Thursday 15th October 1931

The Rover prototype called Scarab was displayed at the 1931 London Motor Show. Scarab was rear-engined and air-cooled, and designed to sell at £85, but in the end, did not go into production. It attracted the interest of Ferdinand Porsche, however, who came over to England to look at the prototype – before going on to design the Volkswagen Beetle. The 15/18 Lanchester was hailed as one of the most interesting cars at the Olympia Motor Show. Priced at £565, this 2504 cc six kept a lot of the Lanchester innovations along with Daimler’s fluid flywheel. It was so appealing that the Duke of York took delivery of one in 1932. The same type of car was the first ever winner of the RAC Rally, a 1000 mile touring event ending in Torquay.