50-Vehicle Auction In England

A fellow Peerless Motor Car Club member, Tim Gosling, told me about an interesting Bonhams Auction coming up next month in The U.K. The catalogue is just now completed. All cars and trucks and busses are from the Michael Banfield Estate. Photos and texts are posted already(5/21/14) on Bonhams' site for this June 13/14 sale, including:

• 1904 Clement Talbot Brougham
  
• 1906 Minerva Roi des Belges
  
• 1904 Mors Roi des Belges
  
• 1914 Rolls-Royce Landaulet
  
• 1914 Hallford Truck
  
• 1917 Garner Truck
  
• 1917 Pierce-Arrow Truck[Lot 1236, p. 115]
  
• 1929 Chevrolet 14-Passenger Coach
  
• 1966 Jaguar C-Type replica
  
• 1967 Jaguar D-type replica (5 jags total)
  

There will be a Peerless offered at the auction, too, complete with nice photos. It is a 4-Ton Truck, 1915, restored in the 1960s as a delivery lorry for "M.C. Mersch". There is a legend associated with the truck.

As you may know, Peerless 3-, 4-, and 5-ton trucks were used in the thousands by the British War Department in World War I. This truck was being driven on the streets of London in the Sixties and along the way a number of old men were seen to come to attention and salute the Peerless as it went by. According to Tim, they were recognizing the old truck as a fellow soldier, so to speak, in the war. Post #87 in "Peerless Research Findings" on the Peerless Forum better describes it.

Please go to : www.bonhams.com/auctions/22201/ to go right to The Michael Banfield Collection page. With 117 pages of photographs and descriptions --- you will want to go to LOT# 1235.

Jeff Brown

Hey, Jeff. You weren't interested in going to Cape May, you wanna go all the way here?

Well Dave,

I Guar-An-Tee I am not in the proper economic class to pop over to an auction in the Garden State and buy stuff, much less England. Like you, I am a couple of lottery tickets away from such adventures. Just thought it notable that there was an actual Peerless Truck for sale. Looked today, and they still don't have a full listing of vehicles in the Michael Banfiefd Collection auction on their site. They must have a lot of work cut out for them cataloging everything. The auction house has 7 pages of auctions worldwide just between now and June 13th.

Photographs of nineteen of the vehicles are back up on the site 5/15/14.

Jeff

Finally, the Auction House has completed their catalog, and it is viewable online in the link in Post No. 1 above. There are over 1,200 lots of items in the 2-Day event, which is why the delay.

The two Peerless lots are a Peerless Motor Trucks Catalog from 1912, and a 1915 Peerless TC-4 Open Back Lorry. I had never seen a photograph of this truck before and it looks fabulous. Brass headlights -- green wooden body -- Peerless script on brass radiator -- Peerless plaque on dash -- nice leather upholstery -- Big T-head Four -- 412.8 Cu. In. Yikes, I think you could take this on a Horseless Carriage Club tour!

The Peerless Truck is Lot# 1235, Page 115.

Finally, the Auction House has completed their catalog, and it is viewable online in the link in Post No. 1 above. There are over 1,200 lots of items in the 2-Day event, which is why the delay.

The two Peerless lots are a Peerless Motor Trucks Catalog from 1912, and a 1915 Peerless TC-4 Open Back Lorry. I had never seen a photograph of this truck before and it looks fabulous. Brass headlights -- green wooden body -- Peerless script on brass radiator -- Peerless brass plaque on dash -- nice leather upholstery -- Big T-head Four -- 412.8 Cu. In. Yikes, I think you could take this on a Horseless Carriage Club tour!

The Peerless Truck is Lot# 1235, Page 115.

That is a beautiful Peerless truck and good restoration. I wish it were in the USA The engine is the T head Peerless four but the water return manifold on top of the heads does not look original and does not match the ones shown in the truck manuals. I wonder if they had trouble with the originals and had these cast in London as replacements. The Peerless truck company was in business in England until the mid 1930's and made many of their replacement parts for the Peerless trucks.

RHL

The Green Dragon,

I think it's a great looking truck, too. Looking at the photos is interesting when you think...My God, that's a 50-year-old restoration and it looks like this? Reading the news about the truck says it was a very painstaking re-do with 30 coats of paint and real gold leaf on the commercial lettering. Made to resemble one of the Peerless Trucks that came out of the Slough shops where thousands of them surviving the war were re-built.

I hope this rig runs as good as it looks! With a 12 m.p.h. top speed, though, I think that REO Speed Wagon you entered in your first car show was a speed demon by comparison.

. . . . Jeff

The 1915 Peerless Truck at the Bonhams Auction yesterday fetched $72,173. The 1906 Minerva Roi des Belges: $300,804, the 1917 Pierce-Arrow Truck: $46,815, and the 1914 Rolls-Royce Landaulet: $709,000.

It would be wonderful if an American repatriated this TC-4 Truck, but there probably weren't many Americans who even knew it was for sale.

Hey Jeff. I made this auction and was very pleased with my wins. It is great to find something you need which no one else wants and therefore you are the only bidder.

Anyway, as you say the Peerless was very good for a 50 year old restoration. It was a bit over the top for my liking what with the 20 coats of paint and gold leaf.

Most of the trucks which I was interested in went to a certain well known billionaire from New Zealand which is a little sad as I doubt they will be seen again in the UK. On the plus side however they were not really visible in the UK. In fact this was the first time I had seen any of them.

I will see if I can post some photos:

Ok, that worked.

As you said this Peerless has had a post war rebuild probably in Slough. There are some differences from our Peerless trucks although I don't know if that was a result of the rebuild or the restoration.

The radiator is a different shape resulting in the hood being a different shape too. Of modern construction the core looks quite wrong:

The rear wheels are metal. I have a pair of these but without the name cast into them. British army Peerless trucks used in Egypt and Iraq had locally made steel wheels:

I need a few bits for our Peerless restorations, so if you recognise anything that you have in your shed please let me know:

Steering wheel. I need a second one like this. Could make it but would prefer an original:

Fuel tap. I have got one, but need a second:

Exhaust and muffler look original (or Slough)

Magneto switch. Shouldn't this be a K&N:

Not got any of these:

Confirms Slough rebuild

I need one of these:

Spot the Peerless bits:

Lamp brackets. We didn't win these but we probably don't need them. I need to go and count what we have already got in the shed.

I was watching and looking over the results too. There was a mix of good value and over-the-top for stuff. I don't need trucks, but was especially following the wonderful collection of brass that was also sold. There were some bargains to be had on early lamps. I was following just to see how much some of the stuff I acquired years ago over here had gone up in value. It certainly has, but by today's standard, there were some good prices on ready to use pairs of self-generating headlamps, etc. My guess is that a lot of it went over to the continent.

Terry

Terry,

Nice to hear that you were following the Banfield Auction on this thread, too. This is just a theoretical, since the 1915 Peerless truck has gone off to Parts Unknown, but don't you think it would be difficult to enter it in a car show/truck show and not get some attention or an award? Maybe Class 22A at Hershey this year!

Great War Truck,

Thank you for reviving this thread with the 11 wonderful photographs. Learning that you participated in the auction is good news, too. I remember when looking at all the lots online seeing some possibly-Peerless wheels, tires and axles in there and would be surprised if you didn't bid on them. The depth, quality and rarity of the artifacts seems to have been immense. Starting in April, someone from New Zealand wrote a few posts on the Peerless Forum "PEERLESS PARTS FOR SALE THREAD" discussing Peerless and Packard Trucks. Maybe he knows or is the person you mentioned who won high bid on some of the trucks. Thank you again for the pics. They allowed me to feel like I was there for a moment. Question: do you think those beautiful cast iron Peerless plaques from Cleveland(like the one in your photo) were just on trucks, or could some them have been on cars? They do look a little big to put on a car.

Jeff

That would be Mike Cameron in New Zealand. Very helpful person and has a super collection of early trucks. He has helped us out immensely. The winning bidder on most of the trucks (almost all of the trucks in fact) is also from New Zealand but is not Mike. He is very well known in the movie industry. He did not go for the Peerless, that went to Ireland. As far as I know there are three Peerless trucks in Ireland now, well one truck and two armoured cars. The two sets of Peerless axles and wheels were not from a Peerless. I think they might have been from a Seabrook. They went for good money so did not end up as scrap. Not sure what good they will be to anyone though unless there is a Seabrook surviving which I don't know about.

I think the Peerless plaques were too big for cars. I have never seen ones like them before. It would make sense for Slough to put their own plate on there rebuild products though. I have not seen any photos or examples of the other one though, but that does not mean much though.

Is the oil gauge the same as the one on the car?

Over the years we have been lucky in finding quite a few original Peerless parts. More so than we have for all the rest of our trucks put together. tool box, radiator (in LA), carb, fuel tank, engine breather, greasers (the knurled kind, were they used on anything else?) to name but a few. After we finish our current project one of the Peerless trucks will be next, but I think that will be another four years yet.

That was an amazing auction line up. The quantity {and quality} of what's in the catalog is really quite something. The prices for the trucks seem quite high . Here in North America most vintage trucks seem to change hands for comparatively modest prices. They are usually big ,expensive projects to restore but have the drawback of being big {bigger shop, tools, heavy parts to move around} and even on regular tires pretty darned slow. It tends to limit the market to a select few potential buyer's, and the trucks while not common are not all that rare either. Bull Dog Mack's draw good prices but otherwise fairly flat. I have a 1918 Packard 2 1/2 ton in about 1000 pieces that has absorbed a lot of time and money with a good deal more to go so I have a fair idea of what it takes to do a restoration on these things. Definitely a labor of love.

Greg in Canada

Jeff, Yes, they are beautiful, and I'm sure would draw an admiring crowd at any event. You just don't see enough of that early stuff here in the USA. But I have to wonder about some of the add-ons also. Having been there and enjoyed some of the larger shows featuring steam traction engines, etc. I've observed our British friends have always had a soft-spot for big trucks (lorries). They tend to "doll them up" a bit with lots of polished brass and paint them in bright colors. I note those wonderful self-generating Lucas headlamps and oil sidelamps for example. Well suited to an early automobile also. I'm not sure that there is as much concern for total authenticity as there is an enthusiasm for making them look flashy. Of course in 1915, if I was buying a truck to help promote my business, first thing I'd to is get out the paint and polish. Still, things of beauty, and some of the vehicles offered were spot on. Just wish I had a garage big enough for something like that.

Sorry Terry, but I don’t agree with all of your comments there. Mind you, I am a tax inspector by profession and therefore have a tendency to disagree with anything anybody says to me.

I am aware that in the 1960’s and 70’s some UK truck restorations were over the top or “over restored” as I would prefer to describe them. I think that now, with far more information being available people do make a greater effort to get it right.

The Banfield restorations do date back to the 1960’s but I generally do not think them to be incorrect. If a Company purchased a truck they would certainly use it to publicise the business and use it to catch the publics eye. Proof of this, well here is a picture of the rather colourful Crossley:

And here is a picture of a similar finish:

The Peerless paint job was a little too shiny for my liking, but is supposed to be a copy of an original scheme so it may be correct?

Personally I would steer clear of brass and bright paint and all the cleaning that requires. But that is just my personal taste and perhaps having far more important things to do.

Terry,

Regarding your comment, "You just don't see enough enough that early stuff here in the U.S.", the interest in the Brass Era Peerless Four-Tonner is because of their rarity here. It occurred to me you weren't a Peerless collector and might not know the rareness level of that 1915 Peerless truck if it were in The States. Though ten or fifteen thousand Peerless trucks were built, maybe more, there don't seem to be any in this country. I've been trying to track down a lead on one in California. Someone from New Zealand will be going there next year trying to find it, a 1914 in mining country north of Sacramento. It is more likely that you will see a Duesenberg than a Peerless automobile, and remaining trucks seem to all be in England, Ireland, S. Africa, and possibly Russia.

Great War Truck,

Thanks for the photos of those 2 trucks. I like the phrase "MOTORALITIES AND CYCLEALITIES" on the 2nd. Is this Joseph Lucas Ltd. by any chance related to the celebrated electrical equipment provider for British sports cars in the 1960s and 1970s? Did I tell you that someone asked me to go to the U.K. to bid on that Peerless Truck, and the 1917 Pierce-Arrow? I would have needed 120,000 USD, assuming we could have outbid the gentleman from Ireland and the one from New Zealand. You were actually at the auction and might have some sense of how that would have worked.

Jeff, yes on the Lucas question. King of the Road was a phrase Lucas used on some lines of their head lights, e.g., on postwar Morgan cars.

Joseph Lucas is more commonly known now as the "Prince of Darkness" due to the somewhat overemphasized reputation for unreliability.