155 Manufacturers Represented on 2009 LBVCR
The 2009 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR) on Sunday 1st November is one of the UK's biggest free to view events and this year will feature 550 pre 1905 veteran vehicles, each attempting to finish the 60-mile route from London to Brighton.  155 different manufacturers will be represented and include early cars by contemporary car makers such as Renault, Mercedes, Peugeot, Daimler, Fiat, Ford, Cadillac, Vauxhall and Rover.   

However the majority of the names that adorn these late 19th and early 20th century vehicles are not so well known with vehicles built by Panhard et Levassor, Hurtu, Rochet, M.M.C. and Cleveland. There are also examples of vehicles built in Belgium, the celebrated country on this year's event, and included examples of those made at the turn of century by Déchamps, Minerva and Nagant-Gobron Brillie, which is the car featured on the 2009 poster and marketing materials. 
Many of these early car makers were cottage industries, with some only making a handful of cars before closing or merging with their rivals. There are also vehicles with familiar names in other industries such as Maxim (machine guns), Thornycroft (ship building) and Dennis (fire engines).  All of the vehicles on the 2009 LBVCR are very rare, with some cars representing the only surviving example built by a particular manufacturer.

“The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is an amazing event that attracts all sorts of vehicles from around the world to take part,” said Roger Etcell, LBVCR Event Director. “Once again we are over subscribed having received over 550 entries for the event and amongst these we have received new entries built by manufacturers that haven't been seen on the Run before.  Most are powered by early examples of the internal combustion engine but we do have a number of vehicles powered by steam and three that are electric, they run solely on battery power. Last year the event had 140 manufacturers represented so to have 155 in 2009 is fantastic news and we look forward to seeing them all line up in Hyde Park on Sunday 1 November for the start.”