VETERAN CAR GUIDE
CELEBRATING A MULTITUDE OF MARQUES
1904 Albion
Every year we welcome around 400 cars representing nearly 100 different marques to the Run. For 2026, we have a gathering of vehicles whose origins span the globe.
Ader The Ader was a French automobile designed and built by Clément Ader, whose company, Société Industrielle des Téléphones-Voitures Système, was located in Levallois-Perret, Paris. The company first built bicycles in 1869, developed steam powered aeroplanes between 1890 and 1897, and subsequently built the first car made with a V-twin engine. For 1900 there was a 904cc, 6hp V-twin-cylinder engined light car with chain drive, tubular frame, and tonneau body. In 1901 there was a 795cc, 7hp V-twin-cylinder engined car with a channel steel frame and shaft drive. In 1902, Ader built its first four-cylinder engine, which was essentially two of the V-twins coupled together. A 24hp vertical four was introduced in December 1903 at the Paris Salon. Two of the four-cylinder engines were joined to make a 3616 cc V-8 which was fitted to a car that ran in the 1903 Paris-Madrid race. Four other Ader vehicles of both 12hp and 16hp participated in the event and acquitted themselves well. 1907 was the final year that motor cars were made, although the V-4 engines were supplied to other car and boat makers for several years.
Albion Two ex-employees of Arrol-Johnston, Norman Fulton and Thomas Murray, founded Albion in Glasgow, in 1899. The first vehicle, a dogcart, appeared in 1900, powered by a flat-twin 8hp engine, and equipped with a‘ Patent Combination Clutch’ gearbox. It had solid tyres, which continued to be a feature after many other manufacturers had abandoned the practice. The company produced twin-cylinder vehicles of increasingly large capacity, and in 1903, it launched a 3115cc, 16hp vertical twin-engine powered vehicle. Commercial vehicles became the mainstay after 1918.
Alldays The company was formed in 1898 from two longestablished Birmingham engineering firms that dated back to 1720 and 1650 respectively. Success in the manufacture of good quality bicycles led to the limited production of a motorised quadricycle, almost certainly a re-badged version from a French supplier, and then the‘ Traveller’, a lightly built, De Dion Bouton-powered, unsprung, two-seater appeared. The first motor car, with a 7hp engine and shaft driven, available as a two or four-seater, was manufactured in 1903 and 1904.
48 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run