The Joys of Genevieve

By Pete Vack

We wonder if there is something like a natural aversion to Veteran cars – those antiques made before 1904. After all, the Brighton Run aside, there are no weekly vintage car events held in their honor, no shows, no races, and the few that still exist are hidden in dark corners of museums and collections.* Perhaps it is because they are sooo ancient, so upright, so open, so slow, why they could even be thought of as carriages without horses! Can a true car nut really get into these, these horseless carriages?

Watching Genevieve

Perhaps it is the lack of events and publicity that tends to keep the Veterans in the museums (ok, they are not very practical or streetable, but that applies to a lot of later cars as well). The ongoing successful Brighton run proves that enough people are interested to both participate and watch such events even in the usually cold early November dates. Without actually being there, another way to experience the excitement (of which there is plenty) of Veteran cars is to watch one of the best racing movies ever made, Genevieve.

Competition at any speed

And that is what we did, one fine afternoon in Williamsburg this past summer, when we found that we could catch Genevieve on the big screen at our local theater. Much to our surprise the theater was almost full despite it being a sunny day midweek. Apparently there were others, who like us, had often heard about this rare movie but never had a chance to see it. Genevieve is a 1953 British comedy film produced and directed by Henry Cornelius and written by William Rose.

Kenneth More and Kay Kendall in the Spyker. The movie was filmed in color. Both the Spyker and the Darracq used in the film can be seen today at the Louwman Museum in Holland.

It stars John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More and a dashing Kay Kendall (all top British stars at the time) as two couples who are both competing in the Brighton run. Gregson and More share a past with the same woman, jealousies arise, and both are keenly competitive despite their longtime friendship. It is superbly written, filmed (although most of the road scenes are done around the Pinewood studios in London), and at the same time hilarious. As a movie, it is far superior to Hollywood’s 1954 racing epic, The Racers. Genevieve was the second-most-popular at the British box office in 1953 and in the U.S, and Academy Award nominee.**

The two cars that are the stars, a 1904 Darracq and a 1905 Dutch Spyker are now owned by the Louwman Museum, and still participating in the Brighton Run. Most of the movie is filmed while on the road with both cars, giving one a pretty good idea of what it must be like to drive one of these Veterans on modern streets. Talk about continuity. And enthusiasm.

Jonathan Sharp, whose interests range from de Havilland jets to Veteran cars was also impressed with the film. “As a child this writer spent many a wet Sunday afternoon watching old classic movies on the BBC, one of the favorites being the 1953 film Genevieve. Now under the care of the Louwman Museum it is a regular entrant in the run. This year, just outside the Liberty’s store, was Genevieve herself, looking resplendent in her black and gold finish,” he wrote in his 2013 coverage of the Brighton Run for VeloceToday.

The Spyker has not been on the Brighton Run recently, so we asked Hugues Vanhoolandt hopped over to the Louwman to get a decent shot of the rare Dutch car.

From Ferrari GTO to 1901 Panhard

Nick Mason is a guy who can appreciate and enjoy both the slowest and most upright to one of the fastest, sleekest and of course costliest cars on earth. Mason is probably tiring of people who want to gawk at his Ferrari GTO; a potential antidote might be to collect something from the distant past. So this year Mason was at the Brighton Run this year in his 24HP 4 cylinder 1901 Panhard Et Levassor Roi Des Belges. Nick is and always has been a true enthusiast and part of a growing number of guys who are beginning to enjoy Veteran cars.

Forza Isotta

Another collector very familiar to VeloceToday readers is Italian architect Corrado Lopresto, who owns the very first Isotta Fraschini ever built, which he brought to the 2015 Brighton Run. Lopresto’s collection has included the original “Coda Tronca” Alfa SZ, the Touring bodied OSCA 1600GT, and the Tjaarda-designed 1963 Lancia Flaminia 2.8 3C Special. Another dedicated car guy, clearly Lopresto was enjoying his time behind the wheel of his Veteran Isotta.

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*In the U.S., the Veteran Car Club of America holds events for such cars, but rarely. On the club’s agenda is a ONE AND TWO CYLINDER TOUR, “Open to all VMCCA members driving one- and two-cylinder cars, steam cars, and electric cars built in or before 1915; and 4-cylinder cars of 10 horsepower or less built in or before 1904.” But one is hard pressed to find such an event held currently. http://www.vmcca.org/

**Genevieve was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay (William Rose) and Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Genevieve won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film and was nominated for Best British Actor (Kenneth More) and Best Film from any Source. It won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film and National Board of Review award for Top Foreign Film.

The end of the film (and a spoiler) can be viewed on this YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgiv_I2TkNc