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Uncle Rene

Letters to the editor
Dear Sir,

I wish to submit this picture for your consideration. It was scanned from a picture postcard I recently acquired. While it is not in the best condition, the image is worth sharing.
 
The postmark shows it was mailed in 1907. The note on the back is only partially readable. It is signed 'Rene'. Rene is sharing his eagerness to hear from the addressee about their future visit. On the right, a pencilled note says 'Uncle Rene - test driver for Renault - Irene's dad'

The car Rene was testing that day looks like one of the 10 Vanderbilt Renault racers.

I believe this picture was taken by the Renault factory immediately after the car rolled off the assembly line and weeks before it was shipped to Willie K. Vanderbilt.

According to the Audrain Museum, this is 'one of the most significant automobiles of the early 20th century'.

I hope your readers will enjoy this discovery as much as I did.

Regards,
Stephan
 
 
Publiziert:
Freitag November 18th, 2022
David Harrison
19 November 2022, 18:38
It is indeed one of the ten Vanderbilt Renaults. I was fortunate enough to own and campaign one of these cars during the 1980s. The car had been in the UK for many years. It was discovered in 1936 by Marcus Chambers when the car was in the hands of some Gypsy scrap dealers, they delivered the car on its rims behind a horse to his home and received the agreed price of twenty pounds. It was raced by him and subsequently by the Mills brothers and was driven by numerous other members of the VSCC including Sam Clutton and Anthony Heal before the war.
A marvellous and reliable car that I drove all over the country, several times to France, hill climbed and raced. During the years I owned it, it suffered only two failures, a broken universal joint and a failed condenser. The late GP driver Phil Hill with his daughter drove it from John o Groats to Lands' end without the slightest problem.
If the owner of the postcard would care to part with it, I'd be most happy to buy it. Attached photo is of the car at Prescott with Marcus Chambers as passenger. I asked him once what he revved it to when racing, "until it wouldn't rev any more "was his reply!
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