Just pushed this out of the shop yesterday for first road test, 106 years old and now running fine. After 100 years of assorted engineering we found the brakes assembled back to front, the gear selector linkages upside down and the engine just about staggered into life. And all of 1 horsepower !
REAL Horsepower
- Thread starter wealdenengineer
- Start date
David Morton
Lifetime Supporter
Stunning.
They don't make them like that any more !!!.........................
Jack Houpe
GT40s Supporter
That is a wonderful piece. You are very lucky.
Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
Frank a true classic I envy you. Is there a web site with the story of the restoration?
hhhhmmm...where's the carbon fibre skirts and bolt on rear spoiler?? Oh, and neon under-car kit......
Guys, I have to say I do not own this car, we only did the restoration on it. The owner is a very close friend who also owns a 1898 built Panhard Levassor which we also ran on the London to Brighton run. This car was an original French race car with race history, also a 1911 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, which is so big I cannot get it in my shop. Great cars to play with, the locals in my road get used to seeing us potter around here in all sorts of "exoticars"
Frank,
I like the Armstrong starter in the front.
Dave
I like the Armstrong starter in the front.
Dave
Frank, don't you have a similar old car of your own?
Dave
Dave
Dave Wood
Lifetime Supporter
Is that a suction intake with an cam driven exhaust? Looks like some of the old stationary engines used around here in the early part of the last century...except minus the water trough/tank for cooling. I love old engines, the absolute bare neccesities. Combustion technology has come a long way, for better or worse 
De Dion Bouton made a large number of early engines and sold them on to whoever wanted to buy them and they were fitted to a number of other cars. You could even buy a ‘Selfridge’ for Selfridges in London – they sold their own car in kit form…. You could go in each month and buy the next bit and slowly put it together yourself …. or someone would build it for you… (sound familiar?). They are quite reliable (??) engines and high revving – max around 1,500 rpm. A number have been found on farms as they were often used as agricultural engines when the cars came to the end of their lives.
De Dion were quite advanced in their day – this engine has variable exhaust valve timing and lift (you cut the lift to help with engine braking) and this car also has a mechanically operated pre selector type semi automatic 3 speed gearbox, with internal wet clutches in a transaxle unit and was the first to use the De Dion rear suspension (hence the name) – not bad for 1903! Mind you, they didn’t get it all correct though – the inlet valve is atmospheric – when the piston goes down, the valve opens by suction. You can ‘tune’ the engine by altering the stiffness of the valve spring….. mind you its all rather marginal, but every ¼ BHP helps!!
This car is a real handful to drive in traffic – you have got a hand throttle & ignition, a hand gear/clutch leaver and the brakes are also operated by a leaver on the side of the car – there is nothing at all for your feet to do! On top of this you also have to steer and give hand signals – just as well it has a top speed around 25mph!!! Passengers are often required to act as ‘co-drivers’ in the true sense and take on some responsibilities when things get a bit ‘hairy’.
To give you some idea on approaching a red traffic light or intersection, the procedure is as follows: close down the throttle and ignition leavers, apply the hand brake, change down from 3rd to 2nd using the main gear leaver, move the high/low speed gear selector from ‘high’ to ‘low’, keep applying the hand brake, then move the main gear selector into 1st when the car has slowed down enough, signal (if you have got time), keep on steering and applying the brake, pull the main gear leaver into neutral just before the car stops and open the throttle a touch. If it clear to proceed; take off the brake, open the throttle (slowly) and advance the ignition and when the engine picks up, slowly engage 1st gear and move off…..hopefully before the lights change back to red!! Roundabouts are easier – just wave frantically at everyone to get out of the way and keep going!!!!
The history behind this car is not complete. The body is original and so is the leatherwork. The car was found in a loft in London in the early 1960’s with the chassis cut in half just behind the seat. It looked like someone had intended to turn it into a pickup or utility vehicle sometime before WW1. The fact that the project never got completed is probably why she survives today and was not turned into scrap during WW2 to support the war effort - a lot of older cars were sadly lost this way.
De Dion were quite advanced in their day – this engine has variable exhaust valve timing and lift (you cut the lift to help with engine braking) and this car also has a mechanically operated pre selector type semi automatic 3 speed gearbox, with internal wet clutches in a transaxle unit and was the first to use the De Dion rear suspension (hence the name) – not bad for 1903! Mind you, they didn’t get it all correct though – the inlet valve is atmospheric – when the piston goes down, the valve opens by suction. You can ‘tune’ the engine by altering the stiffness of the valve spring….. mind you its all rather marginal, but every ¼ BHP helps!!
This car is a real handful to drive in traffic – you have got a hand throttle & ignition, a hand gear/clutch leaver and the brakes are also operated by a leaver on the side of the car – there is nothing at all for your feet to do! On top of this you also have to steer and give hand signals – just as well it has a top speed around 25mph!!! Passengers are often required to act as ‘co-drivers’ in the true sense and take on some responsibilities when things get a bit ‘hairy’.
To give you some idea on approaching a red traffic light or intersection, the procedure is as follows: close down the throttle and ignition leavers, apply the hand brake, change down from 3rd to 2nd using the main gear leaver, move the high/low speed gear selector from ‘high’ to ‘low’, keep applying the hand brake, then move the main gear selector into 1st when the car has slowed down enough, signal (if you have got time), keep on steering and applying the brake, pull the main gear leaver into neutral just before the car stops and open the throttle a touch. If it clear to proceed; take off the brake, open the throttle (slowly) and advance the ignition and when the engine picks up, slowly engage 1st gear and move off…..hopefully before the lights change back to red!! Roundabouts are easier – just wave frantically at everyone to get out of the way and keep going!!!!
The history behind this car is not complete. The body is original and so is the leatherwork. The car was found in a loft in London in the early 1960’s with the chassis cut in half just behind the seat. It looked like someone had intended to turn it into a pickup or utility vehicle sometime before WW1. The fact that the project never got completed is probably why she survives today and was not turned into scrap during WW2 to support the war effort - a lot of older cars were sadly lost this way.
Similar threads
