Additional information
| Price including Postage | Price including postage to the UK and Europe is £30, Price including postage to the USA and Rest of the World is £38 |
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RIO 1907 Paris-Peking Model
£30.00 – £38.00
When, in 1907, the Parisian newspaper Le Matin wrote a comment that to prove that the motor car was reliable one should run from Paris to Pekin ( Beijing ) a committee was set up and no fewer than 40 adventurers entered for the event. For publicity purposes, it was obviously better for them to race from Pekin to Paris as the main publicity benefit would accrue to the European entrants.
In the end, just 5 competitors decided to take part and the cars were shipped to Pekin. The event started on June 10 1907 and the winning car arrived in Paris on August 10: an incredible journey for any car, even today, but a sensation in 1907. The winner was Prince Scipione Borgese with his Chauffeur and a journalist. The car was a 35-45 hp 7 litre Itala specially prepared with two huge petrol tanks behind the two seats between which sat Luigi Barzini the journalist who was to write a book on the escapade the following year.
The winner received a magnum of Mumm Champagne!
The price including postage to the UK and Europe is: £30
The price including postage to the USA and Rest of the World is: £38
