1920 Paige 6-66 Daytona Roadster with Rear Seat

The 1920 Paige, a one-off built on a standard Paige 6-66 luxury chassis, set new stock-chassis speed records in the United States in 1921-1922. In mid-January 1921, Ralph Mulford set the new Class B stock chassis record of 35.01 seconds for the mile - 102.83 mph - on January 21. It was the first stock-chassis vehicle of any kind to break 100 mph at Daytona.

In May 1921 Mulford and the Paige then secured Class B records for distances from five miles to 100 miles, using the 1/8 mile banked broad track at Uniontown in Pennsylvania. The car covered 89 miles in one hour, and averaged just slightly better than 89.6 mph for 100 miles.

These were impressive figures at that time, bearing in mind that the Paige was running in 'stock' tune, its 102 mph at Daytona, which compares very well against what was then the internationally recognized outright land speed record of 124.10 mph set by Hornstead in a 200 horsepower Benz at Brooklands in 1914.

To confirm the 'production car' lineage of its record-breaker, Paige then introduced a special 'Daytona' model, a fully-equipped two-seater in the style of the current Stutz Bearcat and Mercer Raceabout.

The Paige set a World record in Australia, going from Brisbane to Adelaide in 68 hours. After the record car had outlived its promotional usefulness in Australia, a country where Paige was far from a big seller. The car then passed through a succession of owners until coming into the possession of a struggling South Australian wheat farmer who could not afford the engine overhaul it needed.

Miraculously, it survived and spent a long time in storage and even escaped a savage brushfire. In 1980 its restoration was started and was completed in 1989. It again looked and sounded every bit as impressive as it must have been in the early 1920s.

This vehicle was shipped later to Australia to promote the brand, set further records, and was dismantled and stored. Carefully rebuilt with all original parts in the 1980's it is believed to be the most complete and original of early historic American racecars. It is shown in the same configuration as when setting speed records in the early 1920s.