PEKING TO PARIS · 2016
Two fire trucks. One impossible rally.
A matched pair of American LaFrance Speedsters, built by hand and driven from the Great Wall of China to Paris.
THE BUILD
From fire truck to Speedster.
Late in 2013, Black Horse Racing took on a build most shops would have turned down: turning a 1915 and a 1925 American LaFrance fire engine into a matched pair of open Speedsters. Two years of fabrication followed — hand-shaping bodywork, rebuilding brakes and cooling, and making two century-old machines fit to cross a continent.
THE MACHINES
Nine feet tall, 900 cubic inches.
There's nothing subtle about them. Each Speedster stands nine and a half feet tall and twenty feet long, rides on 40-inch tires, and carries roughly 900 cubic inches of period engine. One was crewed by Steve and Katherine Trafton; the other by our own Tim Taylor — Black Horse Racing's team manager — with Ike Trafton.
THE RALLY
The Great Wall to Paris.
In 2016 the pair ran the 6th Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, hosted by the Endurance Rally Association — the longest, most punishing endurance rally on earth. From June 12 to July 17 they crossed from the Great Wall of China to the streets of Paris: over Mongolian desert, Siberian steppe, and European mountain passes, alongside 120 vintage cars.
WHY IT MATTERS
A credential you can't buy.
It's one thing to make a car beautiful; it's another to make it survive thousands of miles of the worst roads on the planet. Finishing a rally like that in a car you built by hand is the clearest proof of the standard we hold every project to.
Limited Commissions
Have a legend of your own?
We accept a small number of builds each year. Start the conversation and we'll be in touch within two business days.
ARTHUR PAYNE & SONS
CLASSIC CAR RESTORATION · TEXAS
Vintage, Perfection. Three generations of craftsmen with a singular focus: building and restoring the world's most exquisite motorcars.
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