THE OLDEST MOTOR-CAR.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XI, Issue 201, 18 August 1921, Page 7

THE OLDEST MOTOR-CAR.

RELIC SOLD FOB STRICKEN FRENCH AREAS L’Ancretrc, claimed to be the oldest motor car in the world, paid a visit to Paris in June. Its progress, slow and asthmatical as it was as it passed the Arc do Triomplic and down the Champs Elysees, was quite in the nature of a triumphal entry. L’An cot re first saw the light 29| years ago, having left the hands of its inanu- ; facturers in December, IS9I. It belongs to the Abbe Gavois, a white-haired; priest of Bonneville, in the department i of the Somme, and despite its ineongrtb I ous appearance as compared with the ' stately cars which it passed on its way through the streets of Paris, it is sfiil as well preserved as its dignified old owner. The Abbe has employed the car for many years past in visiting his parishioners and in doing the arduous work of his Somme parish. Tie has received many offers from would-be purchasers, but has always refused on the ground that the ear was still 11 doing its bit” in a modest way locally. Now, however, he has decided to sell the relic and to devote the proceeds to chant-i able purposes in the stmek&a areas. ’ Large crcwdb gutWoCi to welcome L’Ancetre at the Port Maillot and.the Etoile, and. showed amusement at the oiling up and starting of the car, the sight of which certainly brought strikingly to the mind the progress made in motor vehicles during the last throe decades. For UAncetre still moves about on wooden wheels without tiros at an average speed of six miles i.n hour, and its owner has all along disdained modern improvements.