This “Edwardian Giant” is offered from the collection of its fifth owner in 120 years, Australian businessman Peter Briggs. The discovery of this engine in the 1950s, fit to a complete body in the 1980s, heralded the definitive rebirth into the motoring world of the L48 and its singular legacy. Any new owner must keep bright and burning the flame of transformation and perseverance this motor has ignited in all its custodians.
Napier was begun by Montague Napier’s father more than 100 years before the birth of the L48, and by 1900 was quite a small engineering shop producing products of a nonetheless superior precision, such as coin-weighing machines for the Royal Mint. Montague and his Australian-born collaborator Selwyn Francis Edge, a marketing wizard who cut his teeth in the hyper-competitive bicycle business, were eager to reposition Napier as an innovator.
Around this time the British motor industry had struggled for recognition among the elite nations of motor manufacturing, namely France and Germany. The French engineer and journalist who later founded the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, Charles Faroux, suggested to Edge that building a 6-cylinder engine would provide a smoother power delivery to the rear wheels, improving tire life. As part of his ambitious strategy of building powerful engines for the fastest cars and sending them to win high-profile international races, Edge announced in October 1903 that Napier would compete in the 1904 racing season, with what would become the world’s first successful 6-cylinder car.
The front of the new race car was revised to include a streamlined nose and an exterior radiator. A spectacle with its 242 feet of quarter-inch copper pipe used for the unique 80-tube radiator (holding 20 gallons and operating at atmospheric pressure), the lines of copper tubing were as much about making the Napier L48 distinctive as about cooling.
The L48 was first raced in September 1904 but its greatest victory was won on the 25th of January, 1905, on a stretch of sand between Florida’s Ormond and Daytona Beaches. With Englishman Arthur MacDonald at the wheel, the Napier broke the Flying One Mile World Record of 104.65 mph. It was the first car to record 100 mph on American soil and the first British car to crack the 100-mph barrier. The car was nicknamed “Samson,” a nod to the resemblance of the engine’s copper cooling tubes to the flowing locks of the biblical strongman.
The car was eventually sold for scrap by Napier. The story of the engine’s survival after its racing career begins with Alan “Bob” Hawker Chamberlain, manufacturer of the celebrated Australian-made Chamberlain Tractors. At the Cornwell pottery factory where the engine was rediscovered, only the intake-valve rocker arms and domes were visible, poking through the dust.
Fortunately, unlike other manufacturers, Napier did not destroy its records. The archiving efforts of enthusiasts such as Anthony Heal and Derek Grosmark enabled Bob Chamberlain to rebuild the Napier with characteristic thoroughness. The rebuilt engine was started for the first time in 67 years on the July 8, 1982, and it is said to have started on its first turn. It was tested on a dynamometer and showed almost 180 hp. Journalist, author and stalwart editor of the famed Motor Sport magazine, Bill Boddy, wrote, “Whether or not you approve of the modern reconstruction of old cars, you must concede that this is the re-creation of the decade.”
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1904 Napier L48 “Samson” |
| Years Produced: | 1904 |
| Number Produced: | 1 |
| Chassis Number Location: | Plaque on dash |
| Engine Number Location: | Plaque on dash |
| Club Info: | The Veteran Car Club of Great Britain |
| Website: | http://www.vccofgb.co.uk |
| Alternatives: | 1905 Darracq 200HP, 1909 Blitzen Benz, 1916 Sunbeam Indianapolis |
This car, Lot 75P, sold for $742,000, including buyer’s premium, at Bonhams Cars’ Amelia Island, FL auction on February 29, 2024.
Samson was estimated pre-sale at $900k to $1.1m, so, while this transaction wasn’t all many hoped it would be, observers might say it did pretty well for a replica. Except I’m not altogether sure that a car with its genuine, vastly significant historical engine should be properly referred to as a mere “replica.” A Superformance GT40 is a replica. This is a different animal.
Bitsa this, bitsa that
We have seen various cars reconstructed around original engines, transmissions, axles and what have you. We can go far back to the dozen Maserati 250F Grand Prix cars built by Cameron Millar in the 1970s. We also think of the Lancia D50 Grand Prix and D24 sports-racing-car replicas constructed around genuine, from-the-period drivetrains.
Cars that incorporate a mixture of original materials, any and all of the detritus that accumulates under the bench in shops that walk on the primordial side of the historical-automobile lane, are different things. Whether complete engine and drivetrains or a smorgasbord of original parts such as axles, steering boxes, wheels and brakes, they have one foot in the past. These cars are more than replicas not just because they are simulacra of the original, but because their operation is equally true to type. And this is the key.
Our subject car is one of these non-replica replicas, spun out of the original and very important, first-ever racing 6-cylinder engine, displacing 16 liters no less, as close to 1,000 cubic inches as makes no never mind. Around this fabulous engine (saved from the scrap heap by virtue of its use in a racing speedboat) was created a meticulously researched chassis and all the other components necessary to reactivate this historically important racer, record breaker and technological benchmark. Most importantly, the build quality and authenticity of the resuscitated Samson is famously accurate. Presumably, therefore, the driving qualities are equally authentic and just as thrilling as the original.
Location, location, location
As is the case with so many things, success in selling often depends on many factors unrelated to the quality of the goods on offer. We all know that the value of historical cars is dependent on places and events to operate the machine. Makes and models with high-quality, even prestigious events associated with them enjoy a market premium: London to Brighton, Mille Miglia retrospective, Alfa 8C tour, McLaren F1 tour and many more.
The place to operate a tire-smoking, 16-liter, Edwardian race car, whether on track or road, is in England, where more than 30 absolutely frightening racers regularly take the Union flag for the S.F. Edge Trophy (note the name) race at Goodwood. The culture of these owners is based on deep immersion, on doing it themselves, including preparing their own cars, some even driving to the event. This is where you can see Duncan Pittaway drive his terrifying 23-liter “Beast of Turin” Fiat record car. Until recently, you could also thrill to the 16-liter “Lorraine-Dietrich” Grand Prix replica of owner/builder Richard Scaldwell blasting his tire-smoking way to victory.
Bonhams sold that car in August 2023 during Monterey Car Week for $1,270,000 (SCM# 6958256). It certainly hoped to reprise this fantastic result with our subject car, and so selected Amelia Island, another big American “car week,” for its sale.
Dirty work
The thing about these machines, including the replicas (and very few are not), is that they are primarily esteemed for their function. They reek of barely contained mechanical mayhem, with wear, dirt, tarnish and minor dents. These cars have lived, and they show it. Their functionality is much more important to their owner/drivers than their constituent fabric. Samson, however, has been owned and cared for by committed collectors who gave it the finest environment and meticulous maintenance. Consequently, it presents as a restored car. By contrast, the Lorraine-Dietrich replica was built to be an evocative instrument for experiencing intensive and extended use of an Edwardian racing car. In other words, it presents as well-used.
What the difference in these two prices tells us is that the objectively historical Samson, thanks to its original engine, was let down by its beautiful but antiseptic appearance. Compared to the functionally authentic but essentially modern Lorraine-Dietrich — which looks like it could win a knife fight — Samson could not transcend its modern re-created nature. The value of the Lorraine-Dietrich, through perhaps less historical, captured the auction crowd with its signs of use and function. Samson, having been stored as a museum piece, spoke less to its potential for use, simply because it looked like a restored automobile.
These machines are things of motion, of sensation. Perhaps the Napier’s presentation didn’t quite make that case. Regardless, it was very well bought. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Bonhams Cars.)
