Stanley the Steam Car 02-10 Essex MVI 2038

Waiting for Stanley Steamer model 740 to be ready to roll is like waiting for a kettle to howl.

It takes a while for the1923-built seven-seater two-ton open tourer steam car to be readied for the open road.

It latest proud owner, Bernard Green, took six months to restore to its condensing glory -- spending more money restoring than it cost him to buy.

He had the old boiler replaced by a reinforced steel drum to comply with rigorous British regulations, which was fitted by specialist engineers from Bath.

Stanley's speedo indicates it could achieve 75mph, but Mr Green has never taken it above 35mph.

It usually travels like a ghost, scarily creeping up on unsuspecting walkers and other road users, and Bernard doesn't take it down motorways just in case.

Sometimes Stanley is very naughty and makes a loud noise, rather like a giant steel drum letting off steam, when the "atmosphere" is different - as you will hear on one of its runs - so it should really be fitted with a barometer!

To fire it up, Mr Green turns on the pilot light and in 30 minutes Stanley is ready to rock and roll, traveling 100 miles on 20 gallons of water and six and a half gallons of his petro/diesel mixtures -- making 15.4 miles to a gallon of fuel.

Not quiet the answer to global warming, but it was competitive to pure gas-guzzlers of its era, for instance, a 1926 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost does about 19 mpg.

The big disadvantage of owing the Roller is that it will never let of steam!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Stanley
• Steamer
• steam
• car
• Bernard
• Green
• Rolls
• Royce
• Silver
• Ghost
• kettle