AUSTRALIA'S ISIS DOWNS SHEEP FARM 'CAR OF KINGS'
ARRIVES AT BONHAMS BOND STREET SALE
Bonhams Bond Street Sale continues to showcase fantastic
diversity of motoring, with the latest offering an elegant 1909 Mercedes
which spent its early years as a station manager’s car on remote
Australian sheep farm, Isis Downs.
Perhaps the last place one would expect to find an early Mercedes
vehicle advertised as “the car of kings” is at an isolated sheep station
in Queensland, Australia. However that is where this 5.3-litre
shaft-drive motor car lived for many of the early years of its life,
serving as the Station Manager’s car from 1914 and remaining on the
property until the early 1930s. At over a century old, the Mercedes
Simplex Roi-Des-Belges Tourer is offered at an estimate
£380,000-540,000.
When constantly exposed to the harsh conditions of the Australian
outback, early cars suffered from numerous mechanical difficulties. The
rough terrain would soon emphasise any weakness in a vehicle, therefore
those brands whose cars were built with the quality to withstand the
rigours of rural life, like Mercedes and Rolls-Royce, subsequently
became favoured by wealthy landowners.
This 35hp Mercedes proved a wise choice and a hardy asset to those
running Isis Downs, the owners keeping it in their possession for nearly
twenty years. It was purchased by a neighbouring farmer in the 1930s
and remained there until the 1960s, when it was rescued and restored.
Despite being more than a century old, the car has had only five owners
since new.
James Knight, Bonhams Group Motoring Director, said, “This Mercedes
has a tremendous history, having started its life driving across
Australia's wildest outback over 100 years ago. Still in working order
it retains its original features, and has the honour of being quite
possibly the world’s oldest shaft-driven 35 hp Mercedes. A wonderful
entrant for Bonhams Bond Street Sale."
Bonhams Bond Street Sale takes place at Bonhams London headquarters on 30th November 2014.
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