Beschreibung:

The ex-Ivor Read 1908 Napier 45hp Type 23 Six-Cylinder Open Drive Limousine Coachwork by Burlington Carriage Co Registration no. LD 3218 Chassis no. 4160 * Outstanding museum quality Edwardian motor car * Known ownership history from new * Long-term single family ownership 1914 to 2002 * Extensive sympathetic mechanical conservation in recent years Fußnoten "Napier's list of customers, like the passenger list of the Titanic, recalls all the thundery afternoon sunlight of Edwardian England. Here is ancient landed wealth: here is the recent profit of industry and finance: here are the rich Radical politicians. Here is a memory of the days when there were forty servants below stairs at Longleat, when Sir William Lever, vastly rich on soap, could say he was 'in love with petrol'." How well Charles Wilson and William Reader in Men and Machines - A History of D Napier & Son, Engineers, Ltd summarised the background against which Mr Ernest Johann Wicke ordered his new Napier Limousine in 1908. Legend has it that he bought the car after it had won major accolades at a London motor show. Wicke lived at Rochester House, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent and maintained a 'sufficient' household, similar to many other Napier customers. His magnificent new limousine, supplied by S F Edge Ltd of 14 New Burlington Street, London, was delivered on 23rd December 1908 and Wicke was to keep the car until 1914. Wicke cherished his Napier, insisting that a Napier motor engineer be provided to drive and maintain the car to the highest standards. He built a substantial motor house for his chauffeur, Percy Frederick Mosely, fronted by a glass canopy under which Mosely could dry off the car after a wet journey, before parking it inside. This property survived in Westgate-on-Sea until comparatively recently. In 1914 the car was purchased by Ivor Read's father, who retained Mosely's services as chauffeur. Mosely taught Ivor to drive on the car, which remained in active service until 1925. Correspondence on file indicates that it nearly slipped out of family ownership in 1929 in a part-exchange deal with the Invicta Motor Engineering Works Ltd involving a Ford. Ivor forestalled his father's deal, and the car was thereafter carefully preserved until Ivor's death in 2001. During that period it made local appearances, being exhibited at the Napier Centenary gathering in 1958 and on other notable occasions. In 1979, during Ivor Read's ownership, the Napier was featured in Automobile Quarterly (Volume 17, No 3). Various photographs and papers before and during Ivor Read's ownership are available together with an Instruction Book for Napier Cars, provided by S F Edge Ltd in 1912. Having rebuilt Ivor Read's larger sporting Napier during Ivor's lifetime, VSCC former treasurer Bill Fone purchased 'LD 3218' from his estate at Bonhams' RAF Museum Hendon Sale in April 2002 (Lot 917). With assistance from Bill May, an engineer apprenticed at Napiers, 'LD 3218' was returned to roadworthy condition without removing the body from the chassis. The engine bearings were satisfactory but the oil pump worn, so repaired. All mechanical work on the chassis and running gear was entrusted to Arthur Archer of Great Dunmow, Essex, who also reproduced the fuel tank and exhaust system. Wheels were rebuilt, brake shoes and drums replaced, patterns made to cast a new water pump, and the electric telegraph from the passenger compartment to the driver repaired. The silk roller blinds have been replaced. The 6.0-litre engine provides easy performance, geared at around 38mph per 1,000 revolutions. The sprag facility on the transmission engaged by a handle beside the gear lever has been disconnected. Arthur Archer has provided a manual of information and operation of the car to match Mosely's Manual. Ranking highly amongst the most original surviving formal Edwardian motor cars, 'LD 3218' has stood the test of time remarkably well. The wings were probably changed in the late Edwardian or early Vintage