RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2024 | Page 45

VETERAN CAR GUIDE body , was conservative on launch day , but positively anachronistic by 1906 . Nevertheless , it sold well in Scotland , where it coped admirably with the poor quality , undulating terrain . The company merged with Aster in 1927 .
Aster The Aster company , established in Paris during 1898 , was a well-known manufacturer initially of engines and , subsequently , of a wide range of components from spark plugs to chassis . In 1898 , the Begbie Manufacturing Company of Wembley , was licensed to make engines . Engines of all types were supplied to many other tricycle and motor car manufacturers , including Argyll , Dennis , Swift and Gladiator . An Asterbranded quadricycle was exhibited in 1900 at the Paris Salon and a 12hp model with a British made chassis was on display at the 1903 Crystal Palace Exhibition . Complete car production was never a feature of the company ’ s output .
Auge Auge built a range of simple , robust motors , with twin-cylinder horizontal engines at Levallois-Perret , Seine , France , with the platinum tubes for the hot tube ignition heated by a single lamp , earning the nickname Cyclops . From 1899 electric ignition was used .
Autocar Autocars were built in Ardmore , Pennsylvania , USA from 1900 , following the re-location of the original Pittsburgh Motor Vehicle Company . The first Autocar was a two-seater runabout with a 3hp single-cylinder and chain drive . The following year ’ s 6hp , twin-cylinder
1903 Barré . car may have been America ’ s first shaft-driven car with more than one cylinder . For 1904 , the Autocar was equipped with an 11hp horizontal-mounted flat twin engine , and three-speed transmission . Early Autocars had left-hand tiller steering , and when wheel steering was introduced on the 1905 model , the wheel remained on the left .
Barré Barré was an automobile manufacturer based in Niort , France . At the 1899 Paris Salon , the company exhibited a light car with a 4hp Gaillardet engine , two-speed transmission and belt drive . For 1901 , their vehicles were equipped with a choice of single cylinder De Dion Bouton engines , two-cylinder units from Aster , or four-cylinder ones from Buchet . From 1903 , core components were sourced from Lacoste et Battmann , including tubular chassis for the smallerengined vehicles , and the larger engines were housed in wood and flitch plate frames . All had three-speed gearboxes with direct drive on top and shaft drive .
Benz Karl Benz was a motoring pioneer who made the first petrol-engined car to run successfully . His factory was at Mannheim , Germany where the 1.5hp , two-speed Patent-Motorwagen went into production in 1888 . The growth in engine capacity along with a license arrangement with Emile Roger of Paris , aroused significant interest . In 1893 , a four-wheel model was launched , which was available with an array of heavy coachwork . The company ’ s fortunes were transformed with the arrival of the ‘ Velo ’ in 1894 , with its 3hp horizontal , rear-mounted engine , belt and pulley transmission , wire wheels , and two-seater body . The car was outdated by 1900 and sales dropped . Efforts were made to revive interest initially with the addition of a dummy bonnet , and then a new look arrived with the launch of the Benz Parsifal in 1902 , with its twin cylinder , 2,250cc engine .
Berliet Marius Berliet started experimenting with automobiles in 1894 at premises in Lyons , producing small numbers of single cylinder , horizontal-engined tandem cars in 1900 ( apparently because the workshop had a narrow door ), followed by front-mounted twin and four-cylinder , chain driven vehicles in 1901 . In 1902 , Berliet purchased the premises of Audibert-Lavirotte , and by 1903 , the company had an agency in Paris , from where a range of four-cylinder , steel chassis machines with distinctive honeycomb radiators were advertised . Berliet had a reputation for manufacturing high quality , large engined motor cars , frequently clad with luxurious open and closed coachwork .
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