This is my 1891 Panhard et Levassor Car.
I had a few mechanical issues that I had to fix and this is the car running after pulling the heads off and all the water, inlet and exhaust manifolds as well as the oil lubrication system.
I replaced the head gaskets as they were leaking and water had rusted the bore up. As you can imagine you can't just pop down to the local auto parts store and grab a new gasket or just ask your local mechanic some questions about it.
It's a quick video that I did a few years ago. I have now got the car running better as I found that the spring that controls the governor for speed was set for too slow, so I sorted that out and it stayed at 750rpm a lot better. I then jumped on the car and drove it around the driveway but not on this video.
From what I can gather from information that my father found it's the 7th oldest car in the world. He restored it back in the late 80's and has taken it on 2 London to Brighton runs, being 1991 and 1996.
At some stage I will document the start procedure as it takes about 15 minutes before you can jump in and drive away. I start the car about twice a year when it is on display.
I have a small water pump leak that I will endeavour to fix in the coming months.
It is one of the first cars with the engine mounted up the front driving a gearbox and then onto the rear wheels. This layout was called the 'Systeme Panhard' and set the design for the modern motor car until front wheel drive came along. They also had a sliding shaft gearbox that was the standard set up until Chrysler (I think) came along with syncromesh in the mid 20's.. This car has no reverse as well.
Top speed is 15mph and the car has no radiator. It has 2 large water tanks that are circulated via the flywheel driven water pump. When it gets hot the car boils and you have to wait for it to cool down. I the old days you would have had horse troughs along the road to assist here with a supply of water.
Engine size is 1L in a V-Twin configuration.
4 окт 2024
