The hills and valleys of central Wales and parts of Shropshire and Herefordshire were treated to a display of that most delightful of steam-powered vehicles, the steam car, on the first week of July last; the participants leaving in their wake a heady mix of kerosene and steam vapours, and the memory of the distinctive sound of steam engines working hard.

The tour was superbly organised by Ian Sparks and Gareth Jones, both owners of Stanley steamers, and was based at the Caer Beris Hotel in Builth Wells, a secluded half-timbered manor house on the outskirts of town. Steam cars use a mix of water and kerosene (paraffin oil) to power the vehicles, the crucial difference from traction engines. Water stops are still essential at regular intervals but fuel has to be taken on board at petrol stations, with the itineraries reflecting these essential ingredients.
The tours took in all the varied terrain that this part of Wales and the borderland can provide; ’A’ roads; mountain roads; byways; farm tracks; some very steep gradients; hills and moorland; towns and villages, isolated hamlets and also sampled the ‘interesting’ weather this area is renowned for. In fact, the tour started well with good weather, deteriorated in the middle but ended on a gloriously sunny note.
In batting order, the Steam Car Club’s ambitious itinerary visited the Elan Valley; borderland villages around Presteigne; Merthyr; Devil’s Bridge and, finally, Hay-on-Wye. The tour ran from midweek to midweek, rather than the usual Saturday to Saturday, to coincide with making a guest appearance on July 4 at Merthyr Tydfil’s new Trevithick 2004 Visitor Centre with Penydarren, taking centre stage, as part of it’s bicentenary.

I caught up with the tour for the last two days which were blessed with good weather, and enjoyed the company of this very friendly club. If anybody has tried to follow a steam car club outing they will know that these veterans really do motor and, in the case of those built around the First World War and early twenties, can quite easily keep up with modern traffic. These steam cars must have been virtually the fastest road vehicles money could buy in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Some of the selling points in contemporary advertisements of the period state that steam cars set performance goals such as smooth and rapid acceleration, simplicity of power control, and maximum torque at zero speed. It was some time before the automotive industry could approach the standards set by the steamers!
In January 1906 at Ormond Beach, Florida, USA, a Stanley Steamer became the the fastest car in the world at an average speed of 122.66 mph, driven by one Fred Marriott. A year later this car reached 190 mph before being destroyed in an accident. I hasten to add I did not see these speeds being reached on the Welsh roads!
Most enthusiasts will have heard of, or seen, a Stanley Steamer at a museum or rally, and these are certainly the most ubiquitous of preserved steam cars, and were the dominant marque on this tour. Some 24 cars took part, though on the road runs, not all were seen in action. As you would expect with classic vehicles up to 100 years old, breakdowns happened - some repairable, some not.
In addition to the Stanleys, the slightly lesser-known make of White fielded one example, a Doble (unfortunately not able to take part), an early (1901) Locomobile and a 1906 Morris, built in London, and a 10 hp Turner Miesse which, despite its name, was assembled in Wolverhampton.

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