AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE FRANCE - Lot 47

AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE FRANCE Large silver-plated Automobile Club de France plaque for the 1896 Paris-Marseille-Paris race, awarded to Monsieur Emile LEVASSOR. Based on the original design by Daniel-Dupuis. 11 x 12cm In its case 18 x 18cm Notes : Paris-Marseille-Paris was the first automobile race officially organized by the Automobile Club de France, founded ten months earlier on November 12, 1895. The race started on September 24, 1896. Of the thirty entrants, only eleven managed to cross the finish line after a course of 1,711 kilometers. Émile Levassor took the start in a Panhard & Levassor no. 5, accompanied by his mechanic Charles d'Hostingue. Near Valence, on the outward journey, car no. 5, driven by Levassor, tried to avoid a dog emerging from a house. The car swerved and threw its two occupants against a tree. Levassor was wounded in the face and hip, forcing him to give up. His mechanic, wounded in the shoulder, nevertheless took over the controls and managed to complete the stage. At the end of the race, the Panhard & Levassor of the Levassor - d'Hostingue duo took 4th place overall, with a total time of 71 h 23. It was probably for this reason that he received this large plaque from the Automobile Club de France. Bibliography : L. BONNEVILLE, Les Locomotions Mécaniques : Origines : Dates et Faits, Ed. DUNOD, 1935, pp. 147 and 148.