Pre war Mini ? (photo-UPDATE)

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It may not be the world's best photo. But it is interesting in a many respects. Remember the discussion on early front wheel drive cars about one week ago? This photos and information below is from Bob Swanson's & Kit Foster's collection. The vintage photo postcard is showing a 1907 Christie racer, probably the first US car ever to enter a French GP. With its more than 19 Litre V4 engine it has nothing to do with a Mini, BUT it has a transverse mounted engine with FWD. Right! Just like the 52 years later introduced Mini. To make things worse, there was a Christie racer already in 1904 with the same kind of drivetrain, but then with transverse mounted 4 in line(click photo). (postcard showing the V4 car at the G.P. Circuit de la Seine Inferieure, 2 July 1907. The letters WC stand for Walter Christie, all participating cars had one or two letters preceding the number)

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