Great Granddaughter of Oldsmobile Founder to Greet Participants in Brighton

On Sunday 4 November the owners of the forty one pre 1905 veteran cars built by Oldsmobile will have an extra reason to finish the 2007 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR) as they will be greeted in a special area on Madeira Drive in Brighton by Debbie Stephens, Great Granddaughter of Oldsmobile company founder R.E. Olds.  

Ransom E. Olds founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in 1897 and was the first to introduce the assembly line to speed up the manufacturing process in 1901 which enabled production to increase from 425 cars in 1901 to 2500 in 1902.  The Olds Motor Works was bought by General Motors in 1908. The Oldsmobile brand, after a production run of 107 years, was discontinued by General Motors in 2004.

“This year the LBVCR is celebrating manufacturers from the United States and Oldsmobile is one of the best known US motoring brands,” said LBVCR Event Director Roger Etcell.  “We are extremely pleased to welcome R E Olds Great Granddaughter Debbie Stephens to participate in the world's longest running motoring event and to have a member of the Olds family at the finish line will give all of our participants who own an Oldsmobile an extra incentive to reach Madeira Drive on November 4.”

The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is a celebration of the Emancipation Run held in 1896.  Thirty vehicles travelled the 60-miles from London to Brighton to mark the passing into law of the Light Locomotives Act which raised the speed limit from 4mph to 14mph and did away with the requirement for a person to walk in front of a vehicle waving a red flag to warn other road users    The first reenactment was in 1927 and the LBVCR has been held every year except during World War II and in 1947 due to fuel rationing.

In 2006 the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run event attracted in excess of 500,000 spectators to London's Regent Street and along the 60-mile route from London to Brighton, with the official coffee stop in Crawley High Street, outside the George Hotel as featured on the original 1896 Run.  The entire event is completely free of charge to spectators, making it one of the largest free to view events in the UK.

The 531 entries, all built between 1895 and 1904 and collectively worth in excess of £50million, include three electric vehicles built between 1900 and 1903, nineteen steam vehicles and 102 International entries from as far away as Australia, United States of America, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and China.