1923 Sizaire-Berwick 25/50 Two-Seater and Dickey

Formerly part of the George Milligen Collection

1923 Sizaire-Berwick 25/50hp Two-Seater and Dickey Coachwork by Park Ward Registration no. XP-7914 Chassis no. L1/65 Engine no. 1244

- Rare survivor of Franco-Britannic make
- Formerly part of the George Milligen Collection
- Single ownership for 22 years
- No expense spared maintenance


The Sizaire-Berwick was a luxury car designed by talented engineer Maurice Sizaire after he had quarrelled with the playboy Duc D'Uzes, financial backer of the Sizaire-Naudin company, and been dismissed. Production began at Courbevoie, Paris, in 1913. The 'Berwick' part of the name was F W Berwick, a London motor dealer who had ordered the cars. Financial backing for the venture came from the Keiller marmalade family. Sizaire-Berwick was French President Poincaré's preferred transport to the front during The Great War. Working in the Courbevoie factory and teaching Maurice Sizaire to speak English was a young apprentice from London named Jack Waters, who later achieved fame under his stage name of Jack Warner, best-remembered for the role of 'Dixon of Dock Green' on BBC Television. After the war, production of the Sizaire-Berwick shifted from France to Park Royal, London where a new 4½-litre sidevalve four-cylinder 25/50hp model' designed by Maurice Sizaire' went into production during 1920. It had a handsome V-fronted radiator and was built to the highest standards. "A dream car out of a fairy tale," declared the Revue der Sporten of Amsterdam. The company's experimental engineer and chief tester was the aforementioned Jack (Warner) Waters, back in England after wartime service as a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps. This magnificent car, finished in Garnet with a polished aluminium bonnet, is one of only a tiny handful of survivors of this distinguished marque, which came under Austin control in October 1922 and ceased production in 1925. The original buff logbook in the car's file records that it was first registered on 17 December 1923. George Milligen averred that the car had once been owned by Jack Warner (who must certainly have driven it in his role as chief tester), though the first recorded owner was Frank Willoughby Cotton of Cotton motorcycles, who is said to have ordered the car at the 1923 Olympia Show. Could it have been that Cotton, inventor of the renowned triangulated Cotton frame, acquired the imposing Sizaire-Berwick to celebrate the first Isle of Man TT win by his brilliant 19-year-old star rider, Stanley Woods?


The Sizaire was laid up at Cotton's home in Gloucestershire between 1937 and 1952 when it was acquired by VSCC member R J Langston. He kept the car until 1955 when it was bought by Ronald Johnson, a prominent member of the Mercedes-Benz Owners' Club. He kept it for nine months before parting with it to that well-known 'Purveyor of Horseless Carriages to the Nobility and Gentry', David Scott-Moncrieff, who declared: "My Sizaire-Berwick had a performance approximately equal to an average Silver Ghost of the same year... the great charm... lies, like so many luxury cars of its day and age, in its slow-turning engine pulling a very high gear... I don't remember any other engine of four cylinders quite so silken smooth." In 1958 the Sizaire-Berwick was bought by a Mr Capper, who sold the car to the Montagu Motor Museum at Beaulieu, and it was displayed there and at the old Brighton Motor Museum until the Montagu Trust was given a 1914 Sizaire-Berwick that had once belonged to Alexander Keiller. George Milligen bought the car at auction in 1965, and drove it on the rally to commemorate the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994. Shortly afterwards the engine was fitted with four new pistons and a cylinder liner, while the crankshaft and flywheel were balanced.

As one would expect of a 1920s luxury car, the equipment is from the top drawer, with bell-shaped Bleriot-Phi headlamps and a wonderful cast lighting switch panel of almost sculptural quality on its

well-equipped polished aluminium dashboard. The coachwork, appropriately enough, is by the firm of Park Ward, set up in 1919 by former Sizaire-Bewick employees William McDonald Park and Charles W Ward.


Our vendor purchased the Sizaire-Berwick from Bonhams' sale of the George Milligen Collection at the Goodwood Revival Meeting in September 2004 (Lot 171). Between November 2005 and March 2007, an extensive refurbishment was undertaken by West Hoathly Garage in Sussex, where particular attention was taken to restoring the body. As such, the metalwork was repaired were necessary, primed and repainted in Rolls-Royce Garnet. The wings were also dismantled, bead-blasted, repaired, repainted and refitted. The interior was also dismantled, cleaned and refitted. Later, the entire brake and fuel system was also overhauled, with correct (re-manufactured) SU carburettors fitted in place of the non-original items that were on the car.


During the current ownership of more than 22 years, this magnificent car has benefited from no-expense-spared care and maintenance, with more than £80,000 spent (detailed invoices from West Hoathly Garage are on file, inspection recommended). In August 2026, 'XP-7914' underwent a major service at West Hoathly Garage to ensure its readiness for the next custodian.


The car comes with the following:


· Period catalogue
· Instruction book
· Period photographs
· Original period advertisements
· Copy of The Motor
· Old MoTs
· Original logbook
· Milligen Correspondence
· Starting instructions