This car has been sitting in the village parking lot under a tarp for awhile. This afternoon the tarp was off, they were working on it, and I couldn’t resist going over and taking some pictures.

As the plate says, this is a Simplex/American La France Model Type 45. It was made in Elmira, New York in 1918 and first hit the road in Pennsylvania in 1919. Check out the weight – 3,500kg!


So these guys bought the car in the UK in 2001 and had it shipped to Hong Kong. In 2007, they drove it from HK to Beijing and then from Beijing to Paris, which took 35 days. In 2010 they’ll be doing another Beijing to Paris drive, this time along the Silk Road. I can only begin to imagine the reactions they get driving this in China (or anywhere else for that matter)!









Hongkie Town
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