Vale Owners Group

The Vale Motor Company was set up in 1931 by Pownoll Pellew (later 9th Viscount Exmouth) as a 'gentleman's hobby' in a rented workshop behind the Warrington pub in Maida Vale. [2][3] It soon expanded with funding from Allan Gaspar and Robert Owen Wilcoxon,[4] thanks largely to help from Pellew's then girlfriend Kay Walsh.


This restoration of Allan Gaspar's Vale Special was almost complete in 2005The cars were initially hand made and based on Triumph Motor Company components. The first cars used the 832 cc side valve engine from the Triumph Super 7 fitted to a chassis bought in from Rubery Owen, semi elliptic leaf springs all round, and the hydraulic brakes and axles from the Triumph. The top speed was only 65 mph (105 km/h),[5] which was too slow for serious sporting events: so from 1933 a 1098 cc, overhead inlet side exhaust, four cylinder, Coventry Climax engine was offered, followed in 1934 by the 1476 cc six cylinder version of the same engine.

Most of the cars had lightweight two-seater open bodies with fold flat windscreens, but a four seat version on a long wheelbase chassis, called the Tourette, was available with the larger engined versions.

About 100 cars had been made when production stopped in 1935[2], though the actual figure is greatly disputed.