c.1904 Peugeot Type 63A 10hp Twin-Cylinder Rear Entrance Tonneau

• Powerful 10hp engine
• Good turn of speed with excellent brakes
• Electric starter
• Assembled/restored 2005 - 2009
• Excellent condition
• Undated and therefore currently not eligible for VCC events

VCC member Chris Ashton reports that he first encountered chassis '5708' when investigating four of these Type 63s. This car was then owned by the late Ron Knight, who had assembled its various parts over many years. Unable at that stage to find a correct engine, Ron had fitted a 10hp engine as a stopgap measure. Ron had also commissioned a new tool-room copy gearbox. Up until his passing, Ron was still making casting patterns for the steering controls, while the bodywork was with his friend Dave Cooksey. In 2005 Ron Knight's widow sold the Peugeot to Mr Keith Wormsley, and in November 2009 it was offered for sale by a different owner at Bonhams' Harrogate auction (Lot 529) in partly restored, semi-assembled form.

Correspondence on file from Automobiles Peugeot (Peugeot archives) states that chassis number '5708' left the factory on 22nd December 1904. The aforementioned dating document records the car as a Type 63A fitted with four-seat tonneau coachwork and a (twin-cylinder) engine of 7hp. The engine currently fitted is a 10hp Peugeot twin (105x105mm bore/stroke, 1,817cc) of the type mostly likely fitted to the chain-driven Type 65 and Type 67. The engine fitted to Type 63As and 63Bs is a twin-cylinder T-head of 7hp with a bore/stroke of 85x95mm and low-tension ignition. However, it should be noted that correspondence on file from Jean-Louis Laine, head of the Heritage Department of the Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot, states that this type of 10hp engine was also fitted to Type 63 models. Chassis drawings of the Type 63 provided by the Heritage Department of the Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot show it available with either shaft or chain drive ('5708' has shaft drive). Additional documentation on file includes copies of contemporary magazine articles concerning the Type 63's specifications.

'BS 8555' is currently undated by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain, although a Science Museum certificate (copy on file) notes '5708' as being of 1904 date. The car boasts excellent paintwork and interior trim, and we are advised that the engine has been rebuilt with new aluminium pistons and re-metalled bearings. New tyres and tubes have been fitted and the wheel bearings renewed.

'5708' is a powerful twin with a good turn of speed and excellent brakes, equipped with three forward gears plus reverse as well as an electric starter. The car is offered as an undated project requiring additional research and potentially a correct 7hp engine in order to achieve 1904 dating status.