Ariejan Bos recently acquired this most attractive of two ladies and their sports car. It seems that like her at the PWC headquaters the wheather is still a bit chilly. And yes without a proper cowl or windscreen a quick drive can be very fresh. Ariejan is analysing the picture below. We only asked about the chassis(?) plate. Is it the makers plate or a body plate of this 1907 La Buire Coupe de la Commission Sportive... The plate is showing the word Lyon in lkarge lettering, while most early La Buire chassi show the La Buire wording in stead.
"While doing research for the PWC Whatisit quiz 415 I came across this beautiful photo with lady driver and passenger by the Société Lumière. Nice little sports car, but what is it? Because of the make of the mystery photo I immediately thought of La Buire and tried to prove this. La Buire literature is scarce, but fortunately in the October 2003 issue of The Automobile an article about La Buire had appeared showing a small photo of a very similar car, but viewed from the other side: it is a La Buire of the type which had competed in the Coupe de la Commission Sportive in 1907. If this specific car was one of the three entrants in the race, I do not dare to say.
The Lumière family was known to appear regularly in the photos by the Lumière brothers Auguste and Louis, so I was curious if I could connect the two ladies to the family. This took quite some research in genealogy and in comparison of facial features, but I am now confident that the passenger is Jeanne Lumière, a sister of Auguste and Louis. About the woman at the wheel I'm less certain, but it could be Marguerite Winckler, the wife of Auguste. Apparently there was a warm relationship between the Lumière family and the La Buire Works. Nice detail is that the passenger had her own tasks: not only the operation of the 'trompette-avertisseur', but also pressurizing the gas tank!
text Ariejan Bos , photo from his archive