Wind In The Willows Style Motorcar Goes Up For Auction On Mysterious February 29th

1904 Napier Samson L48 Bonhams Cars

​I don’t remember how The Wind In The Willows starts, middles, and ends, but I do remember Toad of Toad Hall in his Motorcar. Poop Poop! The rest of the animals standing aside as the green gentleman rumbles by, leaping over bumps in the road. A thing of the past, within a generation the petrol or gasoline powered vehicle itself will be a day out at the vintage show. Imagine in thirty years going to see a Ford Focus and taking a photo…They don’t have the same level of intrigue as they did when the technology was new, that’s for sure.
 
Automotive enthusiasts and history hysterions can gawp and drool at this latest snap that’s available to someone lucky enough to get the highest bid. The first car to break the 100mph speed in the entire United States, the 1904 Napier Samson is an icon and a benchmark for everything fast and new. The engineering marvel that put that much power into a hunk of moving metal is a leap forward in human invention, proving that chemical fuel could indeed be made to propel machines over land and sea. Better than a horse, or so they say, the mess from an automobile goes up rather than down.  
 
The birthplace of the speed record, Florida is seeing the proud return of the very machine that broke it all those years ago. The 1904 Napier Samson L48 has returned to the state to be put on display and eventually sold. Let’s hope it goes to a good home. The car was presented to waiting crowds at Daytona Beach yesterday, with another couple of weeks to go before the big and expensive (for one lucky bidder) day. The car is valued at around a million dollars, which is not much for some but way out of reach for me. How about you?
 
Made in Britain, when the United Kingdom was an industrial power, the Napier Samson L48 took to the racetrack in Florida at the height of the early racing era. Drivers from the world over would take their best builds to the course and pit them against the other machines in one derby of constant thrills. In 1905, British mechanic Arthur MacDonald took his Napier Samson to 104.651 mph, the fastest anyone had ever driven before. No-doubt, many cars didn’t make it, some being smashed, some breaking down. The fact we still have the Napier means a lot to the people who are descended from its makers. You could even make it to the Bonhams Cars Auction in Amelia Island, Florida on the 29th of February and place a bid. 

​For people like me, perhaps we'd better take a look at the original version of Wind In The Willows with Illustrations by Arthur Rackham
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