Peugeot Type 9 3.75-hp Vis-à-vis

For sixty years this Peugeot has been walled up in a French castle, where it is discovered in 1980.

It is one of the sixteen remaining examples of this type of car and one of the very few which are still roadworthy. The car has taken part in the annual London to Brighton Run on many occasions since 1981. It has carried the number 1 for years, being the oldest participating motorcar. According to the factory records, the car could easily hold a cruising speed of 18 to 20 km/h on a level road and could even climb a hill, with a full load, at 10 km/h. As with all the Peugeots in this first series, this car has a rear-mounted Daimler V-twin engine with hot tube ignition, heated by a burner. Steering is by means of a tiller. It is worth noting that the engine’s cooling water was stored in chassis tubes, a construction that was to be applied to Grand Prix racing cars many decades later.