D-Type Vauxhalls

Sir,

Re-reading your “road-test” of a D-type Staff car in Motor Sport for June 1974, it occurred to me that there was something odd in the use of a Zenith carburetter at that time and an air control.

So I checked the article in the Automobile Engineer for September 1919 on the D-type. This states: “A standard White and Poppe carburetter has been used consistently on Vauxhall cars for the last ten years. In addition to the amount of air admitted to the mixing chamber through the throttle opening, an extra air inlet, worked by a lever above the steering wheel, allows the mixture to be varied by the driver, enabling him to choose maximum power and maximum economy.”

I wonder if the steering-wheel control on the Vauxhall Motors D-Type is connected up? I suggest not, and that the carburetter is non-standard.

The same article in the Automobile Engineer refers to two alternative devices fitted to retain the front axle in an acceptable place in the event of spring failure at speed. Do you know whether such devices were fitted to production Vauxhalls after the War? My 30-98 (1924 OE) was equipped with the Balatu belting type referred to when I obtained it. I assumed at the time that it must have been fitted in Australia.

Townsville, Australia. D. H. PEARSE