The Golden Age of Motoring Sale

We report on the recent Bonhams Golden Age of Motoring Sale and the fascinating range of veterans and steamers sold at the event.

On Friday 3 November The Bonhams Golden Age of Motoring Sale took place at New Bond Street, London, as the 400-plus entrants for the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run gathered together for their annual event.

Our interest started at lot 130 which were left-overs from the early September Beaulieu sale. The 1in painted 1972 made LC Mason Minnie freelance traction engine sold this time for £1,280 all in. As for the freelance 1in single-cylinder showman’s engine needing finishing off with paint and such like, it made similar money. Finishing things off in this section was the very detailed ACB produced 1973 made Allchin portable, in a similar scale, that also sold for £1,280.

The veteran car section started off with the North American rear single-cylinder 4hp 1904 Orient 4hp A Buckboard  No. 1972. A very crude skittish machine which had completed the London to Brighton in the past and looked very together, it sold for £23,000 all in. 

It was followed by the 1901 Milwaukee 6hp steam car racer No. 316. Founded in 1899 by W H Starkweather, Herman Pfiel and W G Smith to build steam-powered cars, the Milwaukee Automobile Company produced its first car in 1900 and having over-estimated the demand for its products, the company was soon declared bankrupt and closed in 1902. Little has been found relating to this car’s active racing history, except for the possibility of its participation in an event at Joliet, Illinois in October 1901. It is thought that the car was sold in the 1960/1970s to a new owner in Beloit near Chicago, USA, disappearing from view until it reappeared in 2001 at the Auto Museum in Ladenburg, Germany.

The current vendor purchased the Milwaukee in the UK in the spring of 2005 and after a two-year period of research it was restored to the original design of 1901. Renovated and re-steamed in July 2010, the Milwaukee has taken part in the famous London-to-Brighton Run on numerous occasions. A new boiler was manufactured and fitted in 2019 by specialists J R Goold, and the present boiler examination and pressure test is valid until December 2024. Lots of interest was shown and it finally sold for £43,700 with V5c document.

A popular beginner’s veteran is the Oldsmobile, the largest manufacturer in 1903 when this R Runabout with curved dash No.17575 was made. In fact some 11,000 were made when production of this model stopped in 1907. This ‘Curved Dash’ has a lifelong history in Colorado since its original purchase in Telluride. Offered with a State of California certificate title, this restored and well-running car gained a second place award at the Techno-Classica Essen in 2023 and held a 2023 London to Brighton entry, selling for £44,850. 

The next to interest us was the 1901 De Dion 4.5hp type G2 vis-à-vis No. 964. The car lived in France for 102 years around the Calais area before coming to the UK. In restored order with V5c it went on to sell for £80,500. 

We moved to the rare 1897/8 Marot Gardon 1.5 tricycle BF5218 that had completed on the London-Brighton from 2009-18 and had been out this year at various major events for these machines and it sold here for £66,700. A 1900 De Dion 275cc quadricycle BF7027 in top condition sold for £49,450 later on. Another good looking machine was the French 1904 Givaudan 277cc chain-drive motor-cycle with its brass fuel tank; yours at £20,125.  Also in this line was the 1899 De Dion Bouton 2.25hp quadricycle No. 360590 EL377. This ex-Mike Timms of Uckfield machine had been in the current owners hands for 25 years and sold for £55,200 in excellent condition. 

One of the big hitters was the French 1904 Aster 16/20 four-cylinder rear entrance four-seater tonneau, looking so good. It had competed in major world events and went on to sell for £281,750. We moved to the obscure French1900 Auge two-cylinder 8.5hp with dos-a-dos phaeton bodywork No. A52. This is the only survivor of this make and in restored condition it sold for £158,700. 

It contrasted with one of the big hitters here in the 1902 Panhard et Levassor type A2 twin-cylinder 7hp rear entrance tonneau No. 5142. Fitted with the Centaur engine it was the 142nd of the line of these cars with this engine. It was sold to British dealer Harvey du Cros who had the bodywork built here before selling it on to John Player of the famous cigarette company. In preservation it spent time in Germany where it was much enjoyed, and sold for £368,000 with a London to Brighton entry. 

A car I have seen in the superb Auburn-Cord Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana is the apple green and yellow chassis 1901 Gasmobile Stanhope No. 155. It carries an interesting three-cylinder 9hp engine, is the only restored car of this type and went on to sell at £96,600. Not the prettiest of veterans is the oldest known 1899 Clement-Panhard VCP No.117 voiture légère two-seater. These cars were sold in the UK by S F Edge and in restored but older looking condition this example raised £92,000.        

We came across three Brown Brothers machines that the company had sold originally, starting with the 1905 Brown 490cc 3.5hp single motor-cycle PJ3856 which is really a Belgian-made Minerva. Interestingly the late Ron Wanmer, who was one of the founders of the famous Hellingly Festival of Transport, sold it to Brown Brothers in 1977. The famous Nick Fathering restored the engine in the 90s with members of the VMCC Bedfordshire. It went on to sell to a steam owner for £12,650. 

The two Brown Brothers cars were interesting things as well with the 1905 18/20 four-cylinder four-seater LC4051 (which is really a Star of Wolverhampton). The car belonged to a Sussex farmer by the name of Sands. The car has been with Brown Brothers since 1962 and sold here for £49,450. The 1903 Brown 8hp rear entrance tonneau No. 102 BS8028 didn’t sell. It was a similar case for the restored 1901 Renault 4.5hp type D No. 6006 rear entrance tonneau with canopy, a Genevieve film participant with an estimate of £75,000-£80,000. 

One to sell for £141,666.67p was the 1903 Wolseley 1.5 litre 7.5hp two-cylinder rear entrance tonneau No. 694 which has a good UK history in restored condition and was owned by Soames & Co, the steam cart manufacture at Marsham, Norfolk. (The buildings have only recently been demolished). It was converted to a utility truck to carry two 10 two-gallon petrol cans and was preserved as such for some years. It ended up in the Leslie Goldsmith collection down at Chichester and F1’s Graham Hill drove it in 1972. It was then sold to the Middleton family who were offering it here and it looked superb. 

We came to one of the big ones in the sale with the rare and greatly respected French 1904 Richard-Brasier O-type four-cylinder 2.3 litre T-head16hp side entrance tonneau BS8337 which was got away at £327,750 in brilliant working order. The not so inspiring to some 1901 Durkopp two-cylinder 8hp rear entrance tonneau BL446, again all together and one of only two survivors, raised £138,000 and was previously with Michael Banfield and was sold at his June 2014. sale. It has since had an engine rebuild and was last on the London-Brighton run in 2019. Another that sold for £67,850 was the French 1902 Clement B voiturette No. 909 in good looking order.

Lastly the 1925 Stanley Model SV252 No. 25018 20hp fixed head tourer was delivered new to New Zealand, it was sold via H H Stewart in the South Island and ended up as a taxi of all things. Some 71 years ago now it was sold to George Gilltrap and was in George’s small museum at Rotorua in the North Island before moving to Australia’s Gold Coast in 1959. He took the car with him and it was sold in his museum sale in 1989. It came back to Peter Lumsden in Kent who fitted a Goold boiler in 1999 which is still in good order. It changed hands in 2018 and has since been lightly recommissioned and was sold for a very good £52,900 with full certification. 

All in all a very successful sale for Bonhams. OG has just given you the highlights on the veterans, however there were some lovely Edwardian and classics in the sale also.

This report comes from the latest issue of Old Glory, and you can get a money-saving subscription simply by clicking HERE