VETERAN CAR GUIDE
two-cylinder engine driving through a three-speed epicyclic gearbox and worm final drive . Investment funds were short , and the company liquidated in 1904 , but was revived later the same year by the receiver who facilitated the development of the first fourcylinder model powered by a 2470cc 20hp engine .
L ’ Elegante L ’ Elegante cars were sold by JB Mercier from premises in the Rue St Ferdinand , Paris , France . The cars were made by Lacoste et Battmann and featured the wording ‘ L ’ Elegante ’ on the gearbox . A surviving example has a De Dion Bouton 8hp engine .
Léon Bollée The Bollée family of Le Mans were bell founders , but members of the family produced steam carriages and motor vehicles from the early days . Amédée Bollée Senior was the major French pioneer steam vehicle maker from the 1870s . His sons , Léon and Amédée Junior , accompanied their father in the 1895 Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race in their 15-year-old steam carriage . The three-wheeled voiturette , which had a horizontal air-cooled single-cylinder engine , frame mounted and with hot tube ignition , was designed by the sons . Various engine sizes , from 640cc- 822cc were used , they were very noisy , the belt drive temperamental , but with their modest weight , they were very fast . The passenger was seated at the front and the driver at the rear . Several hundred voiturettes were made , with a range of bodies . In 1903 , a new factory produced four-wheeled cars with a conventional four-cylinder engine with chain drive .
Locomobile and Locomobile steam Amzi Lorenzo Barber and John Brisbane Walker registered the Locomobile Company of America at Watertown , Massachusetts , USA , and the first Locomobiles were really Stanleys . Barber and Walker soon disagreed , and in 1900 Walker set up in Tarrytown , New York , to build Mobiles . Meanwhile , Barber consolidated Locomobile production in Bridgeport , Connecticut , making a lightweight steam Runabout . By 1902 , these were made sturdier , but the company soon went over to petrol-driven cars .
MMC Harry J Lawson , entrepreneur and promoter of the first London to Brighton Run in 1896 , created The Great Horseless Carriage Company Ltd in Coventry , in 1897 . By 1898 , this had become The Motor Manufacturing Company Ltd . This was based in part of The Motor Mills , which housed various manufacturers , including Daimler . The early MMC and Daimler shared many characteristics including the 4hp twin cylinder vertical
1902 Locomobille ( Steam )
engines , steering and ignition . George Iden joined the company , and in 1899 new designs were available with rear-mounted horizontal-twin engines and side gear change . By 1902 , the engines were front mounted with one , two or four cylinders . The company faced restructurings and financial constraints leading to modest output and poor reputation for quality .
Marot Gardon The Marot Gardon company was established in Paris in 1897 and by 1900 when it had moved its operations to Corbie in the Somme , it had established a preeminent reputation for its tricycles and quadricycles that were used by many of the successful racing riders at the time . In line with other tricycle manufacturers , by 1899 , attention had shifted towards developing a range of four-wheeled vehicles : a 3hp engined voiturette was followed in 1900 by a similar model with a 4.5hp power unit . For 1901 , two models were offered , both with front-mounted horizontal 6hp engines and chain drive .
Martini Martini was a pioneer Swiss automobile manufacturer , in operation from 1897 to 1934 . In 1897 , businessman Adolf von Martini built an experimental rear-engined car . He followed this with V4 cars of 10hp and 16hp in 1902 . Since Swiss cantons were unusually hostile to cars , the company had to rely more than most on exports , and demand from abroad proved sufficient to justify building a factory in Saint-Blaise in 1904 .
Maxim The London General Automobile Company Limited gave the name Maxim to a car designed by Hiram Stevens Maxim , who invented the Maxim gun . It had a twin-cylinder , 16hp , T-head Fafnir engine , three-speed gearbox and a double chain drive . Early cars had an armoured wood chassis and gilled-tube radiator , but later had steel frames and honeycomb radiators .
52 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run