Five Edwardian cars for under £40k

But these cars offer endless in-car entertainment in the way they need to be conducted along the road. There’s no mollycoddling at all, drivers having to interact with virtually every mechanical aspect of these pioneering machines. They turn every drive into an adventure, just as it was at the start of the 20^th century.

1906 Rover 6hp Model R Two-Seater Tourer

Sold for £19,550 including premium

At the end of Rover’s life Tourer was shorthand for estate, but there’s very little similarity between the Model R Two-Seater Tourer and a 75 wagon. Rover started out as a bicycle manufacturer and its first powered vehicle was a three-wheeled EV in 1888. The first Rover with an internal combustion engine arrived in 1903 when a former Daimler designer joined the firm to create an 8hp single-cylinder car with an aluminium backbone frame. It had some drawbacks, but remained in production until 1912.

The 6hp model was launched soon after the introduction of the 8hp model. It had a steel-reinforced wooden chassis, which was more conventional for the era. It was the first Rover used in motorsport, with an entry into the 1904 Bexhill Speed Trials. 

This one has been in the same ownership since 1981 and spent many years prior to that in the United States. In 2019, a Veteran Car Club inspection deemed that it ‘appears to be an original and complete entity.’ The price for such history? £19,550 including premium.

1915 Enfield 10hp Tourer

Sold for £21,850 including premium

For the price of a new Vauxhall Corsa you could instead have bought this 110-year-old Enfield 10hp Tourer. Royal Enfield’s roots are in a light engineering company called George Townsend & Company that was established in the mid-Victorian times. It moved into bicycle manufacture before evolving into motorcycle making and eventually De Dion-engined tricycles and quadricycles at the end of the 19^th century.

In the early 1900s, car-making was Enfield’s main occupation and in 1905 that side of the business was spun off into the Enfield Autocar Company Ltd which started making larger cars. In 1907, the company was acquired by Alldays & Onions who made Enfield-badged versions of its own more upmarket models until 1915.

This example has a four-cylinder engine driving through a three-speed (plus reverse – eat your heart out, Corsa drivers!) gearbox. Both have been rebuilt, and the radiator and magneto have been reconditioned. There are new tyre, tubes, too. It sold for £21,850 including premium.

1900 Locomobile 5.5hp Type 2 Spindle Seat Runabout

Sold for £31,050 including premium

And now for something completely different. The Locomobile 5.5hp Type 2 Spindle Seat Runabout had a wonderfully descriptive name when it comes to where the occupants sit, while the ‘Loco’ hints at its steam power. Other than that, it’s very much a case of what you see is what you get. There’s not a great deal of bodywork to conceal any surprises.

The Locomobile Company was established in 1899 to build steam cars to the Stanley Brothers’ designs, having bought the manufacturing rights. This car has a twin-cylinder engine with a 14-inch boiler under the driver’s seat. Steering is controlled by a tiller while elliptic springs were tuned for the rough roads of the era.

The car is believed to have been imported from the United States. It has been in one family ownership since 1974 and has completed several London to Brighton runs. A recent restoration has led to the issuing of a boiler and hydraulics Examination Certificate in July 2024. It sold for £31,050 including premium but not including the A 147 registration the car has worn since being imported to the UK in the 1970s.

1904 Humber 4.5hp Olympia Tandem Forecar

Sold for £37,950 including premium

We’re stretching the definition of a car with this three-wheeled Humber 4.5hp Olympia Tandem Forecar. Defying convention, too, with an armchair for the passenger ahead of the driver. That’s the thing with being a pioneer, though; you’re working ahead of consensus. Humber began manufacturing motor vehicles in 1896, and displayed its motorcycles at that year’s International Horseless Carriage Exhibition.

The thinking behind that luxuriously upholstered front-mounted passenger seat was to keep its occupant ahead of the dust and exhaust gasses that might trouble more rearward riders. The air-cooled engine was built under a Phelon & Moore licence and had a capacity of 630cc.

This example is one of the world’s oldest surviving Humbers and is eligible for both the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run and the Pioneer Run for Veteran Motorcycles. Until the Bonhams|Cars sale, it had been in the same ownership for 46 years. It was bid to £37,950 including premium.

1904 Pope Tribune 6hp Two-Seater

Sold for £37,950 including premium

This Pope Tribune 6hp Two-Seater was part of the National Motor Museum Collection since 1979, initially being used in the education classroom and more recently serving as a photographic prop, and is therefore in need of recommissioning. It’s one of very few American veteran cars and uses a 1,024cc engine driving through a two-speed gearbox. The engine revs to 1,200rpm and the brakes act upon the clutch and rear axle.

It was imported to the Republic of Ireland from America in 1965 and there are black and white photos that depict its restoration in 1966. Post restoration, the owner sought to get the car dated by the Veteran Car Club. It was determined to date from 1904 but no certificate was issued at the time because they were not happy with the appearance of the bonnet. There are also some anomalies with the chassis and engine number, but that 1904 dating was nevertheless deemed valid.

Bidding reached £37,950 including premium.

And at the other end of the price range...

Not all veteran cars fall into such an affordable category. At the higher end of the bidding was a 1902 Panhard et Levassor 7hp, which sold for £322,000 including premium making it the most valuable lot of the sale. It was followed up by the 1899 Benz Velo (£227,700 including premium) and the 1915 Mercedes 22/50hp Open Tourer which reached £167,900 including premium. Four-figure sales were rounded out by the 1903 Georges Richard Type H 10hp Twin-Cylinder Two-seater Brougham at £144,325 including premium.