Brighton belles

This pair of pioneer machines found fame in the 1953 caper Genevieve, a film that helped give old-car ownership global appeal

- SIMON HUCKNALL

Genevieve doesn't like to be kept waiting. I'm perched high on her leather bench, being gently rocked to the metronomic rhythm of an idling Darracq two-cylinder engine, when steam starts to spiral from the brass radiator cap. The wait for a cloud break has proved too much for the 119-year-old veteran, and she has quite rightly, and literally, thrown a hissy-fit. But that wait is nothing compared with the 70 years it has taken to reunite this car, star of the eponymous 1953 BAFTA-winning film Genevieve, with her co-starring 1905 Spyker. In the intervening years, the Dutch veteran has been restored to its original silverscreen specification and repainted yellow, instead of the green it wore for the seven decades following the movie's release. Few automotive reunions are as poignant, and we are the first to capture the moment.

The film's significant anniversary will be marked in November, when both of these cars will be first away at the 88th running of the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (see panel). That is appropriate, because the global success of the film ensured the survival of what is now the world's longest-running motoring event. Perhaps more significantly, it cast ripples across all activities involving old cars, acting as a catalyst that transformed what had previously been perceived as a slightly eccentric hobby into one with global appeal. In fact, the magazine you're reading now may well owe its existence to Genevieve and, ultimately, the cars we're driving today.