PreWarCar of the Week: a steamy 1902 Gardner Serpollet

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After the various auctions during Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, it is time to fly to Europe. The destination is France. Fontainebleau to be more precise. On Saturday the 23rd of March 2019 the auctioneer from Osenat will start auctioning...

Lot 112 is the PreWarCar of the Week. It is a 1902 Gardner Serpollet. Estimated between € 200 000 and € 250 000. This Type F Gardner Serpollet is a luxurious steam car. Designed and built to the smallest detail to meet the demands of those who want a finished car in every sense of the word. In the 1902 sales catalogue stated; “No noise! No smells! No vibrations!". But if this is entirely true…?

In 1858 the Serpollet brothers Léon and Henri started their own business specialised in the production of circular saws and various wood-cutting machines. To operate the devices, they needed a machine and boiler which they temporarily borrowed from their neighbour, as they did not have the financial resources themselves. Henri started experimenting and accidentally discovered the principle for immediate evaporation. Transforming water into steam under the influence of heat and this way activate a mechanism. On the 25th of October 1879, Léon Serpollet patented the invention. In the years that followed, the brothers kept experimenting and improvements were made to the original model. The iron plates of the original model were replaced by a small steel spiral in which the water circulates and undergoes a transformation. The second patent was being filed in 1886. The unit was economical and compact making it possible to create reasonable size steam vehicle.

This rare Gardner Serpollet (serial number 364) has a horizontally composed 4-cylinder engine and an immediate steam generator heated with kerosene oil. The quality of the car can definitely be seen in its exceptional state of conservation.

In 1959 the car became part of the collection Mr Olivier Herbosch in Belgium. Most of his collection including this Gardner Serpollet was in 1973 sold to Mr Lips, the founder of the Autotron Museum in the Netherlands. The car was restored and participated in various events. When the current owner saw the car in the museum, he fell in love with it. In 1998 he was able to buy it from Mr Lips.

Are you the next one to fire up this 1902 Gardner Serpollet?

Photographs courtesy Osenat.

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