Wolesley Photos from the turn of the century

[DXB]

My father has found a couple of photo albums of photos of cars from the turn of the century. These are my favourites from his albums:


One of Wolseley's race cars - possibly the one which was refused permission to race at one of the Gordon Bennett races due to terrible brakes.




The second car from the right is a steam car




My father has said these were an absolute nightmare to drive....



I know absolutely nothing about classic cars however I find these cars absolutely fascinating - I love the little catcher most of them have to catch on cobbles so they didn't roll downhill if the car stalled, and I love the braking system - apparently you could quite easily snap the brake band if you didn't use progressive braking.

One question I do have is that most of the cars in the pictures have a second lever on the steering column itself. It's not the handbrake or the gear change, so what is it?

Edited by DXB on Saturday 4th December 17:59

[LordBretSinclair]

DXB said:

One question I do have is that most of the cars in the pictures have a second lever on the steering column itself. It's not the handbrake or the gear change, so what is it?

Edited by DXB on Saturday 4th December 17:59

Could be a hand accelerator or advance / retard.

[crankedup]

Some real beauties, the race car looks ready and quite able to terrify anyone brave enough to have a go.

[guru_1071]

LordBretSinclair said:

DXB said:

One question I do have is that most of the cars in the pictures have a second lever on the steering column itself. It's not the handbrake or the gear change, so what is it?

Edited by DXB on Saturday 4th December 17:59

Could be a hand accelerator or advance / retard.

as above, or could be weak - rich for the carb

great photo of the racer

[petercam]

Interesting pictures, but i know nothing about early Wolseleys, other than the inscription on my favourite beer mug ....

Edited by petercam on Sunday 5th December 23:12