Who needs a modern car?

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Vintage Vauxhalls have always been highly regarded in enthusiast circles. Their reputation is secure, they have nothing to prove. Even so, wouldn’t it be wonderful if one was driven to the ends of the earth and back just for the sheer hell of it?

That’s exactly what this 1923 23-60 Kington tourer, in its state of OilyRag perfection, has done. Several minor adventures were undertaken by a succession of owners before a vivacious band of young Vintagents acquired Alice, as the Vauxhall became known, in 1955. Many miles were then notched up in a short space of time, including, most impressively, a trip to the Grimsel Pass in the Swiss Alps. When one of the youngsters bought the car outright, it was pressed into service all through the freezing winter of 1962-63, but from 1967 it was laid up for good until 2014.

With its new owner, the Vauxhall has been very sympathetically recommissioned and has covered 12,000 miles in four years with no signs of stopping yet. Naturally, a return to Switzerland had to be undertaken, and on its travels around the British Isles, it has awoken happy memories in those who remember the adventures of Alice in the late ’50s.

The full account of this wandering Vauxhall can be read in the June 2020 issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Stefan Marjoram.

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