1901 Stirling 5hp Dos-a-dos Light Dog Cart

1901 Stirling 5hp Dos-à-dos Light Dog Cart

Bicycle manufacturer Adolphe Clément took a quantum leap forward into the very infant motor industry in 1899, acquiring from Panhard et Levassor the licence to build a light voiturette, adopting a rear-mounted single-cylinder engine. Marketed in its native France as a Clément Panhard, the Commandant Krebs-designed car proved relatively reliable and attracted commercially viable numbers of customers away from their more traditional horse power. Scottish coachbuilders, J & C Stirling of Hamilton, had entered the motor industry in 1897, initially building Daimler-type cars with Stanhope, Dog Cart and Wagonnete bodies. In 1900 John Stirling, founder of The Scottish Motor Trades Association, acquired the rights to supply the 5hp Clément Panhard and these were marketed by Stirlings Motor Carriages Ltd. of Charing Cross, Glasgow, variously described as the Stirling, Panhard-Stirling or Clément Stirling. The Light Dog Cart sold for £165 guineas.

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