Few cars can have come to light as spectacularly as this magnificent veteran, which was discovered during World War Two when a German bomb demolished the stable in which it had been sleeping on blocks since 1912.

With just four owners from new, this powerful four-cylinder 4078cc De Dietrich is identical in specification to the works racers built for the 1902 Paris-Vienna Race.

"Same as you can buy" has always been a potent sales tool for motor makers, who realise that competing in motor sport with examples of their production models is excellent advertising.

That was as true in 1902 as it is today, and the excitement engendered by that year's Paris-Vienna race, which was run concurrently with the Gordon Bennett Trophy, saw De Dietrich of Lunéville (Lorraine) enter four of their new 16-hp cars, which were built under a licence signed earlier that year with Turcat-Méry of Marseille.

The roots of the De Dietrich company lay in Alsace, where in 1681 the burgomaster Dominique de Dietric...