Rare Irish car gets £130,000

The Silver Stream car which was built in Carnalway, near Kilcullen in Co Kildare by Philip Somerville-Large in 1909 was recently sold at auction for £130,000. The expected price had been a maximum of £80,000.

The car had previously been part of the Denis Lucey collection in the Museum of Irish Transport in Killarney. The auction was was organised by Bonhams and was held in the RAF Museum, London on 30 April.

The 18/22hp Roi-de-Belges Tourer was coming direct from just its first owner outside the Somerville-Large family. Philip Somerville-Large was an engineer who built the car from bought in components of the highest quality in an attempt to emulate the work of Henry Royce.

The full fascinating details of the project are available on Bonham's site here. BB.