The Blue Butterfly

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As Veteran veneration sweeps the old-car world in the build-up to the spectacular Brighton Run, some will no doubt be wondering how it all began. Of course, everyone knows the story of the Red Flag Act and the 1896 Emancipation Run, but in many ways that was merely incidental to the world-renowned phenomenon that we enjoy today.

Instead, we might look no further than a 1901 Panhard et Levassor 7hp tonneau to find the answer. Strikingly pretty with its sky blue Rothschild body, with gleaming brasswork and scarlet upholstery, it was tailored to the expensive tastes of Chevalier René de Knyff, the Panhard director and motor-racing pioneer. It had been with de Knyff not more than a few weeks, though, when it was spotted by the wealthy English enthusiast Leslie Bucknall, who was desperate to own a car of such exquisite specifications.

A sale was agreed only after de Knyff had ensured he would profit enormously from it, and it went home with Bucknall, whose daughter christened it, in recognition of its delicate beauty, Le Papillon Bleu. Two months later, Bucknall advertised the car for sale and thereafter it vanished until 1925 when its then-owner wrote to The Autocar to enquire whether it was the oldest car still in regular use. Thus the idea of an Old Crocks’ Run was sparked to determine the answer, and the rest, as they say, is history.

David Burgess-Wise tells the full story in the November issue of The Automobile, available now. The car will be auctioned at the Bonhams London-to-Brighton sale on 2nd November.

Word by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Tony Baker.

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