OLDEST CAR FIRST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 10 December 1936, Page 16

OLDEST CAR FIRST.

"RUN TO BRIGHTON." LEADS 90 VETERANS, LONDON, November 21.

The Brighton road on Sunday of this week was a moving panorama of motor history. Ninety of the most ancient ears in Britain set o(f in procession from Hyde Park to re-enact the "emancipation day" run of 1890, when the "red flag Act" was abolished. Age was for once at a premium and speed at a discount. One of the most successful young racing drivers of the day, Prince Birabongse, of Siam, was proud and thankful to get from London to Brighton in six and a half hours at the wheel of a 1902 Peugeot. Age triumphed. The first to reach the Marine Drive at Brighton was the oldest car of all, the 1894 C'anstatt-Daimler driven by 'Mr. C. H. Perrin. The run was not a race, and there was a break near Crawley for'rest and replenishment, but this sprightly old carriage had no difficulty in keeping its place, in spite of relying on four leather belts to drive its wheels. Mr. Perrin was followed by two LeonBolle tricycles, a Beeston tricycle, and a" Star dogcart, all products of the last century. The Star driver reported that he had been "gouged" on the way for speeding. Finally, when the cheering crowds had broken into the road so that the cars had to push their way through, there arrived, late but triumphant, Captain E. do W. S. Colver's Arnold motor carriage, which alone of all the 90 had taken part in the historic run of 1896.