PEERLESS – FN 5284 1915 Peerless TC 4 4-Ton Open Back LorryRegistration no. FN 5284Chassis no. 621Engine no. 419

With British manufacturers struggling to meet demand for motor lorries
for war service, in 1914 the British Government contracted with export
agents Gaston, Williams & Wigmore to supply American chassis to
be fitted with bodies in England. Prominent among these makes was
Peerless of Cleveland, Ohio, a firm that had started life in Victorian
times making mangles before turning to cycle manufacture and then, in
1900, entering the car market with de Dion-engined voiturettes. Within
a few years, Peerless had become one of America’s most prestigious
manufacturers, ranking alongside Packard and Pierce-Arrow. Trucks
of 3-ton, 4-ton and 5-ton capacity were added to the product line in
1911 and found favour with the US Army.
Between 1915-18 the British Government bought a total of 12,000
Peerless truck chassis, which were imported via Liverpool, then
inspected and made “ready for service” at a Gaston, Williams &
Wigmore repair facility at Islington, North London.
After the war ended, the American made arrangements for the
60,000 or so trucks that they had in Europe to be sold. Many
were sent to the Government repair depot at Slough. In 1920 the
Government Surplus Disposal Board sold the Slough site and all the
vehicles – including those still in France, Egypt, Turkey, India and
Mesopotamia – for over £7 million to a group of investors headed by
Sir Percival Perry and Noel Mobbs, who continuing rebuilding and
selling reconditioned lorries before converting the site into the Slough
Trading Estate.
FWD and Peerless established independent companies on the
estate, and after war service this 4-ton truck, which was built in
Cleveland in 1915 and shipped to Europe in 1916, was extensively
rebuilt in 1921 by the Peerless Trading Company at Slough. It has
a 6.76-litre bi-block T-head engine driving the massive cast iron
rear wheels through a four speed and reverse gearbox and side
chains. From Slough, the Peerless was acquired by C & G Yeoman
of Canterbury, Kent, who were nationalised in 1948, becoming
part of the East Kent Group of the South Eastern Division of British
Road Services.
The old Peerless remained in BRS service until 1956, when it was
auctioned off. Ten years later, Michael Banfield acquired the Peerless
as a chassis for £30 from J.T. Evans’ scrapyard at Wiggington, near
Tring, and subjected it to a typically painstaking restoration, its body
being built and painted “in-house” at Nunhead Lane as a replica of
a Peerless operated in the 1920s by W. G. Mersh of Albion Street,
Rotherhithe. Typical of the standard of restoration, the impeccably
lined-out apple green paintwork represents some 30 coats of paint
and varnish, and the lettering is in real gold leaf. Running well, the
Peerless has been officially dated as 1915 by the Veteran Car Club.
£20,000 – 25,000
€25,000 – 31,000