The car that missed the 1926 Monte-Carlo Rally arrives, 100 years late
By Zak Jackson, MonacoViews Editorial
Enthusiast Robert Krickl has driven a restored 1926 Avis Type 3 into Monaco, completing the Monte-Carlo Rally entry the car was prevented from finishing by snow a century ago.
A 1926 Avis Type 3 has finally reached Monaco, completing a journey that snow made impossible exactly one hundred years earlier. The car had been entered for the 1926 Rallye Monte-Carlo but was stopped by severe winter weather before it could reach the Principality. Robert Krickl, an Austrian automobile enthusiast, tracked down the surviving vehicle and spent years returning it to running condition.
Krickl's arrival in Monaco closes a century-old chapter in Rally history with a satisfying symmetry. The Avis Type 3 is a rare machine, and the 1926 edition of the Monte-Carlo Rally was itself one of the earliest runnings of an event that would go on to define the Principality's relationship with motorsport. That a car entered in that inaugural era can still make the journey under its own power is a testament to both the quality of the original engineering and the commitment of the restorer.
For Monaco residents accustomed to seeing historic machinery during the Grand Prix Historique or the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, Krickl's arrival carries particular resonance. The Principality remains the finish line that every Monte-Carlo competitor, past and present, is ultimately driving towards.