An outdoor museum is hosting a tribute to the first petrol-driven four-wheel motor car to be built in Britain.

Twelve proud owners are expected to show off their stately Lanchester cars at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in Singleton, near Chichester, in the first event of its kind in Sussex.

The cars will then be driven through the city before another engagement at Chichester Harbour.

It will be a special occasion for 83-year-old Elaine Lanchester, the daughter-in-law of the late George Lanchester, who was one of three brothers who built the first of the cars.

Now living near Chichester, she will be a guest of honour at the museum when the cars arrive tomorrow.

Modest Mrs Lanchester, a widow, said: "I am not sure I have really earned all this fuss because I simply married a Lanchester."

It will be the first time the Lanchester Car Club has held an event in Sussex and for one owner it will only mean a trip down the road.

Graham Allen, of Petworth, will be taking part in his 1926 Lanchester, which he renovated after buying it 40 years ago.He said: "It is the bodywork that makes it so special."