Pictured is the first petrol-driven motor car to pass through Tamworth, a French manufactured De Dion Bouton vehicle owned by a Dr Magill, that visited the town on April 9, 1904, as reported in the 'Tamworth News'.
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These cars were the first to be imported into NSW, and had a reverse gear, rare for the time.
Motor vehicles on the world scene had only been around for less than 2 decades.
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The vehicle was driven from Newcastle by F.Cusack and F.Wyly, the latter having a Tamworth connection, being a brother of Mrs Harmer, a member of the Tamworth Musical Society.
The bright vermilion coloured car made its way to Tamworth with several stopovers at towns en route, managing to traverse the challenging mountain range at Murrurundi.
On a trial run after reaching Tamworth it was clocked at a top speed of 48 km/hr.
An earlier attempt to bring Tamworth's first resident steam-engine car to town by A.J.Creagh in 1901, a Thompson vehicle from Melbourne, failed due to numerous mechanical problems.
Tamworth residents, tailor Peer Flanders and builder Richard Stanfield, are reputed to be the first local owners of motor cars, the latter in possession of a single-cylinder Brusch.
It may surprise that the presence of a car in Tamworth was considerably later than the visit of a motor bike 4 years earlier, on October 6 ,1900, ridden by P.W.Tewkesbury on a tour of NSW.
Not the fastest vehicle by today's standards, taking 1 1/2 hours to travel from Manilla to Tamworth.
