1901 Panhard Et Levassor 7HP Rear Entrance Tonneau Coachwork by Henri Labourdette
Registration No. To be advised
Engine No. 2881
Chassis No. 213
A once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase the pinnacle of Veteran motoring, original bodied cars from 1901 are almost non existent and this excellent Panhard Levassor is surely one of the finest of its type surviving in the world today.
£POA
Presented in excellent condition, the early Panhard et Levassor offered here retains its original tonneau body by Henri Labourdette of Paris, one of the oldest of French coachbuilders with a reputation for quality second to none. Established as a carriage maker in 1858, Labourdette built its first motor car bodies in 1899/1900 on Panhard et Levassor chassis and remained in the front rank of European coachbuilders until WW2. This particular car is powered by a 1,650cc twin-cylinder engine rated at 7hp, which drives via a three-speed gearbox and chain final transmission. Particularly worthy of note is the magneto ignition, an advanced feature specified by the original owner in preference to the standard hot-tube ignition, which is recorded on the surviving factory build sheet. Other noteworthy features include a single Ducellier headlight, a pair of Neverout sidelights and wing mounted brass horn. The provision of an electric starter is an excellent addition and makes it incredibly easy to live with, this alongside the windscreen offer the car wet weather versatility.
HISTORY:
The surviving Panhard factory archives show that this particular car, chassis number '213', was delivered new on 5th June 1901 to Michel Plancard in Carcassonne, Toulouse. From letters of correspondence in the file, we can see that Monseur Plancard never registered the car in his name, but was the first person in all of his ‘department’ to obtain a driving license. Plancard owned a foundry ‘Plancard and Brothers’ that specialised in casting ‘ big pieces of metal for mooring boats, plates for sewers and water fountains for gardens’.
On 3rd December 1901 the car was registered to Gustave Lacuve with the number '11 T', signifying that it was the 11th car registered in Toulouse. In a letter in the history file we read that ‘The letter T means that the car was registered in Toulouse City which also covered areas such as Haute Garonne and Carcassone’. Upon contacting Jedy Lacuve, the grandson of Gustave we can see in an extract the following, ‘According to my Grand father, there were only two cars registered in Carcassonne at this point in 1901. My Grand father was very friendly with Plancard and this is why he sold him the car after only 6 months from new, he was also very friendly with Louis Castel who he sold the car too in 1905 (3rd owner)’. Mr Lacuve was born in 1886 in Marseillette a small village to the east of Carcassonne, his family were originally sheep farmers but went into the wine business and owned multiple vineyards. A photo is present In the file showing Lacuve outside his property in Toulouse.
The car was next passed to Monseur Louis Castel on 13th January 1905, Castel was also a wine grower and was a great friend of the Lacuve family. The car was sold on the promise that it would be kept long term by Castel and could be used when required by the Lacuve family. This promise appeared to be kept by Louis Castel as ‘he left the car, when he finished using it, down in the corner of his castle cellar’ and this is where it next surfaced some 60 years later in 1970 when a gentleman called Soucaret arrived on the scene.
Monseur Andre Soucaret was a local to Carcassonne and was the founder of the ‘Tacot Club De L’Auto’ the 1st club for vintage cars in the Toulouse area. Speaking with Monseur Soucaret’s widow Jeanine, we can see in a letter that she can remember Andre buying the car from Castel’s cellar in complete condition in 1970.
Andre Soucaret died in 1995 but before this, he stressed that not one of his cars should remain in the area. It was in around 1992 when the car was sold to dutch dealer Mr Jan Bruin who had a motor museum in Holland. The car was in shabby but very original condition and importantly it was running. An extract from a letter around this time also states ‘The bodywork on the car with the rear door was certainly original’. The car was subsequently sold to Rick Rawlings in the United States who treated the car to a full sympathetic restoration, retaining the cars original leather upholstery. The car completed the 1996 London to Brighton Run, which was the 100th anniversary of the event.
After this the car was passed to a private collection, that of Mr Richard J Solove, who purchased the car to take part in the London to Brighton run with his family. The car was then purchased in 2007 by Maggie Newman who completed 5 London to Brighton Runs in the car with ‘the pink ladies’ named for the car full of women in pink puffer coats.
Offered here for sale, with any inspection welcome, 11T offers a new custodian a potentially concours winning car with immaculate provenance, ready to be used on the London to Brighton Veteran car run and other events or simply to be enjoyed as the centrepiece of a collection.
