A chance meeting with Liverpool's first car

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A recent unplanned visit to Liverpool left me with a bit of time to kill, so I wandered into the Museum of Liverpool. I'd heard tell of quite an important Sentinel steam tractor which resided within and thought that would make for an interesting study, alongside whatever other remnants of the city's industrial and shipping heritage might be preserved for display.

I saw the 1927 Sentinel Super and wasn't disappointed. New to the fleet of Simmonds, Hunt & Montgomery, after the Second World War it was taken over by Criddle & Co., makers of treacle and syrup, and remained in use between the Criddle works and the docks until the 1960s. A horse-drawn brougham from 1900 by the Liverpool coachbuilder of J. & W. Pearson was also of interest, as was Lion, a majestic Liverpool & Manchester Railway locomotive from 1838 which famously starred in The Titfield Thunderbolt.

Satisfied, I was prepared to leave when, for some reason, I looked up and something caught my eye. In the corner of the room, high up in the metaphorical rafters, there was something that looked very much like a Veteran car. A mock-up? I couldn't get very close to it but, from all that I could make out, it was a real car. It was clearly something modelled after the Benz Velo, but what? There was no exhibit sign and nobody in the museum to ask. It looked a lot like a Hurtu, but a Wolverhampton-made Star seemed more likely and I returned home scratching my head over it. Once back on my computer, a quick search of the Liverpool Museums collection revealed its identity.

A unique Veteran almost hidden from view

The car which had me scratching my head was no less than a 1900 Liver 3½ hp phæton, manufactured by the William Lea Motor Co. Ltd. of Birkenhead and Liverpool. The firm was still trading in June 1901 when The Autocar reported that its cars were in high demand, but this is the only known survivor. Motor Car Journal reported that it would carry four passengers (the armrest just visible over the rear wing suggests a dogcart or dos-à-dos seating arrangement) at speeds of up to eighteen miles per hour, and carry them up gradients of one-in-four. It was, indeed, a loose copy of the Benz, being powered by a 1045 cc Benz horizontal single. The two-speed belt transmission is bolstered by an extra-low 'Crypto' gear, final drive being by chain.

The surviving example was discovered derelict in the 1930s and saved by an early enthusiast and member of the Veteran Car Club. After completing six Brighton Runs in the 1960s, it was sold to a Dutch enthusiast and completed its last Brighton in 1974. On the sale of the Paul Moebius Collection in 1998, it was bought by National Museums Liverpool, and has been a static exhibit ever since.

While one can hardly begrudge a Veteran being preserved for public display, it does seem rather a shame that this one has been stuffed almost out of sight and deprived of information. What do you think the chance might be of persuading the Museum of Liverpool to get it running for next year's Brighton, fifty years after its last run?

Words and photographs: Zack Stiling
 

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