Vintage Vauxhall recreates gruelling event

| 2 Jun 2012

A 100-year-old Vauxhall Prince Henry has celebrated the centenary of the Swedish Reliability Trial by completing the challenging original journey.

Owner Alisdaire Lockhart, from Selkirk, retraced the 1912 route driving more than 600 miles from Gothenburg to Stockholm, sharing the drive with Vauxhall’s archivist Andrew Duerden and averaging over 40mph.

Percy Kidner, then MD of Vauxhall, completed the same trip in 1912 and the 2012 team recreated much of his journey, including a photo taken of Kidner outside the Standard Hotel in Norrkoping.

Lockhart said: “We were lucky to have decent asphalt roads and good weather. Kidner had snow covered surfaces with extremely chilly conditions which make his achievements even more astonishing.”