To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' Amelia
Island event, 8 - 9 March 2019.
Estimate:
$40,000 - $60,000
- Offered from the Richard L. Burdick Collection
- Rare and prestigious British marque
- Ideal for vintage touring or relaxing Sunday picnics
Montague Stanley Napier entered the automobile business in 1898.
His first product was a vertical-twin engine with coil ignition,
built for his friend Selwyn Francis Edge. At Edge's urging, Napier
began manufacturing cars in 1900. Edge won a Gold Medal in that
year's Thousand Mile Trial and formed the Motor Power Company for
distribution of said automobiles. For more than a decade he was
Napier's sole distributor and promoter.
In 1901, Napier and Edge decided to go racing, and built a
17.1-liter, two-ton competition car, but their more successful line
was in passenger cars. One of their best customers, telephone
magnate Charles Jasper Glidden of Massachusetts, carried the Napier
name on a series of long-distance tours, one of which became the
series carrying his name.
Napier achieved the distinction of producing the world's first
commercially viable six-cylinder engine, in 1904. A five-liter car
with mechanical overhead intake valves, it soon spawned a 15-liter
racing version. Napier, however, aimed squarely at the luxury
market with the 60-hp, 7.7-liter six becoming the best-known model.
In 1908 came a five-liter L-head six with three-speed gearbox and
shaft drive. "Colonial" models with a raised chassis had greater
ground clearance for use in less-developed Commonwealth
countries.
According to historian G.N. Georgano, "the years 1906 to 1911 saw
Napier's reputation at its peak," with aristocrats, clergy, and
military officers among its clientele. Napiers were particularly
popular with colonial rulers in India. The 2.7-liter, 15-hp
four-cylinder model, like this one, was favored in far-flung
colonies, in both "Colonial" and "Extra Strong Colonial" form.
This 15-hp Napier has been rebodied as a "garden car," with an
exotic wicker victoria body, well suited for social events and
pleasure use. The wicker was re-done in the 1960s by the Royal
Institute for the Blind in Nottingham, England; the teak-veneer
fenders are original. The car crossed Australia from Perth to
Sydney in a 1970 international rally and also completed a VMCCA
Trans-International Reliability Tour from Montr�al to Tijuana in
1972.
Today, this delightful Napier Victoria it is being offered from the
Richard L. Burdick collection and would be an ideal candidate for
vintage touring as well as relaxing Sunday picnics.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction,
please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am19.
