Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR!

Not many entrants on the Veteran Car Run have been in the same family ownership since new – this one has…

With histories stretching back to the dawn of motoring, every single one of the pioneering cars participating in the RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (Sunday 6 November) has its own remarkable story to tell – few, however, can claim to have been in same family ownership from new.

It was 119 years ago in 1903 that ‘Tramway King’ Sir George White, a Bristol-based businessman, stockbroker and later the founder of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, splashed out £750 on a sparkling new Panhard-Levassor as a generous 21st birthday present for his son Stanley White. And the French car remains in the White family to this very day with Stanley’s grandson – also Sir George White – gearing up to drive the loyal Panhard on this year’s Run. His son Philip is also a keen enthusiast in his own right (photographed together above).

Far from being handed the keys on his 21st birthday, Stanley was dispatched to Paris to collect the 2.4-litre four-cylinder ‘Centaure’ engined machine which came with a four-seater tonneau body by Labourdette. Capable of 40mph and with its enthusiastic new owner behind the wheel the return journey, though, was far from a hardship.

When purchased the Panhard was painted white with subtle red detailing (photo top below form 1903 with Stanley at the helm in Newquay), but this was changed to the family’s dark green and black livery and, with the introduction of number platers, it was registered AE 10. “That was the last time it was painted – 1904,” smiles Sir George who inherited the car in its authentic condition on his grandfather’s death in 1964.

Stanley’s other improvements included a plate glass windscreen and a hood. Being a lover of speed, he also commissioned an interchangeable lightweight racing body.

Having been semi-retired to White’s holiday home near Chard in Somerset where it became transport for fishing trips to the River Yarty, AE 10 was first entered into the Veteran Car Run during the fifties when Sir Alec Croydon, head of BAC’s Engine Division, was allowed to enter it into selected events.

The current Sir George believes this will be the Panhard’s 20th London to Brighton, the first nine under Sir Alec’s stewardship and the most recent 10 under his own ownership ­– most without too many issues, a fact he believes to be a mixed blessing.

“Somebody said to me once, that the fun of the Run is that you know you’re going to break down, but you don’t know where or when! I think that’s true,” he admits. “The extraordinary thing about the Panhard is that if we prepare it properly, and if everything goes as you hope it’s going to go, you just drive to Brighton. It’s actually really rather disappointing if you haven’t had a real battle to get there!”

On current form, AE 10 should sail into Brighton but, whatever happens, Sir George will relish the opportunity to back aboard the very car his great grandfather received on his 21st birthday all those years ago.

“It is ridiculously exciting, because it shouldn’t be, should it?” he says with a laugh. “You’re pottering along in a silly old car, but there’s a tremendous sense of achievement! There really is something quite wonderful about meeting in Hyde Park at dawn. I remember one year, there was a low mist over the whole of the park and over the water. Standing in the semi-darkness with the mist everywhere, I remember a car that appeared with candles in its headlights. It was quite, quite extraordinary.

“Then leaving Hyde Park is wonderful. There’s a tremendous sense of exhilaration and a fantastic sense of satisfaction if you do get to Brighton and that terrible feeling of, oh no, we’ve got to wait a whole year before we can do this all again…”
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[Ray White]

https://www.veterancarrun.com/vcr-entry-list-2022/1903-panhard-levassor

A terrific story of provenance.

[Rick]

Post-event PR:

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VETERAN CARS SUCCESSFULLY PIONEER SUSTAINABLE FUELS ON THIS YEAR'S LONDON TO BRIGHTON

The proven significance of de-carbonised mobility hailed as a game-changing moment in automotive history

With all the entrants dating back to the dawn of motoring, the RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the world’s greatest celebration of automotive history.

This year’s event, however, not only hailed the life-changing advent of motorised transport after centuries of horse-drawn carriages but also showcased the future with two of the venerable pre-1905 vehicles running on innovative sustainable fuels.

The initiative was significant and successful, too, with both Edwardian cars successfully completing the hallowed 60-mile despite heavy rain, surface water and localised flooding.

There is nothing new, of course, about veteran cars being propelled by ‘alternative fuels’ – some of those regularly seen on the London to Brighton are driven by electric and steam engines as well as primitive combustion engines.

This is the first time, though, that veteran cars have pioneered sustainable fuels on the annual trip from capital to coast. Fossil-free fuels not only offer a low-carbon outlook for much-loved veteran, vintage and classic cars but also provide an attractive alternative to the widespread introduction of electric motors, which are likely to be only part of the overall solution.

Proving the potential, a single-cylinder, 6.5bhp 1904 Covert was propelled by a 100 per cent fossil-free fuel developed by P1 and similar to the decarbonised fuel used officially by all those competing in the FIA World Rally Championship. The Covert was driven by Wolfgang Presinger, himself a veteran of more than 30 London to Brighton Runs and a board member of the Allgemeiner Schnauferl-Club in Germany.

Running the American-built Covert on a fossil-free hydrocarbon-based fuel with a blend of synthetic and bio-fuels, his findings were entirely encouraging. “Even though the weather was the most challenging I’ve ever experienced on the event, the P1 eFuel functioned absolutely perfectly – it was an entirely positive experience,” he related after an trouble-free trip to the Sussex seaside resort.

“We must now cross our fingers that these kind of fuels will soon become available in good quantities at market prices thus saving us from changing our much-cherished vehicles. Then our passionate old car hobby will be part of the solution and not perceived as part of the problem.”

Acknowledging Presinger’s foresight of pioneering a fully de-carbonised fuel on the 2022 RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Run, he was presented with a special Hagerty Achievement Award at the pre-event Participants’ Reception held at the Royal Automobile Club on the eve of the start. The cup was presented to Presinger by Ben Cussons, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, and Mark Roper, Managing Director of Hagerty International (photo above).

Cussons himself drove the 10bhp, 1901 Mors entered by the event’s organiser, the Royal Automobile Club, running for the first time on a forward-thinking sustainable fuel – and he was equally impressed as Presinger with his findings.

“It really could not have been any easier,” he reported. “The fuel only arrived 24 hours before the Run – we simply drained and refilled the tank, completed a short test drive and packed the Mors off to London for the dawn start on the next day. In what were truly testing conditions, the car performed superbly – if anything the engine ran better than ever.

“While electric cars may be part of the solution, it’s so very important that we keep an open mind. If we can find affordable alternatives that do not require a complete overhaul of the infrastructure as well as environmentally costly replacement of existing vehicles, so much the better. And, from both my own personal experience having driven the Mors on last weekend’s RM Sotheby’s Veteran Car Run, and those of Wolfgang's, such eFuels must be part of this solution,” concluded Cussons.
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Rick - Admin
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