The car in Quiz #398 is a 1903 C.G.V. and the photo was found in The Car Illustrated magazine No. 46 April 8 1903. It was correctly identified by six participants, who all knew it was one of the first eight cylinder engines and the makers thought the power would mean they could dispense with the gearbox.
Messrs. Charron, Girardot and Voigt were ingenious car makers and jury member Stuart Penketh sent in a most thorough answer, adding C.G.V were the first manufacturer to offer their customers (the French) left-hand drive cars, and that from 1905 they supplied directional acetylene headlights as standard.
It was jury member Ariejan Bos who correctly identified Carl Voigt as the driver and sitting beside him is Willard Evart-Hall, the sole agent for C.G.V. cars in Britain and South Africa. He writes, "The engine was designed especially to be so 'elastic' that the energy-consuming gear box could be avoided. Testing however indicated that for very low speeds and steep hills a low gear was absolutely necessary and besides the french law demanded a reverse gear. As the CGV-designers opted for a two speed and reverse planetary gear, the Horseless Age commented that in this way the car: "[...] is no more gearless than any of the present American runabouts"."
Anders Svenfelt has won twice before and correctly identifies the engine & gearbox details. Mark Dawber knew about the engine and gearbox and also correctly identifies the driver as Carl Voigt. Then we come to Jacques who not only gives details of the engine and gearbox but also knows the engine suffered problems with ignition and carburation and since he recognised Carl Voigt sitting in the car, we declare him the winner. (Please send us your mail address and T-shirt size S, M, L, XL, XXL or XXXL and your prize will arrive in the post ! )
Both Mark and Jacques thought Léonce Girardot was the other occupant, so for them, here's a picture of him in the same car.
Our thanks to everyone who offered answers and we look forward to testing your knowledge again soon.