1905 Delaunay-Belleville Model BAA 20HP Touring Car

4-Cylinder Engine
Single Carburetor, 20bhp
3-Speed Manual Transmission
2-Wheel Drum Brakes
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension, with Transverse Rear Spring

*Early example of famed marque
*Dated by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain
*Restored in the 1970s

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

The handsome Delaunay dates from the early period before the introduction of their six-cylinder cars, yet carries the distinctive features of the drum radiator, behind which is a four-cylinder motor of individually cast T-head units.

In the Delaunay's file are a series of articles which 'join the dots' of its bloodline, all are written during the ownership of John Caperton of Louisville, Kentucky who purchased the car in a dilapidated condition in 1964. Mr. Caperton records that the car was said to have been purchased new by a Joseph Winkler of Chicago. Brewster & Co. of New York were the licensees for Delaunay-Belleville and it is recounted that they both sold this car to Winkler and provided for its bodywork. To quote one article in Antique Motor News 'Mr. Winkler owned a summer estate in Frankfort, Michigan and later shipped the Delaunay by boat across Lake Michigan to his estate. Then came a gap in the Delaunay's history and many years later the car was discovered, sunken somewhat in the soft dirt floor of a barn on the Winkler Estate. It was literally dug out of its 'semi-grave'.

The car changed hands a number of times, before landing with John Caperton, who turned his hobby into a profession and began restoring cars- his company name being Top Brass. The Delaunay was one such car. The articles recount his research with noted authority, M. Richer in France and with Dennis Field in the U.K., who concluded that the correct model designation for the car would be a 20hp, Type B.A.A. Mr Caperton recounts how he elected to rebuild the car as best he could in the style in which it appeared to have been when new, that of a 'Park Phaeton'. To achieve this, he appears to have used a divided pair of seats to the front and bench seating at the rear, with a distinctive 'Victoria' or cape-cart top. The car seems to have been finished by the mid-1970s. Befitting its pedigree running gear, it is equipped with high quality Ducellier bullseye headlamps and scuttle mounted sidelamps as well as a Jones Speedometer.

Mr. Caperton kept the car until 1978, when it passed through Ed Jurist's Vintage Car Store in Nyack, New York to Dr. Terry Bennett, from whom Frank Spain would ultimately buy the car at public auction in 1992.

This handsome and very early example of one of the most famed pre-teen marques is the earliest example to be listed with the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain, and one of only a few of its kind known to exist.