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| THE TALES OF THE LION QUESTINDEX 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
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The year is 1913. The Great War is only months away.
On opposite sides of the world, two young men are proudly taking delivery of their first motorcar - 1913 model Bebe Peugeots.
Designed by the famous Ettore Bugatti, and taken up by Peugeot, the Bebe was a true miniature car, quite unlike the crude cycle cars which were then a popular form of small vehicle and often powered by a motorcycle engine.
The Bebe featured an 856-cc monobloc engine with LION PEUGEOT proudly cast into the engine side covers. The chassis used the first ever application of the famous Bugatti reversed quarter-elliptic springs, and the well constructed coachwork was of ample size for two people. The car had a novel system of providing different gear ratios, with two crown wheels in the rear axle, the required ratio being selected by engaging the moveable pinion with whichever was needed.
In Sydney, Australia, the son of a grazier took delivery of such a car while ten thousand miles away, in Ayreshire, Scotland, a similar car was being delivered to an equally delighted young man.
It was only months however before war broke out and the young Scotsman enlisted for active service. Before leaving home he dismantled his little car and carefully stored the components at the family farm.
Sadly, he did not return - killed in action. The parts of the car were never reassembled and while some pieces were used for repairs to broken farm machinery, the body, engine, radiator and wheels remained where he had put them until discovered in the late 1980's.
What happened to the Australian car is not known, but by the 1940's it was mounted 20 feet up a pole, painted bright yellow and spotlit at night to advertise a wrecking yard in Sydney. Over a period the bodywork rotted away and eventually the mechanical parts were rescued by a vintage car enthusiast. Several owners later, the still un-restored parts were purchased by the present owner and shipped to New Zealand.
The task now was to find an original car which could be photographed and measured to enable the building of a new body, and as luck would have it the existence of the Scottish parts came to notice and these were eventually purchased, crated and shipped to New Zealand.
The body proved to be wonderfully preserved after its years in the Scottish barn, even to having the original glass in the windscreen and the Ayreshire registration number painted on the rear panel.
Restoration is underway, with the chassis, front axle and steering all completed, and the original Scottish and Australian owners would never have imagined that their little car would survive two world wars and over 80 years to be reborn in New Zealand a lifetime later.
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