The things they said . . .

display_5689f27b5a

“Like old wine, their value increases the longer you have them. Down at Weybridge, overlooking the Brooklands track, is Veteran Cars Ltd. — the only company in the country devoting its entire time to cars built around the year 1900. There is an ever-growing demand for these interesting models for entering the well-known events set apart for these cars or for museum pieces. An increasing number of people are realising that, as the years roll on, the value of old cars in rapidly and the time is not far distant when models of early vintage will realise extremely high prices.” — From an advertisement of 1931, issued by C. S. Burney, who is thus proved a prophet of the highest calibre! It was Burney who, by the way, gave me my first motor-ride behind candle-lamps, on his 1898 Benz, in the vicinity of Brooklands at a time when his other cars included a 3-litre Bentley and an open Triumph Gloria. Veteran Cars Ltd. was taken over by Dick Nash and re-formed as the Horeseless Carriage Corporation, Inc. (TV sets repaired) a few years later at which time Burney, brother of Comdr. Sir Dennistoun Burney, designer of the R100 airship, was offering the 1912 15-litre GP Lorraine-Dietrich for £5.00. — W.B.