Full steam ahead

Following on from the Jaguar E-type Reborn programme, in which Jaguar Classic is selling factory-restored examples for £285,000, comes another recreation but this time from nearer the dawn of motoring than the modern day.

It’s a Stanley Steamer - yes, steam-powered - racing car, which is coming up for auction on May 20 and estimated at £140,000 to £160,000.

Although the auction listing has it as a 2013 car, it’s based on original parts from 1905-6, meticulously restored where possible, with the remainder refabricated to exact Stanley patterns during a rebuild started in 2011.

The steam engine produced a prodigious amount of torque and became popular in record-breaking and racing endeavours. In 1906, a Stanley Steamer set the world record for the fastest mile in a car of 28.2 seconds - a record not broken until 1911.

The original Vanderbilt Cup Car was built and finished in December 1905 by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company of Newton, Massachusetts for the 1906 race. The Vanderbilt Cup was an international event founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on a 30-mile course of winding dirt roads on Long Island, New York. The winners received a large cash prize and an even larger silver trophy.

This car came into being after the owner of a 1908 Stanley Model M decided he wanted a Vanderbilt Cup car. The only company to speak to in the UK was J.R. Goold Vintage Steam Restorations Ltd, which specialises in the manufacture and reconditioning of both Sentinel and Stanley parts, as well as complete restorations.

Source: Steam-powered racing car could sell for £160,000 at auction