Four soldiers, a French barn and the Peugeot that didn't exist...

The wonders of photography have, from time to time, brought us pictures seemingly from the realm of myth. For almost 100 years, now the world has been presented with photographs of things thought not to exist primarily because there is no convincing evidence that they do, like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. The pictures, of course, hoaxes dreamt up by practical jokers, publicity seekers and cranks, but the car in this picture is something very real. However, if it wasn't for this photograph, we'd not know that it ever existed.

Firstly, a bit about the photo: it comes to us from a French gentleman who tells us that it was taken in Orléans, probably on 27th January 1916. The four men are all French soldiers, and the one in the back was the brother of our correspondent's great-grandfather.

The car itself is a Peugeot Type 147 40hp tourer, a model which, we are told, was only ever produced during the 1914-1918 war. Apparently, so we are led to understand, it is not to be found listed in any Peugeot catalogues of the period. It seems to be the case that there are no such cars in existence today, but what is surprising is that we cannot even find period photographs of it on the internet, or even anything similar, save for one poor-quality side-profile picture which may have been printed as an advertisement in a journal. We are told that a picture of the same car with a different soldier appears in Claude Rouxel's book Ghota de l'automobile Française, but we have not seen this for ourselves.

We'd best take a moment to take it all in, for it's quite a magnificent thing to be hold. It's a huge beast, and the engine must be of quite a prodigious size - maybe six or seven litres, we should think. The enormous vee-shaped radiator is not one we are used to seeing on Peugeots of the period, and it must have given the car rather a domineering presence on the road. Most of all, though, we are struck by those curious shrouds on the wings which presumably house the side lights. Whatever could their purpose be, we wonder?

This really is a picture full of mysteries. What can you tell us about the magnificent, but long-lost, 40hp Peugeot?

Words: Zack Stiling; photograph: Niepceron