INTERNATIONAL FIVA RALLY

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Cachet: The cachet shows a man in period dress bent over a large vintage motor car, hand crank in hand as he starts the engine. The car is painted in soft watercolour tones, dark red bodywork with a folded canvas top and a brass headlamp catching the light, with the year "1916" lettered on the running board. Below the illustration the words "'Starting up'" appear in italic script.

Info card

THE INTERNATIONAL FIVA RALLY The Bentley depicted represents the vintage-car period from 1919 to December 1931. 25c stamp — 1933 Plymouth Coupé The Plymouth represents Chrysler's "Trump Card" [uncertain wording] and the post-vintage depression year period, stretching from 1930 to 1940. 30c stamp — 1958 Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet Today the name Mercedes-Benz is one of the largest, amalgamated automobile manufacturers in the world. The Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet represents the post-45 period, from 1945 to 1986. 14c stamp — 1912 Maxwell In 1886, Germans Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz each built a motor-car without knowing of each other's work. In France in June [year uncertain], the international veteran-car association, FIVA (Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens), was formed. In 1986, the centenary year of the automobile, FIVA in association with the South African Veteran, Vintage and Thoroughbred Car Club, is holding the World FIVA Rally in Southern Africa. The route of the rally will take the competitors through Venda, and the competitors will stop over in the capital, Thohoyandou. The Maxwell Motor Company was founded in America by Benjamin Briscoe and Jonathan Maxwell in 1904 and soon became one of that country's leading car manufacturers. A few years later the company ran into financial problems and the management was taken over by Walter Chrysler. The Maxwell depicted on this stamp represents the veteran-car period from 1886 to 1918. 20c stamp — 1929 Bentley 4½ By 1929 General Motors had produced its first Ford V8, six-cylinder engine and fitted his car with a bigger body, hydraulic brakes and other improvements that gave the Chrysler company [passage unclear] hard to compete against. In 1922 Henry Ford marketed a Chevrolet, under his agent Emil Jellinek, and his daughter named Mercédès, participated in motor racing, driving a Daimler [passage unclear]. The 1929 Bentley with the 4½ litre engine is regarded by many veteran-car enthusiasts as the best example of the classic vintage car. This Bentley was the Le Mans race five times. The last Bentley manufactured by him was completed in 1931. During that year the company was taken over by Rolls Royce.

Additional information

This cover is postmarked on 4 September 1986 in Tshifulanani, with a special postmark featuring a bulb horn. It carries the Venda World FIVA Rally set, SAPO [number to confirm], four stamps each representing a different era of motoring history through a featured car, a 1912 Maxwell, 1929 Bentley, 1933 Plymouth Coupé and 1958 Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet. The rally itself marked the centenary year of the automobile, and its route through Venda included a stopover at the territory's capital, Thohoyandou. The Bentley pictured on the 20c stamp is a genuinely significant example of the marque, a 4½ litre model from the same production run that won Le Mans five times before the last Bentley built under W.O. Bentley himself rolled out in 1931, the year the company was taken over by Rolls-Royce.

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