Lot 528: 1907 Peugeot Type 92D Double Phaeton with Victoria Top
Coachwork by Labourdette, Paris

Peugeot has a long and rich automotive history—the company remains the oldest surviving manufacturer of automobiles in France. Already a well-established firm, with a broad line of products, Peugeot became a bicycle manufacturer in the 1880s. The first association with automobiles came in 1889, when family scion Armand Peugeot built a handful of three-wheeled steam carriages for Léon Serpollet. Two years later, in 1891, a four-wheeled automobile bearing the Peugeot name appeared. It was powered by a Daimler-license gas engine; by 1896 Peugeot would be making its own engines.

Production quickly broadened, the early 1900s saw introduction of the popular ‘bebe’ models which were distinctly more user friendly, gaining an inclined steering wheel and typically for the period a ‘coal scuttle’ hood. Later on in 1904 the radiator moved above the chassis line first in a boxy style and by the time that this car was produced in 1907 they wore a more aesthetically pleasing dome shape top akin to the current Mercedes of the day. All along there was great variety in Peugeot’s offerings and in this period they ranged from single cylinder 5 and 8hp voiturettes to the V twin Lion-Peugeots, topped off by substantially larger four cylinder cars such as the car offered here today.

This model, badged as a Type 92D is powered by a bi-block T head motor of 283 cubic inch capacity, with dual exhausts and it has four speed transmission which is transferred to the rear wheels by chains either side of the car. A potent combination for its day, we understand this to provide very comfortable modern touring speeds.

Although not fully investigated at the time of cataloging, Peugeot’s archives do exist with the factory and it should be possible to ascertain the car’s original date of delivery, if not also its original owner. However what we do know today is that the car is very much as it was found when discovered by car connoisseur Abba Kogan in Argentina more than a decade ago. Although the car had clearly been unused for many years, it remained substantially intact including its bodywork, which still proclaimed its having been built by one of Paris’s most stylish and most loved carrrosiers, Labourdette. Mr. Kogan commissioned the car to be refurbished, work which was carried out by Ken Vaughn in Santa Monica to restore the car to its former glory. More recently the car has received further freshening such that its presentation is quite beautiful. Its deep but lustrous blue tone suits the car well and is accented throughout with black painted moldings and yellow coachlining.

Completing the presentation is a full set of brass lighting, headed by big main BRC headlights and topped off by a snakes head horn that runs along the right side fender. The bodywork is not only shapely but also commodious, with a pair of occasional seats in the second compartment, and the rear passengers protected from the elements by a folding screen and Victoria top.

A well-known example which has spent the last few years on the concours circuit around the country. The car has been well received whenever exhibited, this has included last year’s Pebble Beach Concours as pictured. More recently, it was awarded with People’s choice at The Greenwich Concours in 2008.