1907 Napier 60 HP Roi des Belges

Montague Napier entered the automobile business in 1898. His first motorcar, powered by a 2-cylinder engine with coil ignition, was built for his friend and pioneer racer Selwyn Francis Edge. Napier began manufacturing cars properly in 1900, and for the next ten years, Edge drove Napiers in almost every category of motor racing, winning the prestigious Gordon Bennett Trophy race in 1902 - the first-ever British victory in international motor racing. After a huge surge in demand for its cars, Napier introduced the world's first series-produced, 6-cylinder motorcar in 1904, and that 7.7-liter 60 HP became the company's best-selling model.

This example has the popular Roi-des-Belges (or Tulip phaeton) coachwork seen on many luxury vehicles in the early 1900s. The exaggerated bulges in the rear, similar to a tulip flower, accommodate two corner seats accessed by a central door. This body style was first seen in 1901 on a Panhard et Levassor commissioned by Leopold II of Belgium 9the 'Roi des Belges.')