Metallurgique 30hp Phaeton tourer.
Credit for this vintage photograph turning up and appearing on Old Classic Car rests with Ken McDonald, who emailed over a scan of this old family photograph. He was hoping that the car might be identifiable. The gent shown with the mystery tourer is his father, who was employed as a chauffeur on a country estate in Fife, Scotland, in the 1920s. He'd been in contact with a well-known car museum, and they'd suggested Siddeley Deasey as a possibility for the manufacturer. I put the word out and the consensus is that it's more likely to be a Metallurgique. A spot more sleuthing online turned up a factory image of a Metallurgique that very closely resembles the car in Ken's photograph, which I've also included further down this page for comparison.
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Unfortunately, this car's registration cannot be seen. It was certainly an impressive motor-car, note the "Auster" screen fitted ahead of the rear seating compartment, and the sizeable horn arrangement, operated remotely by the driver via a rubber bulb and piping. A rook appears to have taken up residence on the Metallurgique's radiator filler/badge!
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It would have been the chauffeur's responsibility to maintain the car in tip-top condition, tending to its servicing and day-to-day requirements, while also ensuring that it looked immaculate prior to any trip being made. He'd also have to be handy with the spanners, as roadside repairs - and in particular repair or replacement of punctured tyres - would have been a common occurrence, due especially to the limits of tyre technology at the time combined with the poor road surfaces that many journeys would have required use of.
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A promotional photograph featuring a very similar car.
Shown below is the promotional image I found featuring a very similar car. The coachwork is by Vanden Plas, described
as a standard phaeton five-passenger touring body, fitted to a 30hp Metallurgique chassis. The specification for this
touring coachwork included a split folding windscreen, folding hood, side curtains, a dust cover, a folding brass luggage rack at the
back, tyre holder, a mahogany toolbox, two headlights, two side lamps, a tail lamp, and a horn.
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Metallurgique was a Belgian manufacturer of motor-cars, between 1898 and 1928. Prior to becoming involved in the motor industry, their
business interests had centred around another form of transport, namely the rail industry, producing both locomotives and rolling stock. The company soon become known for producing
high quality cars. The distinctive "V" radiator first saw light of day on their cars in 1906, and can be seen on the car in Ken's original photograph.
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Return to Page 20 in the motoring photographs archive, or visit the main index here.
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