Rebuilt 1899 Mercedes van to go on show on Pall Mall before Brighton run

An 1899 Mercedes-Benz delivery van will go on public display on Pall Mall on Saturday 31 October, at the St James’s Motoring Spectacle. The next morning it is due to set off on the Veteran Car Run from Hyde Park to Brighton.

The van belongs to the carmaker’s historic collection, Mercedes-Benz Classic, and ranks among the oldest cars in the world that can still be driven. It was one of the earliest vehicles built specifically to carry goods by road, and the company sees it as the starting point of its modern van range. Its body was reconstructed recently by Mercedes craftsmen, who began with a Benz Velo held in the company’s collection.

A delivery van with London roots

The van was built under licence in London by Hewetson’s, the firm that represented Benz in Britain at the time. It went by the name Ideal Van. A 3hp engine drove it, and when new it could carry about 100kg of goods as well as the driver. The van body could be lifted off quickly, which turned the chassis into a car for two people.

Duncan Wiltshire, who chairs the Royal Automobile Club, said watching the van take on the Brighton road more than 125 years after it was made would be “a particularly fitting way of celebrating the pioneering spirit” behind the Emancipation Run and the motor car itself.

Veteran Car Run 2026 date and start time

This year’s run marks 130 years since the 1896 Emancipation Run, which was held to celebrate the Locomotives on Highways Act becoming law. That act effectively did away with the 4mph speed limit imposed on early motor cars. The anniversary also coincides with 130 years since the first Mercedes transporter.

Each year hundreds of veteran cars, all built before 1905, gather in central London and then drive 60 miles to the Sussex coast. This time they will leave Hyde Park from 6am on Sunday 1 November.

The Pall Mall show on the Saturday will also feature the very first car Daimler built and the oldest Rolls-Royce known to survive, alongside many other vintage and sports cars.