It is a brand New Year! And we want to express our wish that 2005 will bring everything you hope for. For instance a brilliant barnfind like this one which landed in the editorial mailbox only very recent. The car emerged after a barnsleep of no less than 50 years. Now for connoisseurs of the French car this will seem not very complicated. This make by the way was the first -long before Henry Ford- to introduce series production. We think this was even before 1900. Anyway. hope you're still on board, we want you to name the Make(1), the Year(2) and the Type(3). Now everybody can see this is not a standard model, so that is where this quiz is getting ugly... Question 4 : who is the coachbuilder? By the way this southern France company is still alive & kicking and even do have a website...! (photo source to be revealed next week)  Read more

Once more a year behind us. A year ending extremely sad with the immense Tsunami disaster bringing a countless loss. What can we say about it? Maybe a wellmeant prayer is the best we can do beside a personal gift. Facing the forces of nature makes us feel humble again. Maybe that is the only good thing that came from the disaster. Whatever man can do, whatever man can make, when nature itself snaps its fingers we're gone in a matter of seconds. At the same time we can only realise ourselves how rich in fact we are. Rich to be alive. Rich to have family and friends. Rich to have a hobby. And rich to have the time and possibilities to enjoy these gifts of life. Let's be wise on how we spend our time and how we treat the people around us because if there is one thing we have learned once more these last few days, it is how fragile and short life can be.
(photo & title free after a 1937 Packard advert with the headline: 'Reflections of a husband on New Year's Eve.' part of the William F. Walling Collection ; click for full advert) 

Showing here in the late afternoon light of New Zealand a 1926 De Dion Bouton 'camionette' that was in use by the French movie-company 'Pathé', check their historic archives website Gaumont-Pathe. Hans Compter bought the car from a French potato grower in the sixties and only much later during the restoration found this old advertising sign under thick layers of tarlike paint. The text reads Pathé-Baby "Le Cinéma chez soi" (Your Cinema at Home). It refers to a new home-projector that obviously was invented to soup up the distribution of film in the country. Hans found an exact specimen of the 'baby' projector plus the manual (clic) at a Sotheby's auction in Sydney. Are there any French visitors who know if more of these De Dion 'Pathé' are still around? Info@PreWarCar.com 

UPDATE by Kees Koster (clic) : "The carburettor 90% sure must be a Gürtner." Edit.: We found one interesting Gürtner link.
EARLIER:We are a bunch of funny people. Busy-busy-busy with stuff nobody wants and everybody forgot about. Bas de Voogd is one of those. He bought his DS Malterre bike back in 1973. It's in pieces in boxes for over 30 years now. And Bas keeps dreaming about the sound and the ride of his DS-Malterre. So he keeps checking other boxes and other places and even more jumbles for a tank and a carburettor for this oddball machine. He even doesn't know what kind of carburettor was there once. We wish him luck plus all you out there placing these far out Wanted Adverts.... (photo Bas de Voogd)  

Remember the gentleman with his fine Fiat Open Tourer of several weeks ago? Yes? That was Mr. Hall (clic). Today we stop for a minute at the door of his establishment, which - according to the publication on the far left - is under entirely "New Proprietorship .... All Articles of the Finest Quality". Benskins Ales & Stout, wines & spirits has a billboard high at the building. From John Barringer's e-mail we understand the pub is still in existence today. However this photo today is exactly 76 years old: 28 December 1928... The really interesting part of the photo is the lower part. Click here to find the panorama John Barringer wrote about: "The picture shows three vehicles, the one at the right forefront I think is a Rolls Royce 20 HP cabriolet but the others are a mystery. The van at the left is a strange design with vents in the roof, a horse box perhaps? I have two other pictures taken on the same day, one of which shows many horsemen gathering for a fox hunt, soon to be made illegal in the UK. Why are there two policemen on the scene?" Editor's answer: "I leave the identification of the cars to the experts, but your question about the police is answered by one of the other photos showing a since short forbidden countryside activity (clic) .... 

Update by Dick Trenk(US):"I think the engine might be an experimental from Frank Brisco who was involved in early engine ventures at the Indy track and general US circle track racing."
EARLIER: Isn't this a nice kick-off for the free parts listing week? (click to check ZERO-rates; only up to & untill Sunday 2 January).
A load of stuff (clic) already came in, including another mystery engine! Prior to that one of our regular US visitors sent this great mystery engine pics + the following specs (click photo to see other side of engine) "Specifications < :::: > 4 cylinder air cooled with fully machined cylinders with detached heads and detachable valve cages... 5 main bearings... 2 camshafts... bore 4" stroke 4" (!)... overhead exhaust valves... flat head intake valves... flared interface at exhaust valve cage exhaust port and the exhaust headers... provision on brass intake manifold for 2 carburettors... roller cam followers... bevel drive from the camshaft located on the side of the crankcase to drive magneto or timing device... splash lubrication with dippers on the rods... all valve lifters, cylinders, main bearings, rods and valves are numbered... finely cast and machined one piece aluminum crankcase; insertion of the crankshaft from the ends with full length removable inspection and assembling panels on each side of the crankcase ... weight approximately 190 pounds... marking HC stamped on top of crankcase. The engine is manufactured to high standards using excellent materials. PLEASE NOTE the very early use of a solid one piece crankcase that was the hallmark of the racing 'OFFY' many years later.......I believe this engine is 1908 to 1911" Info@PreWarCar.com

Update: John Mereness says we should contact theFranklin Club, which is dedicated to air cooled cars in general). But... as Bob Swanson states, this engine very well be from an aircraft...  

Robert Seymour writes: "Things are busy around here on the small roads with Christmas and all. Sometimes the smaller cars like this MG have to pull off in a wide spot to let the bigger cars pass, like this Invicta. This blue Invicta is a type LS which is a 1.5 litre supercharged car. This car is restored but incorrectly and will be done in the near future. It has some unique features such as pull switches for the ignition and fuel pump. Also, the horn button in the centre of the steering wheel and when pulled up activates the starter. The car drives well, smooth with good brakes and steering, but with a rather heavy feel. Top speed is only about 65mph. The car I bought on your website is a S type kit of parts which won't be assembled and shipped for about 1 year. The MG in the photo is an 1930 18/80 fabric body Speedmodel."
(thanks Robert, please let us know more when your "kit of parts" is touching tarmac)  

It's not a horseless carriage, it's a deerless carriage. Who else would be driving around dressed up like this with a load of gifts on the hood? But first we have to say "Merry Christmas!" and as we don't want to spoil this special day for you, you may sit on # 136 for almost a week. By the way the photo is exactly 100 years old (except for the colouring of Santa's jacket and hat, which is the work of Larz Anderson Museum's conservator Evan Ide). Now we could have asked you to tell us all about this automobile. But it is too easy for too many of you and that would mean too much work for us in this time of year. So find out what it is and tell us, but we will judge you on something else. For that you first should click the photo to get the rich detailing and after that you zoom in a little more (clic) to find a small set of wheels. It's about those we are asking your opinion. The historically most correct, or most relevant, most absurd or otherwise highly interesting response (possibly with old photo or any alternative form of artwork) will win the Roadmap/PrewarCar gillet and will be published on these pages. Possibly there will be more then one winner. Entries must be in at Info@PreWarCar.com before the year 2005.
(photo courtesy Larz Anderson Auto Museum) 

That is the somewhat sad subscript with this great pencil illustration. It's an early 1900's postcard showing Santa pulling his Curved Dash Olds(?). Today we want to express special thanks to all friends around the world who overloaded our desks during 2004 with superior new artwork, vintage artwork, vintage photos, antique postcards, mystery cars & forgotten machinery and not to forget all those stories! Please forgive us if and don't despair when your item didn't turn up. We try to put in as many of these items as possible. ... Yet, not only the pulling Santa in this drawing, the PreWarCar team is slowing down as well the last days of this year. Still we will present Quiz # 136 tomorrow. Be it slightly different from other weekends. And not only because you will have more time for the solution. Stay tuned!
In case you want to give Santa a little help you probably know where to go. If not may we suggest WarChild ; the independent, nonpolitical organisation that is helping traumatised children worldwide.
(postcard from Horwitz Collection)  

John Tanner and Andy Watt don't do this any more to their 1904 Berliet which celebrated its 100th birthday during the recent London-Brighton Run. Yet they did when the car was still young, when it was only 90 years old....
John writes: "2000 metres up in the mountains in January without a windscreen - the crash helmets were used to keep the cold off our faces! Would you believe that we do this for fun (well, we used to!!!) When the car didn't seem to be going too well one day, we found the one and only problem that we had on the event: one of the brake linkages covered in ice, and frozen while the brakes were on! Secret revealed by the smoke and smell of hot brakes, not normal at 2000 metres before we started the descent! General impression was that the car did better than the crew.., bravo Mr Berliet."
(more about Berliet - in French - at 'FondationBerliet.org')
(photo by anonymous photographer, courtesy FatSpark MagnetoRepair)
The 2005 edition of Patrick Zaniroli's 'Rally Neige & Glace' will be
from 22 untill 25 February