VETERAN CAR GUIDE
De Dion Bouton engine. It was an advanced design with front-mounted engine, wheel steering, and his own transmission design of final drive by shaft to a bevel gear on the back axle( with no chain or belt drive). The three-speed gearbox had direct drive on top. In 1902 he started to use engines of Renault design. Improvements were continuous, helped by the company’ s regular testing of its products on the race circuits of France. Marcel Renault won the 1902 Paris to Vienna in the four-cylinder car. Six cars were prepared for the 1903 Paris to Madrid. Marcel was killed and the race stopped at Bordeaux, and Louis did not race again. Production was given a boost in 1902 when Paul Viet, the De Dion Bouton designer, arrived to work on the twin cylinder and then the four-cylinder engines. By the end of 1904, 2650cc twin cylinder and 4942cc four-cylinder engines were available, providing significant competitive advantage.
Renaux The Renaux-powered tricycle, manufactured by L’ Energie company, first participated in a competitive event at the Coupe des Motocycles in 1899, when it finished fourth, and then Eugène Renaux( son of the company’ s founder, Prosper Alexandre Renaux) won the 231-mile( 372km) Paris-Saint-Malo race on one of his machines later that year at a speed of 32mph( 52km / h). Whilst L’ Energie advertised its Renaux tricycle, along with a 5hp voiturette, in 1899, there is
1904 Rover. little evidence to suggest that Renaux manufactured engines in any kind of quantity for normal road use, or for any ambitious commercial reasons. For the brief period of the company’ s existence, the focus was on developing racing engines. The engines were distinctive for several reasons: they were horizontal; the cylinder casing contains a compartment for the lubricating oil and the induction coil, and the usual kind of differential gearing is dispensed with. There is a single surviving example of a water-cooled Renaux tricycle.
Ricordi & Molinari The Societa Italiana Construzione Automobili Ricordi- Molinari of Milan was founded by Giuseppe Ricordi who was said to have imported the first car into Italy in 1890, and to have marketed a Ricordi Benz from 1900. This vehicle was built around a Benz-designed engine and transmission and had the typical vertical steering column, and belt drive, but its appearance was quite distinct from contemporary Benz, with four-seater accommodation. Ricordi’ s son, Max, subsequently made an 8hp single cylinder car with a three-speed gearbox and shaft drive, and was distinguished by having a round radiator.
Rochet During 1895, Edouard Rossel had begun to assemble cars in small quantities in Lille, from components supplied by Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot, but none survives. In 1898 he sold the rights to his car to the Compagnie Générale des Cycles, a bicycle manufacturer based on the Champs Élysées in Paris, who made versions of Rossel’ s cars and tricycles under the name of Rochet. The first Rochet cars had a conventional front-engined twin cylinder configuration with four-speed gearboxes and double side chain drive to the rear wheels. By 1900 the company was offering a 12hp car and unusually in 1902, reversing the trends of most motor manufacturers, the company marketed a small rear-engined car which was equipped with a 4.5hp single cylinder Aster engine driving a cone clutch through a Bozier gearbox.
Rover Rover was a well-established cycle and motorcycle manufacturing business located in Coventry. Towards the end of 1903 it was decided to produce a motor car and a Daimler designer, Edmund Lewis, was hired. The first motor vehicle had a conventional 1327cc 8hp single cylinder vertical engine with an unusual aluminium backbone frame that incorporated a three-speed gearbox at the front. It was launched in December 1904 before a more conventional 6hp model appeared the following year.
58 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run