De Crawhez's camper: the mystery car of a motor-caravan pioneer

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We begin today's article with a small confession. Some of us at PreWarCar.com indulged ourselves in the escapism of Downton Abbey every now and then—only when the wife watched it, of course. Apart from the motor vehicles seen regularly on the screen, it did make us wonder what life in the early 20th century really looked like to the family for whom money was not much of an object. It seems to have been an endless procession of invitations and guests, luncheons and dinners, and general hob-nobbing. No wonder so many of the sons joined the army to escape these ostentatious everyday routines...

In Belgium, however, one particular young nobleman had other ideas. As soon as the motor car became known to Baron Pierre de Crawhez, he and his brother Jean threw themselves head-first into the motoring lifestyle. Pierre came up with the Circuit des Ardennes race between 1902 and 1907, believed to be the first road race on closed roads before the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps took over. He was a regular competitor in other races, too, coming home fifth in the 1903 Paris-Madrid, for example. He also made adventurous expeditions by motor car through the African deserts.

However, it was supposedly Jean de Crawhez who came up with the idea of a lavish camping car before anyone else. This vehicle comes with a retractable rear door, which can be turned into a modest terrace with canopy wherever you like, so you could ejnoy a Champagne stop whenever you happened to find a particularly nice view. Who recognises the base vehicle here?

Words: Jeroen Booij; pictures: source unknown
 

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