In today’s fast-paced world, there’s something about rolling down a highway at a top speed of 25 mph that brings a smile to Webster Peterson’s face.
He’s not alone. Peterson and 40 other drivers in the New London to New Brighton Antique Car Run, say there’s nothing quite like the annual run that crosses 120 miles of the middle of Minnesota, including making stops Saturday in Grove City, Litchfield and Kingston.
“It’s a good reason to take the car out,” said Peterson, who lives in Vining, Minnesota. “Plus, it’s a lot of fun with the people involved. I mean, you could just drive it on your own somewhere, but it’s just more fun to do it as a tour.”
This year’s New London to New Brighton Antique Car Run was the 36th edition of the event, a recreation of the annual London to Brighton Commemorative Run in England, which began in 1896 to celebrate repeal of the so-called “red flag law” that required motor vehicles to be led by a man carrying a red flag to warn horse-drawn carriage drivers to hold reins of the horses, lest they be frightened by the horseless carriage’s approach.
The New London to New Brighton Antique Car Run is limited to vehicles manufactured in 1908 or earlier, or to 1- or 2-cylinder vehicles up to 1915. An average of 60 vehicles, sometimes including bikes and motorcycles, as well as steam and electric cars, participate most years.
Peterson’s automobile fits under the “newer” category. Though manufactured in 1911, the Le Zebre boasts a one-cylinder 5 horsepower engine.
While not the most impressive engine specs, the car can reach a top speed of 25 mph, Peterson said. He quickly clarified that top speed is on a flat grade. In fact, scaling hills of even minor variety can be somewhat of a challenge at times — like Saturday, when Peterson’s passenger had to jump out and lend an assist to roll the vehicle up a slight incline between Grove City and Litchfield.
“Even in first gear, my passenger had to get out and push,” Peterson said with smile. “It wasn’t that big of a hill. But downhill, we can do maybe almost 30 mph. So, there’s a lot more challenges for a little car like this than for some of these other ones that, you know, uphill, downhill, they’re just out there to have a good time.”
Peterson’s Le Zebre is a rarity, one of only three in the United States. It had been displayed in a Luxemburg museum for about 45 years before the museum closed and a car dealer bought it and many of the museum’s other items and brought them to the United States. It later ended up at a big automobile swap meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is where the Peterson family spotted and purchased it.
“They’re relatively rare,” Peterson said. “They were actually a very economical vehicle when they were built. And so they were almost a throwaway. And, you know, over time there was a couple different world wars and scrap drives. There’s probably more (Le Zebre) engines around than there are cars, because they use them for pump engines and what have you after the car was obsolete.”
Manufactured in Paris, the car is only four feet wide by about nine feet long, much smaller than many of the time period.
“It’s amazingly small compared to everything else,” Peterson said. “The track is meant for the streets of Paris, where the tracks of these were meant to be the same as with a buggy or carriage, the horse-drawn stuff. That’s why it’s so skinny.”
But despite its diminutive stature and its age, the Le Zebre has proven to be incredibly dependable. Peterson proudly said the car started and completed 17 New London to New Brighton runs.
“It’s a fun little car,” he said. “And this is a fun tour.”
