Derek Mathewson completes the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

On Sunday 1 November 2026, Derek Mathewson took part in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. He travelled in entry 0063, a 1900 Panhard-Levassor with a brougham body, registration TM 19, entered by the Shuttleworth Collection (2026 entry list).

Photographs shared the next day show the car passing through Cuckfield, at a stop with the Weald Classic Vehicle Club, and at the finish on Madeira Drive in Brighton, where Derek was interviewed (Mathewsons Museum and Gift Shop, Facebook, 2 November 2026).

Panhard et Levassor of Paris sold its first car in 1890. Its layout, with the engine at the front driving the rear wheels, became the pattern for most cars that followed (Wikipedia; Shuttleworth Collection).

The Shuttleworth Collection believes this car dates from 1900. It has a 12hp four cylinder engine and a top speed of about 30mph. It began life as an open landaulette, was bought by Leopold de Rothschild in 1902, and was later rebodied as a brougham, with an open front seat for the driver and an enclosed compartment behind (Shuttleworth Collection).

Richard Shuttleworth bought it in 1928, aged 19, as his first veteran car, and drove it in that year's London to Brighton run. Despite mechanical troubles it finished, taking over six hours at under 8mph. It has done the run several times since, most recently in November 2025 before this year (Shuttleworth Collection).

Richard Shuttleworth founded the collection at Old Warden, Bedfordshire. He died in 1940, aged 31, on an RAF training flight (Shuttleworth Collection; Historic Racing News). Bedfordshire is also where the Mathewson business began, in 1970, as our Mathewsons story explains.

The 2026 RM Sotheby's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run marked 130 years since the 1896 Emancipation Run. The route runs about 60 miles from Hyde Park to Madeira Drive, and the event is open to cars built before 1905. It is organised by the Royal Automobile Club (Veteran Car Run news).

This year 396 cars were flagged away and 349 finished. Entrants came from 17 countries, with over 100 makes taking part, and the weather was mild (Veteran Car Run news; Sports Car Digest). The next run is on Sunday 7 November 2027 (Veteran Car Run news).

Veteran cars have turned up on the programme before. In series 9 episode 4, Derek collected a 1904 Swift, a car that qualifies for the London to Brighton run.

If you were on the route and have a photo you're happy to share, you can send it through our share your visit page.