Wilson-Pilcher, the earliest pre-selector?

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We don't blame you if you think the Wilson preselector gearbox was a 1920s creation. Indeed, by that time it could be commercially marketed, yet its inventor, Walter Gordon Wilson had been working on his idea for years. Proof? In 1964 the Laycock Engineering Co. wanted to take out a patent on a design for an epicyclic gearbox and to their dismay found that Wilson had already patented it in 1900. And in 1901 he had already built an automobile that allowed shifting gears without the use of a clutch! It was the Wilson-Pilcher, the second name a tribute to Walter Wilson's friend Percy Pilcher who had died in a gliding accident some years earlier. It is thought only one Wilson-Pilcher still exists, the 1904 12/16hp Four-Cylinder Four-seat Phaeton seen here, which has been in the Wilson family from the very beginning. Although at one time being used as a fire-tender until its first restoration in the late 1940s, from then on it has led a sheltered life in several museum collections. This Friday it will be offered by Bonhams at their auction in London, prior to the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run that weekend.
(B&W photo collection Ariejan Bos; other photos courtesy Bonhams)
 

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