This year it is 120 ago that Bertha Benz made her now famous long-distance journey. In August 1888, she and her two sons set off in the patent motor car designed by her husband, Carl Benz, and drove the 106 kilometers from Mannheim to the town of her birth, Pforzheim, returning to Mannheim a few days later. With the exception of one or two minor incidents, the patent motor car functioned perfectly. To mark this anniversary, the town of Pforzheim has unveiled a monument in honor of Bertha Benz. The sculpture, made by local artist René Dantes, is -in his words- “an expression of dynamic movement but also depicts a stylized representation of a Benz patent motor car and seated female figure, whose two elements fuse to form a single entity.” In our words: a fitting Monument to the Mother of all Motoring!

And don’t forget… today is Mother’s Day!

(photos courtesy Daimler AG) (RB)  

It's a Bob Adams flatbed truck. Delivering a car bought through this website a few years back to its new US owner. It's one of those makes of car only the real insider knows about. Production was probably not far from 100 units in total. Still this marque is capable to arouse the interest of hundreds of afficionado's. The cars of this make in most cases were built and meant for competition and used the best of two worlds. Both from the UK and from the US. The maker himself is an ex army man, the history of the marque is made of competition. We understand the engine is slightly more powerfull compared to the more 'standard' cars making this example even more scarce than most of the other handfull of survivors. Up to you to explain or gamble -before next Monday - from which year and which specification this particular example is in order to have a chance to win the infamous PreWarCar T-shirt. Send here. (photo source will be made public next week)   Read more

Your editors's Model T has passed the Dutch Road Safety Board tests (RDW ) and is granted a licence which will be efffective within days from now. It is our intention to report to you about Model T life during the remainder of this centennial. At the start of this t-project we like to express special thanks for their help to Keith Canouse for being our buyers guide during the AACA fall Meet, last October in Hershey. To Dougal Cawley of Longstone Tyres for providing an A+ set of vintage tyres and safety inner tubes. And to Theo Castricum for fine-fettling the car over the last few weeks for use on the Dutch roads! We'll keep you informed.JB
UPDATE: see video

No Friday lovely today; just to remember you it's Mother's day this Sunday...  

Rastislav Noga from Bratislava, Slovakia asks our help in identifying this slightly battered brass dashboard panel. Several years ago he bought it locally without knowing what it was for. The speedometer is Smiths; the mechanical clock is made by North & Sons Ltd from Watford and London; the fuel gauge is AC Standard and the ignition switch is a Lucas Startix. The only markings that can be found on the inside of the panel are the numbers 300030 and 1034. It could be that the speedo and clock were replaced at some time, but still the whole dashboard has a certain ‘made in the UK’ air about it. What do you think? Let us know (RB)

UPDATE II comes from Crawford Stirling who has a 1934 Standard 10 which has a similar (painted) dash (click!)
UPDATE I by Steve Gallichan: “I am certain this dashboard comes from a 1930's Standard, made by the Standard Motor Company Ltd of Coventry England, and were very similar throughout their range of cars made between 1933/1934. It should have a wood grain pattern that was coated on top of the brass which has been removed. The circular cut out in the top of the dash was for the windscreen wiper handle that could be turned to engage the electric wiper motor or move the wiper blades off of the opening windscreen, there was the a second piece of the dash that covered the centre section to hide that large hole.” 

This vintage hauler set was sent to us by Hugh Nutting from Montana. The pickup is his 1947 Hudson model 178 'Big Boy' 3/4 ton towing a trailer with his LaDarwi. At first glimpse both vehicles are post-war, so where’s the pre-war? Look closer at the trailer. It’s a recreation of those often used by dirt track racers in the 1940s. The main frame rails are from a 1917 REO Speedwagon one-and-a-half-ton chassis salvaged from a hay trailer conversion. Hugh often uses it when going to sports car races. His longest trip was from Colorado to Sun Valley Indiana. And if you’ve never heard of a LaDarwi, don’t be ashamed, although the maker of this fibreglass body has many followers. There used to be a website about it, we couldn’t find it anymore. (photos Hugh Nutting) (RB)

UPDATES: Ben Curtis informs us that details of La Dawri can be found here (click!) and both Hugh Nutting and Kit Foster have found information here (click!). 

Ben Thompson (UK) reacts to our earlier Triumph-Triumph towing story from Martin Frosh.
"My father and I use his 1936 3 1/2 Derby Bentley (Sports Saloon ? ) by Thrupp & Maberly, to tow my 1928 Austin Seven to race meetings, seen here setting off for last year's VSCC Prescott. The Derby, one of only 30 or so four door saloon's by T&M - a 1935 car, registered early '36, has been back on the road for about ten years and runs very well indeed, covering thousands of miles a year. The Austin was re-built by myself in 2004, used often for road, hill climbs and trials." (here seen slightly faster than the camera (click)) Next chance to see this prewar combo will be at VSCC Wiscombe next Sunday. (photos courtesy Ben Thompson)  

Normally we publish an unidentified rusty chassis on the Monday morning. Just something for you to chew on during the busy week. However, this time we found a lovely axle hiding in the Brazilian woods. It looks to be a mix of T-Ford and De Dion Bouton parts, but we can always try to find out what it really is for. We couldn’t find a clue on the axle itself, but take a close look at the unusual double-action suspension set-up as photographed from above and there’s also a front view. All kinds of ideas are invited! Mail us (RB)
UPDATES came in form Layden Butler: "Appears to be all Model T Ford with grease seal modification to the axle tubes, the coil springs are Float-A-Ford aftermarket accessories, the wire wheels are 1926-7 Ford with home made adaptation to the 1925 and earlier axle."...and Hugh Nutting:"Only speaking for the Model T bits - The spring is the tapper leaf style used to 1917. The coil shocks are brand - Float-a-Ford that came out in 1918. It has the small brake drums used on 1909 to 1925 Fords. The wheels are 21" Ford wire wheels that could be 1926-27 T or 1928-29 Model A that were likely fitted at a later date."  

Loyal prewarcar fan Bogdan Coconiou from Bucharest, (Automobilia.ro) sends us a series of photos from last weekend's Concorza d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. It was his first time to be present at the 'mother' of all today's Concourses. Enjoy his pictures and you may understand his emotional comment after being in supercar heaven: 'I have no words'. Here a few of the cars he saw: the low profile 1937 Alfa Romeo 2300 B Pescara with a streamline coupe body by Pinin Farina (lead photo). The inevitable 1937 Delahaye 135m Roadster by Figoni & Falaschi. The radical 1938 Mercedes Benz 540 K Autobahnkurier. The more than imposing 1932 Daimler Double Six Saloon by Martin Walter. And so on and on but finally in our eyes the most spectacular of all what we have seen from this concours so far... the 1935 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Roadster by Jankovits ...!  

This was the kind of quiz car that either you know or don’t know. All answers we received mentioned the correct make: de Dion Bouton. This one was “found” by Bogdan Coconoiu in the Museum "Casa Cuza Voda" in Romania. It’s been there since the 1990s; unfortunately the museum is almost unknown to the public. The de Dion Bouton, a “vis-à-vis” Type G, was made from 1900 to 1901 and this one arrived in Romania at the beginning of the last century. It was restored locally in the 1980s. We realize this was a tough quiz, as only four entrants, Rupert Banner, Sujit Gupta, Frans Vrijaldenhoven and David Manson had most of the little details correct. In the end we decided that Rupert’s answer was the most complete, so the T-shirt is his. Congratulations to Rupert Banner! (With many thanks to Fons Alkemade, expert in early French cars) (photos courtesy Borcea George Ioan). (RB) 

Martin Frosh is showing off the combination of two of his former cars: ...a regular feature used to appear in Motor Sport - 50 years ago ? - when that nice young Mr. Boddy was fully in charge... Entitled "Perfect Pairs" - or similar, this was a photo series of unlikely cars being towed by even more unlikely other cars. A contribution if so - my mid 70's Triumpph Stag delivering my 1929 Australian bodied Triumph Super Seven - sold on an impulse and regretted to this day. Earlier an Armstrong Siddeley Whitley did tow duties, once notably over 150 miles at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius plus. (photos Martin Frosh)
Editor: do you have/had an amazing 'combo'? Please let us know !