About Quiz #375: 1927/28 Excelsior van Rijswijk

Oops. We inadvertedly gave away more clues than we wanted in the properties of the picture. Still, not too many people noticed it (we think). Thanks to Gerry Barrett for pointing this out. Rest assured it won't happen again! Marc Fellmann, Raoul Thybaut and Stuart Penketh identified the chassis correctly as an Excelsior, but the body builder posted more of a challenge. It was not Vandenplas, d'Ieteren Frères or Labourdette, but the Dutch firm of Van Rijswijk. Stuart was the only one to correctly identify that, but as a jury member he has to buy his own t-shirts! Raoul therefore is our winner, also because he made a good guess as to the year of manufacture. Please give us your details and size and we will send you a t-shirt Raoul! About the chassis Stuart tells us the following: 1922 Excelsior Adex (Albert Premier) by Compagnie Nationale Excelsior, 5346cc six-cylinder engine. Belgian car manufacturer established by Arthur de Coninck in Brussels in 1903. This new Adex was developed, in 1922, into the magnificent Albert Premier model, a 5350 cc six with an overhead camshaft operating valves whose diameter was more than half that of the cylinder bore; triple Zenith carburetors were standard. Like the 1920 Adex, the Albert Premier had cantilever rear suspension with Adex anti-roll bars, probably the first use of this feature on a touring car. In 1929, the company was sold to its competitor Impéria.

We're not quite sure about the year of manufacture of the body, but it must be later than 1922, which was the year of introduction of this chassis. Most likely it is around 1927/1928. Van Rijswijk started their coachbuilding business in 1895 in the Dutch residence of The Hague. They switched to horseless carriages at the beginning of the 20th century and became purveyors to the royal Dutch household when they bodied a Spyker for HM the Queen and a Minerva for Prince Hendrik. In 1920 they moved to nearby Voorburg. The last Van Rijswijk body was shown in 1952, but the company remained active until 1987. More info (in Dutch) and a lot of pictures can be found on the Conam website.