Peugeot Type 31 5-hp Duc

A car with a truly Dutch, even Hague-based history. It was in The Hague that businessmen Jacob Verweij and Barend Lugard established the first Peugeot representation in the Netherlands in 1898.

A car with a truly Dutch, even The Hague, history. It was in The Hague that businessmen Jacob Verweij and Barend Lugard established the first Peugeot representation in the Netherlands in 1898. Verweij had become deeply impressed by the brand when he saw a Peugeot win the Paris-Rouen endurance run in 1894. After that he worked for a time at the factory in Sochaux, France. Verweij & Lugard turned out to be a successful enterprise. In 1900 a little over one hundred cars were registered in the Netherlands, fourteen of which were Peugeots. One of the automobiles imported by Verweij & Lugard is this small Peugeot two-seater, a Type 31 with hot-tube ignition. In June 1900 the car was delivered to Jonkheer Storm de Grave from Voorburg. Although the model was in production for three years, from 1899 to 1902, only seven examples were built. The car runs on a mixture of petroleum and alcohol, which at the time could be bought at the chemist.