My first classic car: a 1909 Jackson Runabout

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Your first classic car is like your first love; it is hard to forget. For me, the hobby started with my 1909 Jackson and has led to me being the current owner of the website you are now on.

My 1909 Jackson Runabout

My Jackson came to me about 13 years ago when I was 19 years old, I was doing an internship at a financial software company and was mostly dreaming of, and reading about,  classic cars. My father had a few early cars and the make De Dion Bouton was of particular interest to me. One day I heard about a De Dion engine that was for sale only 30 minutes away from where I lived and, as I believed this might be something that would suit my (limited) budget, I made an appointment to see the engine a couple of days later.

When I went to see it, I quickly spotted the engine in a corner of the building, followed by a gearbox, chassis, body and the rest of the car. Although a fantastic surprise, I wasn’t able to fund this dream, and I returned home empty-handed. After a sleepless night dreaming about the car, I knew this was the car for me and I had to have it and luckily my father was able to help me financially. The car came to my garage and the full restoration started. After some time, and a lot of trial and error, I was able to drive it. I was hooked and used the car a lot in events throughout Europe. I also once participated in The 100 Miles of Amsterdam, which was featured on PreWarCar.com. It was most times a fantastic joy to run the car, even though I was much slower than other cars. Sometimes it was a bit less fun, like when I had a crack in the (mono)cylinder, or when the wheel bolts broke when going downhill. However, everything could be repaired.

R. Jackson and Co Ltd.

The Jackson make from Great Britain is not one that everyone knows, as it often gets confused with its namesake from the States, although there seems to be no actual connection. Reynold-Jackson & Co Ltd built cars in their London garage from 1903 to 1915 after having started selling cars back in 1899. They mostly used parts from Lacoste et Battman and De Dion Bouton engines. There are also Jackson cars with Aster Twins and even a 4-cylinder engine under their own name. Unfortunately, besides one photo I have never seen the latter. There was a large Jackson Black Demon racer, also with an (albeit large) mono-cylinder. In the Paris Salon of 1910 there were 8 Jackson motorcars on show. I have no further knowledge of the number of Jackson cars actually sold. Later on, there were also other cars and three-wheelers, with a JAP engine, produced by the R. Jackson and Co Ltd.

The history of my Jackson

My car is a 1909 Runabout, with an 8hp De Dion Bouton 1 cylinder engine. The car is of light construction and the body has a racy appearance. The aluminium gearbox has no makers mark on it, but on another Jackson with similar gearbox there was a Jackson name cast in. It has 3 forward speeds and reverse. The body, although replaced by me (I still have the original damaged one), looks to have originally been in a speedster form, as seen in old photos and a period advertisement.

The history of my car is known from the 1950s when it was owned by renowed watchmaker Mr. George W. Daniels in Great Britain. There is a photo of him participating in an event in The Netherlands in 1959. At that time, the registration number was A 358.

A few years later, in 1961, the car made a more permanent crossing over the Channel when Jan Bruijn from the Netherlands, who later on became a well-known classic car dealer, got the car from his father for his 18th birthday. The car got the Dutch reg no ZZ-09-48 before it was sold on, in November 1974, to one J.M. van Helvoirt, who lived in Tilburg, also in the Netherlands. He was fond of the car's looks and had it in his living room for almost 30 years. As he only had a small front door, in around 1998 the car ended up in parts in the garage of Tonnie van der Velden, who is now a car specialist at RM Sotheby’s, after which I became the caretaker.

Not much is known about the early history of ‘my’ Jackson Runabout, and I was hoping someone could help me further. So please share your information here or through [email protected]. Any other documents or information about UK-built Jackson cars would also be appreciated.

Words by Laurens Klein.

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