THE two oldest Vauxhall cars in existence have been brought together in York.

The oldest of the two is owned by Keith Stewart, who lives off New Walk Terrace in the city.

His car pre-dates the other - which takes pride of place at the Vauxhall Heritage Centre in Luton - by a mere couple of weeks.

They were built in London in 1903 and had never been seen together during their 113-year lifetimes until Vauxhall discovered the existence of Keith's car.

Known simply as the ‘5hp’ and built by the company in its first year of car manufacturing, both cars uses a tiller rather than a steering wheel. The 5hp has a water-cooled 983cc engine powering its rear wheels through an epicyclic two-speed gearbox and chain drive. Top speed is 20mph and fuel consumption around 38mpg.

Keith's car is a two-seater originally owned by the managing director of Vauxhall, Percy Kidner. It was sold to a Dr Bernhardt in 1904 and remained in the Bernhardt family until 2012, when it was purchased by Keith.

He enlisted the help of automotive engineers Mick Wright and his son, Oliver, who have a business in the Yorkshire Dales.

It was only when Keith made contact with Vauxhall and visited the heritage centre that the company became aware of the other car's existence and asked to visit York to see the restoration work.

"It's the first time the two cars have been together. It was an historic meeting of two very important cars," Keith said.

"Vauxhall were not happy with the way their car was running, and so Mick and Oliver did some work on it while it was at my house."

Keith, 66, a director of CGC Events in York, and his wife, Sally, still take their veteran car to rallies, showing it recently at an event in Ireland and another in the Yorkshire Wolds.

The Vauxhall-owned car is a four-seater in which passengers sit over the engine in front of the driver. Vauxhall Heritage purchased and restored its car 20 years ago. It was originally bought for £154 3s 3d by a Scottish shipbuilder.