They want to sell a 120-year-old car for a million dollars (33 photos)

A Napier L48 Samson, which is 120 years old and has an engine displacement of 15 liters, was put up for auction at Bonhams. In addition, he holds more than one speed record. The lot was previously valued at a million dollars.





The Napier L48 was built in 1904 in Britain. A year later, racer Arthur McDonald clocked 104.65 mph (168.38 km/h) in Florida. This marked the first time in the US and the first for a British car that the 100 mph mark was exceeded.

In 1906, Napier chalked up another achievement. Dorothy Levitt set the women's speed record at 90.88 mph. After 67 years of inactivity, the engine was started in 1982, after which the car set several more records.

The 15-liter inline-six is considered the world's first successful engine of this configuration. When new, it developed 240 hp. at 2300 rpm. The gearbox is mechanical, two-stage. Later, a 20-liter engine was even temporarily installed on the car.

Let us add that the car received the Samson prefix for the similarity of the copper cooling pipes of the engine with the curls of the biblical hero.