LONDON.- This wonderful 118 year old French De Dion Bouton TYPE G – a veteran of 14 completed London to Brighton runs in 20 years - is for sale with H&H Classics for £50,000 to £60,000 at their next Duxford sale at the Imperial War Museum on June 19th.

This magnificent piece of French automotive history seats three or four people and has been in its current ownership for 20 years. For transportation purposes it fits snugly into a single horsebox.

This De Dion Bouton appeared in Autocar Magazine for the 1953 London to Brighton Run and the pictures come with the car. It is fitted with an uprated 6hp engine in place of the original 4.5hp unit, making the Surrey and Sussex hills easier to climb. Dated by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain in 1950 as being of 1900 manufacture (hence the brass plaque) it was later reviewed by the VCC and re-dated as being of 1901 manufacture.

This is car number 4978, engine number 1125 and has its original registration number as added in 1904, issued in Ipswich.

The car has had an engine overhaul just completed at a cost of £7,500 in March 2019 and is described as being in "lovely, original condition."

This early car gets an early entry number on the Brighton run.

There is much technical information about it on file, including a gearbox manual, a workshop manual and a handbook. It also comes with old tax discs, MOT certificates, Brighton entry numbers and a history file.

Roger Nowell, of H&H Classics, comments: “The lucky new owner of this car will be able to register it immediately for the next London to Brighton Run on Sunday November 3rd, knowing that it is a hardy annual in that event and stands a very good chance of finishing at the Brighton seafront, not something you can say of all the entrants. And there is the pleasure of owning a piece of automotive history with French flair and from one of the great marques.”

De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux.

The company was formed after de Dion in 1881 saw a toy locomotive in a store window and asked the toymakers to build another. Bouton and Trépardoux had been eking out a living with scientific toys at a shop in the Passage de Léon, near "rue de la Chapelle" in Paris.Trépardoux had long dreamed of building a steam car but neither could afford it. De Dion, already inspired by steam in the form of rail locomotives and with ample funding agreed, and De Dion, Bouton et Trépardoux was formed in Paris in 1883. This became the De Dion-Bouton automobile company, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time, well known for their quality, reliability, and durability.