1922 Lorraine Dietrich B3-6 Tourer

• Known ownership history
• Present family ownership since circa 1956
• Stored for many years
• Long-term restoration completed in 1998

This Lorraine Dietrich Tourer was retailed by the French company's UK importer, Eustace Watkins Ltd, and registered to its first owner, one John Rochford of Enfield, Middlesex on 21st September 1922. The lady vendor has provided a list of owners from 1922 to the present day, this information being gleaned from an article in Thoroughbred & Classic Cars and the old-style buff logbook on file.

Our vendor's parents, Alan and Margaret Foster, co-owned the Lorraine Dietrich from circa 1956 with their friends Warren and Renee Knight, the story going that they bought it from a farmer when they spotted it in a field for £10 each, total £40. The couples moved to houses next door to each other and drove the car to its new location. They had three garages built between the two houses, one each for their own cars and one in the middle for the Lorraine.

In 1970 Warren Knight and Alan Foster began renovating the car, spending around one weekend a month on the project, with most of the work being carried out in 1997-1998 (photographs and bills on file). Major works included complete renovation of chassis, engine, bodywork, hood and wheels, while the car was painted in beautiful Peacock Blue and trimmed in grey. Further work was carried out by Rees Bros in 2000 to fully rebuild the engine block. Since then, the car has always been carefully maintained and looked after. It has attended many local classic car shows over the years, securing the occasional concours award (details on file).

Alan Foster died in 2002 and in 2006 his widow Margaret bought out the Knights' half so that she had full ownership. Our vendor became the main driver and the family continued to attend local classic car shows. The vendor inherited the Lorraine when her mother died in 2014. Since then there have been two major repairs/renovations. In July 2019, the car underwent a service and the starter motor was reconditioned, while in the autumn/winter of 2021 the clutch was rebuilt and a new battery fitted (bills on file). All the forgoing work was carried out by Rees Bros, who were highly impressed with the authenticity of the renovation and the Lorraine's exceptional originality.

Since 2014 the Lorraine has been driven less frequently, spending most of the time in storage as the vendor has no room for it at home. For this reason she has decided to sell it so that someone else can enjoy owning and driving this wonderful car. A quantity of spare parts is included in the sale (details available).