1908 Renault Type VS 4½-Litre Vanderbilt Cup Replica

• Replica of the Vanderbilt Cup Model
• Restored over a period of 20 years
• Photographic record of the restoration on file
• Massive history file

Based on a Renault Type VS, this imposing Edwardian racing car was purchased by the vendor's father's late friend, Dr John Holden, to replicate one of the famous Vanderbilt Cup racers; this car being modelled on the one known as 'Agatha', which was photographed and copied. The two chassis are virtually identical and the transmission and drive chains make it the perfect basis for such a project. This car features the 4,500cc engine rather than the 7,400cc lorry engine fitted in the ten race cars. It comes with a massive history folder, including photographs of the engine rebuild. The vendor's father completed the long-term restoration, adding the leather wings, and ran the car at the Syston Speed Trials.

A true monster from the 'Golden Age', the 7.4-litre Vanderbilt Cup Renault 'Agatha' is one of the most significant Edwardian racing cars still in existence. The Vanderbilt model was the last of the dashboard-radiator Renault racing cars, and was essentially a scaled-down version of the 13-litre car driven to victory in the 1906 French Grand Prix by the Hungarian Ferenc Szisz.

Intended for wealthy American amateur racing drivers, the Vanderbilt Model took its name from millionaire William Kissem Vanderbilt Jr, who commissioned a run of ten cars built to his own specifications through the Renault Frères Selling Branch of Broadway, New York. 'Willie K' had sponsored the Vanderbilt Cup race series, contested near his home on Long Island, to further the cause of motoring, and his idea was to create a one-model racing formula for the super-rich. The Vanderbilt Model sold for $8,500, making it one of the most costly cars on the market. Of the ten built, only five survive.

The list of customers for the 35-45hp Vanderbilt Model was short but impressive and, apart from Willie K himself, included Agatha's first owner, his cousin Harry Payne Whitney (heir to the cotton gin fortune), Willis McCormick (of the eponymous 'Reaper' dynasty) and Robert Guggenheim, the young mining millionaire and sponsor of the 1909 Guggenheim Trophy TransAmerica race.

Racing driver Maurice Bernin drove a Vanderbilt Model which has been identified as 'Agatha' to victory in the 24-hour race at New York's Morris Park Motordrome on 8th September 1907 at an average speed of 45 mph, covering 1,079 miles to beat the next car home by 125 miles, having led for the last 19 hours. In 1908 Bernin triumphed again in the 100-mile race at the March Florida meeting. Driven by Louis Raffalovich and Basle, 'Agatha' also won the 24 Hours of New York race in 1909 at an average speed of 43.75mph, beating Louis Disbrow's Rainier by 112 miles.