champion slump of 1897, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

champion slump of 1897 n.

[London’s motor manufacturers staged a great procession of their products on Lord Mayor’s Day, 1897. The aim was to launch the new mode of transport with a great fanfare; as the term implies, it failed – at least initially]

the motorcar.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 70/1: Champion Slump of 1897 (London, 1897). Motor car. On and after Lord Mayor’s Day of 1896 the motor car claimed English highways for their own. On the 10th there was a procession from Westminster to Brighton, with such a lamentable result that the ‘slump’ or catastrophe prefaced 1897 – for some time.