How to date the Orient Express?

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Last year Ron Mellowship finished the restoration of his Orient Express just in time for London to Brighton. The car finished without major incident and Ron hopes to run again this November. The Orient Express was the first automobile built by Thomas Bergmann whose works were at Gaggenau, Germany. Before venturing into car manufacture, Bergmann made guns of various sorts including automatic handguns and air rifles. Up till now the oldest Orient Express is dated 1898, but Ron believes that his vis-à-vis is from late 1896 or early 1897. The one-cylinder, 5 h.p. engine of Ron’s car has number 104, the 1898 car has engine number 152 and there is also a survivor in Germany with engine number 171. Despite the lineage of car manufacture at Gaggenau leading right up to the present day, evidence of the first such productions are proving hard to find. If you can help with contemporary information about these very innovative early vehicles, please do tell us!

Original published on October 17, 2010

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