Beschreibung:

Count Albert De Dion commissioned Messrs Bouton and Trepardoux, brothers-in-law and jobbing engineers, to build light steam carriages for him as early as 1882. In 1895 attention was switched to the fashionable new internal combustion engine and De Dion Bouton et Cie were marketing a diminutive petrol engined tricycle. These early tricycles were powered by Bouton’s new, high speed, single cylinder, vertical engine which revved at almost twice the speed of the contemporary Daimlers. By 1899 the company was marketing a 3 1/2hp Voiturette, an all new generation of four wheel motor car with rear mounted engine driving through a system of gears to the rear wheels. With the new car came the renowned De Dion rear axle – then years ahead of its time. A larger 4 1/2hp engine was offered in the vis-à-vis models from 1900 and with this power unit the car had a comfortable running speed of 25mph although braking ability was a limiting factor. Y 65 is a 3 1/2hp car carrying coachwork by Mulliner in the exceptionally rare Imperial Double Phaeton style, described and illustrated in the De Dion Bouton Preliminary Catalogue for 1901. The car carries a plate on the coachwork bearing the inscription “British Motor Co. Ltd. Licenced – Dion Dunlop Co. Ltd. No.971” and Mulliner records confirm that no.971 was despatched from their works on 6th September 1900. It is an exceptionally rare Type E, a transitional model manufactured in 1900 with the 80 x 80mm, 402cc, vertical, single-cylinder engine as fitted to the earlier Type D, however with steering, lever gear-change and rear hub brakes as fitted to the 4 1/2hp Type G1 introduced in late 1900. Y 65 is one of those remarkable ‘time-warp’ cars preserved very much as it came out of regular service. It was acquired by the father of the present owner from a house sale in Ferndown, Dorset, in 1934 for just £12/10s/0d. The previous owner was a clergyman and it is reputed to have been owned originally by Lord Iver. The car has remained in the same family ownership since 1934 and bears a tax disc indicating it was last licenced in 1936. We believe that much of the paint on the car is probably original as applied in Mulliner’s Coachworks in 1900. The coachwork carries the supplier’s plate of The De Dion Bouton British & Colonial Syndicate Ltd, 14 Regent Street, London, S.W. Mechanically the car appears to be to original specification in all major respects. It is equipped with Dietz oil side lamps of the correct period and the four seat coachwork provides comfortable seating for four passengers with fold-down foot rest for the front seat passengers who sit ‘closest to the accident’. The original Y 65 registration number is one of the earliest numbers issued by Somerset County Council in December 1903 when the requirement for vehicle registration was introduced. Y 65 was last driven in 1978 and the engine had not been started for six years until October 2004 when it fired up readily and ran sweetly. There are remarkably few Victorian motor cars with such an outstanding provenance, history and delightful patina, so carefully preserved by the vendor’s family over a 70 year period of ownership. This car is offered with a Swansea V5 registration document, old style log book and a Veteran Car Services Ltd Certificate of Date together with a Dating Panel Report confirming its authenticity.