Preparing the 1899 Amédée Bollée for the Race from Paris to Amsterdam

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In only a few weeks the PrewarCar.com team, consisting of navigator Laurens Klein and driver myself, will drive the Race from Paris to Amsterdam organized by Classic Events. We are the youngest team with the oldest car, and today’s story is about the preparations we did to get the car ready for the 600+ kilometers in 3 days.

First of all, we started by solving the problems we have had in the London to Brighton last November. The drive belts came off the pulleys every few kilometers, causing us to have a lot of downtime getting the belt back on. It was due to the pulley’s not being lined up correctly, so this was quickly solved. Next was the task of getting new leather belts. I found this is not a common item anymore and not many factories make long leather drive belts. But we found a supplier and after some testing, we found the car drives great again!

For the rest, of course, the whole car is lubricated, water is added and every bolt is tightened. Now, what should we take for spare parts? I’ve sorted the most common parts I might need: a box of various bolts, nuts, pins and screws. Ignition parts, battery, drive belt, drive chain etc. Can you tell me what you take on a long trip in an old car? Maybe someone can give us the right tip and save us!

For cooling, the Amédée Bollée has a very ingenious system. The car contains about 80 liters of water in a spare tank, and the engine has a float in the water system. When the car wants to overheat and water boils, a pressure valve releases steam and the float sinks, adding fresh cold water to the engine! So long trips in hilly area’s like the Belgian Ardennes should be no problem as long as we keep that tank filled. The sump oil can be replenished while driving when lots has leaked out. There is a lubricator on the dashboard that supplies extra oil to the pistons. Normally, keeping the engine running should not be a problem.

The only thing that we can’t change along the route is a solid tyre coming off. We were thinking of taking ropes with us to tie around / through the rim if a tyre would come off. Are there any pros or cons about this idea besides that it will probably wear very quickly?

Words and photographs by Jos van Genugten.

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