Napier ‘Samson’ auctioned in USA

The 1904 Napier L48 known as ‘Samson’ has sold at auction in the US, closing the Australian chapter on this unique vehicle that goes back more a century.

Owned and used for almost 30 years by Peter Briggs, the noted car collector and creator of the York Motor Museum in WA, Samson had been rebuilt by Bob Chamberlain, using the original 15-litre six-cylinder engine and many period parts. Chamberlain had acquired the engine decades earlier and originally intended to rebuild it as a display piece before undertaking a recreation of the whole car.

Napier had intended the L48 to be a racer and record-setter from the beginning, with its early history including a trip to the USA in 1905. It set a new Flying One Mile World Record (the predecessor of the World Land Speed Record) of 104.65mph (168km/h) at Daytona Beach, also breaking Five, Ten and Twenty Mile records at the same event.

Many more records and race wins were achieved in the car, sometimes with a larger 20-litre engine that Napier alternated with the 15-litre version. After retiring the car from competition in 1908, Napier sold the 15-litre engine to Melbourne-based Cornwell brothers in 1912. They fitted the big sidevalve six to a powerboat that won the E.C. Griffith Cup in 1914 and 1915.

When a new engine was fitted to the boat in 1919, the Napier six was put aside and forgotten until Chamberlain discovered it in 1950.

After rebuilding the engine and recreating Samson in its C1908 spec (a five-year process that was completed in 1982), Chamberlain campaigned the car at numerous events, both here in Australia and overseas. When Briggs acquired the car in 1993, he did the same, taking it to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Goodwood Festival of Speed, as well as local events, like the Lake Perkolilli ‘Red Dust Revival’.

As previously reported, numerous attempts to sell Samson locally since Briggs’s death in 2022 proved fruitless, so the car’s American connection led the family to offer it there, consigning it for Bonhams’ Amelia Island Auction this February. At that auction, the car sold for US$742,000 (AU$1.14 million approx.), which was the top price across all lots.

For more details, go to: cars.bonhams.com

Photos: Courtesy of Bonhams.