De Dion Bouton sells for £60,000 at auction
Tuesday 9th November 2010, 2:54PM GMT.
A Victorian car, rediscovered in Shropshire 40 years ago, has sold for £60,900 at auction.
The 1900 De Dion Bouton four and a half /six horse power Vis-a-vis was found in Shrewsbury in the 1960s when it belonged to a butcher.
Before the auction, at Bonhams, in London, on Friday, the car – which cost £150 new – had been expected to sell for between £50,000 and £60,000.
It has an unusual design as the passengers sit facing the driver and was considered the Mini of its time.
The car was discovered in Shrewsbury by the vendor’s brother-in-law and for the next few years was jointly owned by the two men, until sole ownership passed to the vendor in 1969.
The car’s value in 1900, during the final days of Queen Victoria’s reign, was roughly three years’ wages for some skilled workers.
A spokesman for Bonhams said: “The names of De Dion and Bouton are inextricably linked with the pioneer years of the motor car. Early De Dions were rear engined and of the vis-a-vis type, where the passengers sat facing the driver.
“In 1900, when the Shrewsbury car was built, De Dion-Bouton was the world’s largest car maker and produced 400 cars and 3,200 engines that year but only about 20 De Dion-Boutons have survived.”
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