Like old cars, old movies are restored. This recently happened with a quite famous French ‘artistic movie’ from the early 1920s. We will not yet disclose its title since this will make this week’s quiz too easy (Google and internet…). It was broadcasted recently in Europe and though the story isn't about cars at all (but about unanswered love and things like that) it contains some very nice shots of moving cars. Among these is a dramatic ride in a nice chauffeur-driven Chenard-Walcker.
One of the main characters is a young Scandinavian ingénieur who is hurrying to be in time for a dinner party and he does so in… a genuine early 1920s racing car. As you know Montlhéry is the place to be this weekend so our quiz is about this machine. At first we thought it was a Ballot but when we did some research on the Ballots of the period it appeared that they, like many other racing cars then, had right hand drive. Our quiz car, for some reason, is LHD and that made the determination quite easy. By the way, in the movie the racing car ends up tumbling down a steep slope as the young driver is faking a suicide. Fortunately, for today’s experienced film watchers it is immediately clear that it is just a poor replica of the racer that hits the river near Paris.
Please give us the name of the make and any information you have on where and when the car was raced. And maybe you even know why so many racing cars were RHD at that time and so few LHD. Answers in the comments below (please do not e-mail) and be sure to read The Rules under Read More. This may be your chance to win the infamous PreWarCar T-shirt and wear with with pride at this season’s events! Results and photo source will be published next Saturday.