Maggie or Eric? 1901 De Dion Vis a Vis Y107 has been known by both names in its 120-year history. And Maggie/Eric has plenty of tales of the Run to relate, having taken part 71 times since 1928. If only she/he could talk!

Y107 is now owned by California-based Rich and Susan Plavetich. They bought it in 2019 specifically to use on the Run – one of their ‘bucket list’ events – and the car remains in the UK, where it has spent nearly all its very long life. 2019 was Rich and Susan’s first-ever Run, but they were in safe hands, with Y107’s vast experience of the event.

First impressions of the Run

Rich recalls: ‘I had the car staged at my company's office a couple of miles from Hyde Park.  Early in the morning on the Sunday of the event, I picked up the car and drove through the dark and empty streets of London, picked up my wife at the hotel, and continued to the starting point.  It felt surreal driving a 118-year-old car in this environment.

Soon we came upon hundreds of other veterans making their way into the park, chugging along, illuminated by gas lamps.  Truly an amazing spectacle and atmosphere.  After the start, we took in the London sights passing the Palace, Trafalgar Square, Parliament and more.  What a great way to see the city!

We had our mechanical challenges along the way, and only made it as far as Crawley.  Since then, the engine has been freshened and we're looking forward to getting to Brighton this year!’

A ‘veteran’ of the Run

The De Dion was first registered in the UK in December 1903, and its second owner, C R Wason, took it on the second-ever Veteran Car Run, in 1928. In the video below you can see Y107 in the hands of C R Wason, arriving at Brighton at 56 seconds into the footage.

In 1932 Y107 was acquired by R C Porter, who would own it until 1966. During that time Mr Porter took the car on the Run no less than 23 times between 1932 and 1965. 

This enthusiastic owner documented his purchase of the vehicle in a lively article published in The Autocar in 1933.  The story began with a telephone call: “Would you like an old crock?” and continued with a visit to a village garage near Bridgwater, Somerset, where Y107 was tucked away in a corner, covered by a dusty canvas sheet and innumerable cobwebs. 

We particularly liked Mr Porter’s description of the reaction of locals when he and his friends dragged the car out of the garage: ‘What a shriek of laughter went up from the yokality, assembled at the news of our coming! Apparently a ‘gen’ellmun from Oxford’ had come down a year before, spent some hours struggling with the machinery and departed, never to return, and we were expected to provide more amusement.’

On his eventful journey home with his new acquisition – made even more so by the lack of a neutral gear* and the presence over several miles of a pursuing ‘bevy of push cyclists’ – Porter named the De Dion ‘Eric’, after the transmission gave up the ghost several times.  On his second outing ‘Eric’ disgraced himself again when his transmission let him down once more, and had to be towed behind a six-year-old Alvis (whose owner related ‘a gruesome story of a gudgeon pin locking-screw found in its sump’).  

It was another eventful journey: ‘Never have I had such a tow! It was pretty hectic at 20mph… but when Toby forgot for a moment what he was towing and went up to greater speeds I nearly passed away…. I can recommend it to Bertram Mills as a new thrill for Olympia.’

*The issue with neutral was soon sorted by Mr Porter’s father ‘who had much knowledge of these cars in the old days’ and who pointed out that the turn of a single nut (‘the right nut’) gave a perfect neutral and it only required a locking device.

Eric redeemed himself and that same year began his lengthy London to Brighton Run career in the hands of Mr Porter and his family, reaching Brighton at an average speed of 18.18mph and even succeeding in climbing Reigate Hill on the return journey.  In his article, Porter concluded: ‘Old crock – not much!  My Veteran Car is going for another thirty-three years!’

In fact, it went on for rather longer than that, its fourth owner, Gordon Black, taking it on the Run no less than 49 times between 1966 and 2012! And Maggie/Eric had a cameo role in the famous 1943 Powell & Pressbrrger film 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'.

The only thing we don’t know about the car is where the name ‘Maggie’ came from. It appears in a caption on the back of a photograph in the wealth of history that accompanied the car, but when the name change came is a mystery!

 

 

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