OLD MOTOR CROCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21037, 23 November 1931, Page 9

OLD MOTOR CROCKS.

LONDON-BRIGHTON RUN. SIR M. CAMPBELL'S DRIVE. LONDON. Nov. 15. Piloted partly by drivers in Victorian costume, 57 old motor crocks—the youngest 27 years old and the others veterans of. the days when mechanicallypropelled vehicles had to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag and the speed limit was two miles an hour—started on the annual run from London to Brighton to-day. This run constitutes the yearly celebration of "Emancipation Day," when the restrictions were removed. The cars taking part included a participant in the original run in 1896, and another in which Lord Rothschild drove King Edward to Ascot in 1901. The driver of a third announced its advance by continually clanging a bell. A fourth was rescued after lying for a year as a derelict in the New Forest, where it was a home for birds and animals. The world's speed record-holder, Sir Malcolm Campbell, drove a 1903 Rolls Royce. He "was held up for a long time by a choked carburetter, and took nearly four hours to travel the 60 miles. In all, 42 cars accomplished the run, the best average being 25.45 miles an hour by a 1904 Darracq, the third car home. It had spent 15 years in a barn, but recently was resuscitated. One of the oldest cars became finally defunct, its back axle collapsing half-way from London.