c.1905 Rover 8hp Two/Four Seat Open Tourer | Bonhams | 30 Oct 2026

Offered from the 'Somerset Hoard', barn stored since circa 1939

• Registration no. Y 418
• Chassis no. 103
• Engine no. 103

• Steel cable steering linkage

• Original fibre controls for Bowden cables on steering wheel

• Original registration plate

• Two seats plus two occasional seats

Hidden away from public view for more than eight decades, the Rover is one of seven cars coined the 'Somerset Hoard'. An exceptional discovery of seven mainly veteran cars that have remained together in the same Spiers family ownership, untouched and unused since the outbreak of The Second World War.

What would eventually become the Rover company began by manufacturing one of the landmark designs in the history of human transportation – the 'Safety Bicycle'. Brainchild of John Kemp Starley, the Rover cycle featured two identical sized wheels and chain drive to the rear, thus rendering the precarious front-drive 'Ordinary', better known as the 'Penny Farthing', obsolete at a stroke. The firm's first venture into powered transportation came in 1888 with an electrically powered tricycle but it would be another 16 years, by which time its founder J K Starley had died, before the Rover Cycle Company began experimenting with the internal combustion engine. Designer Edmund Lewis was recruited from Daimler and drew up Rover's first series-production automobile: an 8hp single-cylinder car with aluminium backbone frame, incorporating the three-speed gearbox at the front while the rear axle was bolted to the rear of the backbone. Lewis's adventurous and innovative design would remain in production until 1912.

The prototype, first used on trade plates and subsequently registered 'DU 282', was extensively tested from August 1904 until the end of the year, as reported in The Motor of 23rd August 1904). Modifications were made in November 1904. Car Illustrated reported that the 8hp car was exhibited at the February 1905 Crystal Palace Show alongside the prototype, which by then had been completely dismantled to show its condition after completing 10,000-11,000 miles. Lewis followed up with a more conventional 6hp model.

This car retains its original cable steering, which utilises fibre discs and Bowden cables operated from the steering wheel. An option when new was wood-spoked wheels instead of steel (this car has steel spokes at the front and wood at the rear). The first known registration for this car is in Somerset as 'Y 418' to a Robert Granville of Glastonbury, dated October 1905.

Offered from long-term dry storage, this car has not been used for some considerable time and will require extensive restoration before returning to the road. Its mechanical condition is not known and thus the car is sold strictly as viewed. There are no documents with this Lot.