Intriguing 8-litre motor, fit for a Princess

Perhaps not the clearest in quality, but what an interesting photograph this is! The wasp-waisted lady has to be of regal upbringing hasn’t she? She certainly is. We stumbled upon the picture while on the look for more information about ‘Princess Victoria – the smallest lady in the world’ recently (more info still very welcome). This, however, is believed to be a real princess Victoria: Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg, later known as Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia.

She was born in 1876 and died in 1936. She lived in numerous places around Europe, changing her native Great Britain for Malta and southern Germany later on and then went to France, Russia and Finland and back to Germany and France again, marrying twice and leaving behind several daughters.

But let’s not get carried away by the complications of 19th century European royalty - it’s the car that intrigues us most here, let there be no misunderstanding about that. This is believed to be an 8-Litre NAG (Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft) Type B2 made in Berlin in around 1908 and it certainly has some interesting features. First of all the front wings and running boards seem extremely low, probably to make getting in and out something that can be done gracefully and comfortably. Or could these footboards hide storage facilities? And, speaking of storage that’s some package on the roof. Just for a picnic or more than that? The folded roof at the very back is also intriguing and not something we recall having seen before. Could that be metal?

(Words Jeroen Booij, picture Pinterest)

Published:

Friday September 9th, 2022

Ariejan Bos

12 September 2022, 15:04

The luggage room in cars of that era was restricted, so coachbuilders had to invent ingenious ways of increasing storage space. On the uploaded photo of a double phaeton, taken from the well-known book by Jean Henri Labourdette (Un Siècle de Carrosserie française), an overview is given of some ways of doing this. Of course a limousine or a landaulette had its fixed roof parts for taking even more stuff, although part of this space normally was reserved for spare (inner-)tires. The (always necessary) tools found their place usually in a box on top of the running board, but could also be stored in one of the boxes below.
A folded roof top was not uncommon at the time, though a double folded roof top of this size is not often seen. As most bodies were constructed of wood (because of the weight problem), I suppose these roofs were made of plywood.
And the car on the Labourdette photo? That is a circa 1906 Mercedes, so we are looking at a costly combination of body and chassis!

Michael Schlenger

09 September 2022, 15:21

This photo was also published in "Braunbecks's Sportlexikon" from 1910 (I've attached a scan from my facsimile edition). According to this source, the lady on the runnning board was born as Charlotte von Preußen, a grandaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of the German emperor Friedrich III. By marrying Bernhard von Sachsen-Meiningen she became Erbprinzessin / Herzogin von Sachsen-Meiningen. She died from cancer in 1919, aged only 59.

Intriguing 8-litre motor, fit for a Princess

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