Faithfully Reconstructed 1904 Napier L48 "Samson" Could Fetch Over $1.1 Million at Auction

The Napier L48 Samson gained a respectable place in the automotive history books as one of the most successful racing cars of its era, as it set multiple records in its heyday. The most significant was registered on January 25, 1905, at Ormond-Daytona Beach, Florida, when a 23-year-old British mechanic named Arthur Macdonald broke the 100 mph (160 kph) barrier, clocking in at 104.651 mph (168.4 kph) and setting a new World Land Speed Record.

It thus became the first car to exceed the 100-mph barrier on American Soil, the first British car to reach this milestone, and the world's first successful six-cylinder engine racing car. The following year, Dorothy Levitt, "the fastest girl on earth," established a Women's World Speed Record at the wheel of the same Napier car, a record that remained unbroken until 1963. It's worth mentioning that this car once hit 130 mph (209 kph) at Brooklands at a time when most speed limits were around 20 mph (32 kph).

What's more, British driver Walter Thomas Clifford Earp drove it to victory again at Daytona Beach later that year, winning the race against worthy competitors - Vincenzo Lancia driving a Fiat and Louis Chevrolet driving a Christie. Earp won with 50 seconds to space despite blowing a tire at mile 32.

Napier's six-cylinder engine was not the first in the world, but it was a revolutionary one. The unit was a 15-liter inline F-Head engine that produced 240 hp at 2,300 rpm, which was quite impressive for that era. It was coupled with a two-speed manual transmission, as the chassis could not accommodate a longer three-speed transmission.

The Napier continued its winning spree in the subsequent years, especially after its original, revolutionary six-cylinder engine was swapped for a massive 20-liter beast in 1907.

The car you see here is not the original 120-year-old Gordon Bennett Napier L48 "Samson," but it has its beating heart under the hood. This car is a faithful reconstruction of the 1904 racer, built using the original L48 engine.

As it so often happens with worn-out race cars, after an illustrious career, the original Napier was eventually sold for scrap. The car's record-breaking first engine was sold to Australia's Cornwell brothers, who used it in their record-breaking speedboat, "Nautilus 2." After that, the engine was abandoned in the brothers' pottery factory, where it was discovered decades later by Bob Chamberlain, manufacturer of Australian-made Chamberlain Tractors. The latter took on the challenge of rebuilding the iconic "Samson” race car around the successful six-cylinder racing engine.

After extensive research work and the recreation of many parts based on Napier's original schematics and period photos, a meticulous replica was born, and the restored engine roared to life again in July 1982. For about a decade, the car enjoyed a second life as a show and exhibition car. More impressively yet, this impeccable Napier replica was raced at the Brooklands Reunion and the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in 1983.

In April 1993, it was sold as part of Bob Chamberlain's estate to Peter Briggs, who exposed it at his York Motor Museum in Western Australia. Just like the original, it stirred quite an interest and showed its worth at the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb in the UK and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it won the Automobile Quarterly accolade for the Most Historically Significant Car at the event.

If you are curious about what driving the Napier feels like, one of the fastest cars of its era, Evan Ide, a Senior Specialist for Bonhams|Cars, describes the sensation as follows, "You are launched to over 50 mph before you can grasp what has happened, and you are still in first gear! You need a bit more speed still to drop it in the only other gear, and then it starts all over with the engine dropping to just a few hundred revs. When you open the throttle, it feels like it could go forever, well past 100 mph."

The meticulous Napier L48 Samson replica, which set a new standard for the recreation of historic cars, is coming up for sale at the Bonhams|Cars Amelia Island Auction at the Fernandina Beach Golf Club on Amelia Island on February 29, with a staggering estimate of between $900,000 and $1,100,000. Prior to the auction event, the car returned to the beaches of Ormond and Daytona at the Historic North Turn Beach Parade on February 10.