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A long weekend Mystery (Update: 1918-19 De Dion Bouton v8? 1913-20 FN? Minerva? Vauxhall?)

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Recherche marque du véhicule

Alain Legrand sends this photo that was shot in Belgium around 1920-1925. It seems the couple depicted just has returned from a long weekend or similar. There's still some luggage waiting in the gravel behind the automobile. A lady passenger is bringing in her luggage to the big house. The car seems nearly new and of american making if we're correct. An interesting detail is the nearly total absence of brightwork except for the headlight rims. Also the closed spare tire cover is drawing our attention. Dodge Brothers?


A $200 American Dream

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Auburn Auction offers Americas Finest

Auctions are wonderful opportunities to dream, and we all need our dreams. We must believe that dreams can come true and so when deciding which one car to buy at the 7th annual Auburn Auction held by Worldwide Auctioneers on Saturday August 30th in Auburn, Indiana (Labor Day weekend) we are faced with a difficult decision.

One man whose dream came true is Virgil Sciolaro who always admired his brother’s Auburn and so one day in 1945, he took out a chattel mortgage for $200 and bought a 1935 Auburn 851 SC Boattail Speedster. He was only 18, but he had eyes for a girl called Delores Sayers and his new car helped his courting. Whether it was the throaty burble of the 4.5 litre supercharged Lycoming straight 8, or the oh-so-stylish body lines, or Virgil’s own charm which won Delores but they married in 1948 and went on honeymoon in the Auburn thus naming it the ‘Honeymoon Auburn’.

Lot 38 is a 1938 Talbot-Lago T-23 Sport Cabriolet with rare and fabulous coachwork by Figoni & Falaschi. The race-bred four-litre inline six transmits its 140 horsepower through a Wilson competition pre-selector gearbox offering you just over 120 mph. We confess our preference for the Talbot, but if we are out-bid we will have missed the chance to buy the Auburn in Lot 17. But enough dreaming – there are plenty of other exquisite cars on offer. Lot 55 is a 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 Convertible Sedan sporting aristocratic custom coachwork by Dietrich in vivid two-tone green and black canvas top.

The catalogue entry describes its 7 litre 160 H.P. V12 engine, three-speed selective synchromesh gearbox with vacuum-assisted clutch and brakes. In 1934 America was in the throes of the great depression but Packard threw caution to the wind and offered a dazzling choice of 55 different models and the select models designed by Dietrich had price tags double those of standard models. If this one is too expensive, the auction offers 17 other Packards.

There are just two Cords however, a 1929 Cord L-29 Town Car and a 1931 Cord L-29 Convertible Sedan. They both have 4.8 litre straight eight Lycomings, three-speed gearboxes and hydraulic brakes but the surprise is their front wheel drive – a remarkable feat of engineering for a car of its day. The town car’s 1929 owner transferred the body from his Minerva and it has retained its wonderful patina to this day.

There are 189 lots of automobilia offered before the cars including a Circa 1948 Schwinn Whizzer Gasoline Motorbike – it’s all in the name, as we found out with the owners of the Honeymoon Auburn.

(Text Robin Batchelor, picture courtesy Worldwide Auctions.)

Portugese pumper mysteries

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Fire pump mysteries

Not a long time ago several interesting fire pumps were exposed at a Portuguese classic car event. The 1930 Citroen C6  (photo 3) or the 1929 Brockway (Photo 4) seem to be fully original while others like the 1929 Buick (photo 5), 1930 Cadillac (photo 6) or 1920s Packard (photo 7) have suffered of deep transformations during the postwars years. The Packard seems to be derived of a grand luxury, maybe even from the desirable "Twin six" if we observe the steering wheel. Also there were two trucks that despite their original appearance we haven´t been able to find the concrete marque. The one of the main photo is a real oddball with this rounded radiator. The round shape indicates a possible french origin (Delaunay-Bellevillle?) but this baroque words in the front are unidentifiable for us, as is the little badge of the more current fire engine of photo 2, equally difficult to name. Do you have any idea?

(photos Unai Ona; text Francisco Carrion)
 
      

The Pierce Arrow must go

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What do you do when you find  a superb unrestored 1931 Lincoln Dietrich convertible sedan? No issue for David Schultz, director of the Stan Hywet Concours d'Elegance. He has Lincoln blood in his veins, so he will always choose the 'Lincoln highway'. Even when it will ask for sacrifices in other areas. In this particular case he probably will need to say fare well to the untouched, never restored 1936 Pierce Arrow 1601 Sedan pictured above.

When David is taking care for a car he likes to do it properly. See what he has done with the unrestored Lincoln ... (not a drop of paint added so far).  The paint is not original,  so he considers bringing the car back to factory livery with Slate Green(upper) over Hamilton Green(lower). 

Sorry you won't see the Pierce nor the Lincoln at the Stan Hyweth Concours as David doesn't want to be distracted from his organising role and most probably will use a golfcart only. But no worries, no less than 160 superb other automobiles that were carefully selected will turn up there.  Stan Hywet Concours d'Elegance, 19-21 September 

Hats off - goggles on.

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Hats off - goggles on. ( friday lady )

We are lucky to live in this digital age and today we invite you to revisit an old friend we introduced back in 2012. Our picture shows Joan Newton Cuneo in 1911 at the wheel of her Pope Hummer (corr. 1911 Knox) with which she set the woman’s speed record of 111.5 MPH. This was after her previous successes had helped The American Automobile Association  ban women from entering their events .

Even before her motoring career, Cuneo had displayed her spirit when she helped start the Ladies Four- in-Hand Club for driving a coach and four – a pastime not for the faint hearted!  Men had their own Coaching Club open only to gentlemen.

The digital age has helped author Dr. Elsa A. Nystrom complete her painstaking research into today’s subject and publish the fruits of her four years’ labour in Mad for Speed - The Racing Life of Joan Newton Cuneo and it has also helped us receive a copy through the letterbox with an easy click of a mouse.

The book was published in 2013 and more pictures have emerged since our first story. This one is rare since it is the only ‘staged’ shot where Cuneo looks clean and posed as opposed to her usual business like images. You’ll like this one of her at the bench and here she is changing a tyre.

Surviving pictures often show our Friday lady wearing an elegant hat, but as Dr. Nystrom says in her comment on our original story,  “ The hat came off and the goggles went on when she put the pedal to the metal.”

 

Text Robin Batchelor, picture courtesy Pettee Memorial Library / Wilmington Historical Society.

 

About quiz #377: 1923 Newton (Ceirano) Brooklands

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Well this was one of those cars that you either know or never haVE heard about.  The car that was subject of  quiz 377 turned up at a most pleasant 'strawberries & bubbles' event at Bicester Heritage airfield

It is the 1100 cc 1923 Newton 200 miles Brooklands racer as developped by Noel Newton. You can read the various knowledgeable additions about the car from the comments of last week's competitors. We particularly liked the comments by Gerry Barrett. Why? As he explained about the name and second name of the car and as you know our 'What is it?" quiz is in fact about namegiving. Gerry added that the car was only to become the 1923 Newton - Ceirano when Newton with business partner Bennet became importers for Ceirano cars. This fits nicely with the the remarks of  Frazer Sloan  son of one of the former owners and Ceirano connoisseur Nick Sloan, who explained us that there are virtually  no Ceirano parts on the car.
Congratulations Gerry! Next week a new chance. Or start chewing on this weekend's post-war quiz car..!
 

Gordon Bennett Balloon Race; follow the flight! (ed.Updated below)

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Gordon Bennett Balloon Race

The Gordon Bennett Balloon Race has started last night from Vichy in France. 19 balloon crews took off with balloons filled with hydrogen and the winner will be the pilot who travels the furthest.

The best will stay in the air 70 hours or more open to the elements in a wicker basket. Balloons can only travel where the wind takes them and nobody knows where they will land, but conditions look as though they will travel east and may end up anywhere from Poland to Romania.

Gordon Bennett published The New York Herald in Paris and offered a magnificent trophy in 1906 to the winner and sat back waiting for  the stories to roll in which would sell his newspaper – just as the aeroplanes and motor cars had done in the similar Gordon Bennett Races.

You can watch the progress of the different teams on a live-tracking page HERE.  The picture shows Charles Rolls ascending from Paris in 1906 and he landed in northern England 26 hours later in third place.

SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE.

The balloons have been flying for 30+ hours and leader ‘Swiss 2’ has travelled 870 km mostly at 15,000 feet breathing oxygen in freezing temperatures and are just crossing the coastline of Croatia. The other balloons elected to fly at lower altitudes and headed south east towards Marseille. Four have landed before the coast and the remaining eleven balloons are currently drifting across the sea towards Corsica and Sardinia.

Weather conditions, air traffic control and remaining sand ballast dictate their options but some may attempt landings in the unstable heat of the day on those islands. Not easy! Their retrieve drivers are waiting in Italy for instructions.

You can watch the balloons’ progress on the live tracking page and also get a taste of what the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race involves by seeing pictures of the launch HERE, a video of champion Vincent Leys ‘weighing off’ his balloon at the start HERE, and my commentary on the race HERE.

The World's Fastest (Indian) Cyclecar?

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Keith McElroy spotted this sporty cyclecar at Steam & Traction rally at Lake Goldsmith, Victoria, Australia two years ago..! And the mschine is still haunting him. The engine is an aircooled Indian V-twin. Furthermore one can see it is a frontwheel drive. A rather intersting machine We suspect the car is a one-off, and we're sure there are a few friends out there who can tell Keith and all of us all about it. 
 

What will you be bringing home from Beaulieu?

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Beaulieu is on our mind! Only a few days away from totally unexpected treasures.  And only a few days away from unexpectedely selling that heap of parts. You'll never know what happens and one thing is sure, whatever you think of Beaulieu, it's never a bore. Like the nearby  sea Beaulieu gives, Beaulieu takes...
So what have we got here? A prototype of a Lotus Super Seven van? Well not quite, although we're not sure what the designer/engineer had in mind when he started of with his 1936 MG TA in the sixties. Seller Bonhams describes the MG TA Special tongue in cheek as a 'breadvan'. One thing is sure, when you get EPG32 on the road again, you won't go unnoticed. And Beaulieu 2014 will stay in your memory forever. See you this weekend! 

 (photo courtesy Bonhams)

An Eastbourne Seaside Mystery (UPDATE: 1908/09 Itala?1907 FIAT?)

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Eastbourne seaside_mystery

Nick Graves sent us above picture of his great grandfather William Charles Butler standing next to an impressive machine. Nick writes that the man was a 'motor engineer' in Eastbourne, Sussex somewhere from around 1910 to 1940. His garage was located at 8, Seaside, as his old business card shows (telephone 1005 - love it). The romantic street name - you can hear the sea gulls cry - has meanwhile been renamed into A259, with number 8 now housing a dull three-story-appartment block.

And so it seems that much of Butler's Garage heritage has been erased for good, with only Eastbourne pier on a stone's throw away as a silent and now ghostly reminder of days gone past. Still then, Nick wonders about that lovely picture. Who knows what kind of car his great grandfather was standing so proudly next to? The number plate DI 37 indicates it was registered in Kent after 1913, but we guess the car is a bit older. More like 1909, or? Check the engine design up closely - do we see four seperate pots? And what about the crankcase(?) cover left on the ground?  Is the brass ID-plate high up on the right of the firewall... Peugeot? But then the XL Rushmore headlights may bring us in the US. Over to you!
  

Metropolis motor keeps on rousing readers

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There is no doubt that one of the most daring of silent film projects is Fritz Lang's epic 'Metropolis'. One reader writes: "As I have viewed the film over the years, the question of the make and model of the white limousine, used by Freder in the movie, has never been answered." Indeed, the big chauffeur driven landaulette - clearly modified for the movie - remains a Metropolis mystery of the first kind.

The still shown above comes from our friends of the Internet Movie Cars Database and they have dug up another one, too. Their readers suggest anything from Mercedes to Hispano-Suiza, De-Dion Bouton to Bugatti and from Panhard and Adler to Farman. Martin Koerber of the Deutsche Kinemathek - considered the world's leading expert on the film Metropolis - states that even he has no clue about the automobile used for the film. Urban legend has that Fritz Lang used the car to arrive at the opening of Metropolis in Berlin at the Palast am Zoo movie theater on January 10, 1927, but no photographs to prove this appear to be known. What do you think?

(Picture courtesy www.imdb.org)

Beauty and the Bédelia

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Beauty and the Bédélia (friday lady)

Back in May we shared with you the story of the 2014 Festival of Slowth – a celebration of cyclecars and their owners. The event was held in the grounds of Llysdinam Hall in Wales, the family home of Sir John and Lady Carolyn Venables –Llewelyn … both avid car enthusiasts and lover of gardens. Today’s subject is Becky and she is head gardener at the Hall. She took time out of her busy day to show anybody interested around the gardens – I think everybody joined the tour and fascinating it was too.

Becky knew the Latin names of all the flowers, shrubs and trees and such was her enthusiasm that Mike Bullett offered her a ride in his 1912 Bédélia. You could see the nervousness in her smile as she clambered aboard the car where the passenger sits in front of the driver, but once they got going her smile rose to helpless laughter and she forgave Mike for any damage we caused her lawns and paths during the driving tests.

(Text/pictures Robin Batchelor)

What is it? Quiz #378

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This great colonial style picture found its way to us all the way from Bombay. A reader's friend recently found it and, like ourselves, wondered about the 5 w's: who, what, where, when and why? Well, some of these have yet been answered as it's supposedly taken in Bombay in 1905. As a matter of fact the couple on the photograph may be known, too, as Mr and Mrs J (Jeff?) Duff Blair with their prized posession - that alone must have been reason enough to photograph it. Now, that leaves with just one more questions: what? Easy as that.

You know the drill. We want the name and model designation of the car with any extra information being awarded. How many horns/whistles/valves/gears? Did Mahatma Gandhi have a ride in it? Was it painted purple at one stage? Does it survive? Bonus points for any trivial knowledge not readily available from 'the web' or 'the shelf'. In order to have a chance of winning the infamous PreWarCar T-shirt, please check The Rules under 'Read More'. Results will be published next Saturday September 13.

Adler and others go Antwerp

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Adler and others go Antwerp

Next Sunday, on September 14, tourists and travellers walking the serene gardens of Chateau Belvédère near Antwerp, may be rudely awaken by the sound of sputtering and gurgling four-, six- and eight cylinder engines of days gone past as the estate’s gardens will host a range of classic cars entering the 10th Antwerp Concours. Oh – there will surely be some 12-cylinder sounds, too since Ferrari is the chosen make for this year’s anniversary edition of the event.

But like before the organizers have several more surprises up their sleeve. How about the rare 1937 Adler 2.5-litre cabriolet, also known as the ‘Autobahn Adler’, shown above? In coffee-and-cream colour scheme it will make its way to the castle’s gardens. The car was bought in 1979 by a former Karmann-employee who cherished it like a baby. It stayed in the family only since earlier this year, when its current owner took it over from the man’s grandson. Adjacent the event, there is the Antwerp Concours ‘Jubileumrally’ tour, with a string of pre-wars attending. Be careful for those manicured lawns chaps!
 

A SCAP afficionado

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We'd like to introduce you to a French friend, Monsieur S.C.A.P. Defrasnes. Apart from his everyday vintage Salmson he has a funny hobby on the side. He likes to fiddle around with a car sharing his initials: a 1913 SCAP of the early Type A. Now most of you will know this name as producer of interesting cyclecar engines; few of you will know it as a motorcar manufacturer.

Perhaps not very surprising, as no more than 7 cars bearing this name on their radiator badge are believed to survive - despite the fact that at least as many variants and models once existed... Our friend S.C.A.P. is planning a full restoration on his rare car and has already started on the phaetonesque body design, which will be mounted upon a sturdy frame. We're sure it will be a stunner once finished. Like a SCAP, too? It's going to be a challenge since you are some 95 years too late for finding them regularly in the ads section of French newspapers...

(Picture courtesy S.C.A.P. Defrasnes)


The oldies must go to keep the youngsters interested...!?

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Fancy a Ford?

No less than 47 pre-war and early post-war Fords will be auctioned on October 1 and 2 in the Dutch flowerbulb municipality of Hillegom. They form part of the largest private collection of Fords in the world, the Den Hartog Ford Museum. In 1997 the Den Hartogh Ford Museum openend its doors to the public and in 2002 the Guinness Book of Records granted it official status as world's biggest private collection of Fords. The museum houses some rare examples including a 1903 Model A, 1904 Model B and C, 1905 Model F and the first 6-cylinder Ford, a 1906 Model K. However, the times are changing and the Ford Museum feels it needs to attract a younger public... ouch that hurts!

To do that, they are looking to say goodbye to no less than 10 Model T's plus 37 other oldies and to add a number of post-1940 Ford models to the collection. Pfff, as if that will help! They would do better in stead of selling to use the Model T's to drive around town and pick-up youngsters from bus stops and nearby train stations. Bet you they like these more than a modern classic Mustang or Capri...

The good news, the really good stuff remains in the collection. Yet there are some quite interesting buys. Buses and fire engines feature prominently, not sursprisingly as they take up a lot of space. And how about a 1937 model 950 V8 touringcar that seats 16? Perfect if you like to travel with friends, Beaulieu? Hershey? Or maybe you have a big garden and are looking for something to speed up watering your plants? The 1946 V8 fire truck with its impressive engine driven Kronenburg waterpump at the front might be just the ticket! The oldest car to be auctioned is a 1911 Model T Speedster. Viewing day is on Sunday, September 28 and the online auction takes place on October, 1 and 2. See for full inventory BVA auctions.
 

  

Drive slow or… (UPDATE: very rare Peuegeot 402 Roadster and yes it's a Ford)

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Our friend Fer likes to stroll around on flea markets, jumble sales and car boot sales and manages to find a little treasure every now and then, too. Take this picture for example, discovered at a 'marche aux puces' in Belgium recently. It shows a beautiful Peugeot 402 cabriolet. And it's not on its own. In fact it came in a stack of 10 photographs, all depicting the same, Belgian registered, 402. Fer believes they must have been made during a trip through Austria and Hungary. And there were even more. As a matter of fact visiting a race seemed to be one of the purposes of the travels, with more pictures of cars in action - Auto Unions supposedly - emerging. However, these were left on the flea market as the picture's quality was pretty bad, says Fer. Ouch!

He wonders about this cool picture, though, showing another pre war car. It's mounted high up on a sign post, which according to Google's translation programme reads 'Drive slow or memorial service'...  We can only guess the car was once involved into a nasty crash. Question is what it can be. A modified T-Ford?, Fer asks. We're sure you will be able to tell him.

A one-pot, four-valve, four-spark Mystery

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1910 one_pot_4_valve_mystery_300The Beaulieu Autojumble always will cough up a few mysteries. This time best  of show  in that respect was the engine Yesterdays (antique Motorcycles) put up for display. An extremely well engineered one cylinder,  approximately two and a half feet high. The Yesterday people think it was created around 1910 yet the machine is ultimately modern in many respects so anything is possible. Let's start with the basics. The single cylinder for breathing has four desmodromic valves and a compressing unit getting the umpf from sub-piston pressure, and regulated by  the bevel axle which also drives valvetrain and ignition. The twin ignition feeds four sparkplugs.
You can find more pictures HERE and a video of the engine being turned HERE.

Ok, now where would one need a set-up like this car (Voiturette racing machine? Racing boat?) Except for a few below 10 digits the engine has no markings at all. Possibly it is a prototype or demonstration machine. The machine is showing strong family resemblances with the 1910 Lion-Peugeot Evolution long stroke vertical twin as shown in Kent Karslakes's book Racing Voiturettes. Maybe a one cylinder study on the same theme?

Over to you...

Beaulieu Bluebird

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When you spend three days at the annual Beaulieu Autojumble,the three fields are mostly filled with men and their beloved motoring stuff. So it was a refreshing surprise to come across Jackie sitting in the Napier-Campbell Bluebird Special which had only recently emerged from the workshop of Lord Lorne Jacobs.

Jackie is no stranger to big cars with big engines because her friend Mike Vardy owns this Isotta-Fraschini-Fiat whose engine is a mere 16½ litres compared with the Napier Campbell’s 22.3 litres from its (earliest known) Sea Lion W12 cylinder engine. I had recently photographed the Napier-Campbell elsewhere, but these pictures were more fun as can be seen as Jackie climbed out of her new favourite car.

(Text and photographs Robin Batchelor)

About Quiz #378...: no winners: 1905 l'Elegante

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About Quiz #378
Crikey, not everything is what it appears to be. We just learned that once more when the answers for the latest quiz car came in. There were just three of you giving it a go, and two of them followed our ideas about the colonial car in question. A Rover, or so we believed. Neil Rankine wrote: “It's a Rover 6hp single. These had a solid rear axle housing and transmission tunnel to gearbox & engine all in one unit that formed the chassis of the car. Rover's first car and considered quite a good attempt.” And also John Tanner thought the same: “The car looks similar to the vary early single cylinder Rover, probably around 1904.”

But then, the answer of jury member Ariejan Bos came in, making us all confused. He wrote: “Not an easy one! I am not for 100%, but for only 90% sure that it is a 1905 L'Élégante, one of these relatively cheap makes which are almost forgotten now and of which there were numerous in France and especially Paris at the time. L'Élégante has a typical Lacoste & Battmann feature: the bend in the steering connecting rod. There are some other makes which come close, like Tony Huber, but also English ones like Mobile and Canterbury (all having an L&B-connection by the way and showing the same characteristic bend in the connecting rod!). Obscurity however was no obstacle for being sold wherever in the world: we know that the most obscure French makes were sold in countries as far as New Zealand!”

Meanwhile, we have discussed the photograph once more with Ariejan and can now rule out it’s a Rover. Have a look at the detail in the bonnet and the dumb-irons and compare those to pictures of Rover's earliest and you'll agree with him. Ariejan adds to that the clear different position of the steering column, the different cooling system and - even a stronger clue - the lack of a brake- and gear change lever on the car's left hand side. And... he adds a picture from an ad of the 1905 L'Élégante, too! There's no way back, it seems. L'Élégante and/or Lacoste & Battmann experts are never the less invited to throw their light upon this matter – but Ariejan is our man for today.
 
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