This veteran lot is something of a mystery, and for that reason the vendor has dubbed it 'Pandora'. All that is known is that this pile of parts has the potential to form the basis of a veteran car of the small runabout type, as most of the major elements are seemingly present. Though there is no chassis as such, the timber bodyframe (with multiple engine-cooling slats) is complete and in quite sound order, and it is accompanied by axles and steering, springs and wheels plus drive sprockets. The engine supplied with the other bits is an air-cooled horizontally opposed Duplex 'twin' by the Crest Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts, which is believed to be of approximately the correct period, though the vendor feels the car may originally have been steam powered.
The control levers indicate that it is left-hand drive - a rarity among Edwardians built either in the US or continental Europe at that time - but its make has both the seller and the auction house baffled. The vendor explains: "We've gone through the books on every American car and it looks as if it was possibly made around 1899 or 1900 but we've drawn a blank - there were lots of car makers around the turn of the century that maybe built two dozen cars and then disappeared". Close inspection of the components is recommended, as this could prove a relatively straightforward and no doubt highly rewarding project. As the vendor realistically suggests: "If somebody wanted to get together a cheap veteran car. . ."
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