reliability of the little single-cylinder Wolseley car driven by Mr. Herbert Austin. its designer. It ran through that strenuous trial under a severe handicap. Except for a second Wolseley car of higher h.p. which ran over parts of the course in the early stages more for the purpose of testing than competing, it was the only car of this make taking part, and so failure would have projected a strong limelight on its weaknesses. Every test hill it surmounted without difficulty, and the climb up Shap Fell, which was considered so severe: that it was made optional. was undertaken and completed by the Wolseley.

At the speed trial over one mile of slight ascent and a similar distance of slight descent. the Wolseley Voiturette averaged 22.81 m.p.h., a performance in excess of that accomplished by at least two twin-cylinder Panhard cars. '

The remarkable success of this little car, which even then embodied certain ingenious and unorthodox features, focused attention on Wolseley developments, for here was a car with a future.

In the early Edwardian days. I drove several Wolseley cars with their horizontal and slow-running engine in front, their chain drive to the gearbox and their final drive from the countershaft by external chains. True, they were not exciting cars to handle. but month after month they would continue running with a minimum of attention and a degree of reliability commonly associated with present-day productions. The adoption of the vertical engine cast a mill-stone from the neck of the Wolseley which had been retarding its progress for some years, and I well remember the change that came over public opinion. They were seen in ever-increasing numbers on the roads, and the company continued to progress until the first European war so effectively put a temporary stop to private enterprise.

The early re-entry into the field of production of the Wolseley company, and the striking post-war models produced, served to render the financial difficulties in which the company became involved all the more tragic, and the ultimate bankruptcy seemed like an echo of the great Overend Gurney bank tragedy of yore.

To those. however, who had watched the rise of the Wolseley company from its earliest days, it was apparent that the British Motor Industry would never be allowed to suffer the amputation of so vital a limb, and so it proved when Lard Nuffield so effectively scotehed the company from drifting into trans-Atlantic control.

The day the Wolseley interests were purchased by his Lordship, all its financial and kindred worries ceased, and so to-day, as a member of the huge organisation which bears his name, the Wolseley car stands as the prototype of British craftsmanship in the world of automobilism.

In compiling this narrative, the labour has been eased considerably by the remarkable care with which all the early Wolseley records have been kept by the company. Catalogues from the last ones issued, details of early design, particulars of dates and other matters, so essential for historic accuracy, have all been available, and so research work has been reduced to a minimum.

I wish to record. first and foremost, my deep gratitude to Mr. H.C.R. Mullens for all the time and care he has spent in providing many of the details set out herein, reading through and revising the script, and for the general interest he has taken and for the help he has rendered in other ways. Mr. H.J. Harding of the Wolseley Company, has also been of great assistance in formulating the illustrations, etc. The Secretary of the Wolseley Sheep-Shearing Machine Co.. Ltd., was most helpful in providing certain material for the earlier chapters, while The Autocar has been good enough to provide some photos of the early Wolseley racing cars.

To all these, and to others who have helped, I wish to express my profound thanks.

St. J. C. N.

Epsom Downs.