An extremely important model for the history of the Peugeot brand, the two-seater L45 Grand Prix from 1914 reached the price of as much as $7,26 million at the Bonhams’ auction in Los Angeles.
Peugeot L45 has a clear, unambiguous history of owners, from Peugeot through owners Lutcher Brown and Frank Book, and drivers Ralph Mulford and Arthur H. Klein to Lindley Bothwell. It has never fallen into disrepair nor been ignored
he car is in perfect condition, and everything on it is original as it was in the hands of the Peugeot team in 1914.
Interestingly, the Peugeot L45 Grand Prix was originally powered by a 3.0-liter engine that was replaced in 1916 by a larger 4.5-liter four-cylinder with two camshafts, four valves per cylinder and 115 hp at 2800 rpm, and the car had a brake on all four and leaf springs on the front and rear axles.
The reason why this historic Peugeot has reached such a high price lies in the fact that it is the original 4½-liter chassis, numbered “1”, and the original engine, also numbered “1”. In other words, it is the real deal, the genuine article, with no gaps in its hundred-year history. .