The Imperia-Abadal model was manufactured by Imperia under Abadal license
Abadal Vehicles
The Abadal was a Spanishcar manufactured between 1912 and 1923, named after Francisco Abadal. Considered a fast luxury car, it was closely patterned on the Hispano-Suiza and offered in two models. One had a 3104 cc four-cylinderengine while the other had a 4521 cc six-cylinder engine.
Soon after the inception of the Abadal line, the Belgian company Impéria began building Abadals under license as Impéria-Abadals. In 1916 Abadal acquired the Buick agency, and Barcelona-built Abadals after that year had Buick power units and featured custom coachwork. These cars were called “Abadal-Buicks”. M. A. Van Roggen (formerly of Springuel) took over the Belgian operation soon after, and built around 170 more Impéria-Abadals. Among the models produced were a 2992cc 16-valve four-cylinder OHC sports model and three prototype 5630 cc straight-eights. The company ceased automobile production in 1923.
Francisco Abadal (nicknamed Paco) was a Hispano-Suiza salesman and racing driver in Barcelona. He began this enterprise in 1912, and upon its cessation became an agent of General Motors in Spain. General Motors’ plans in 1930 related to a prototype named the Abadal Continental never materialised.
Abadal 25 HP 1914
Abadal-Buick 1923
Abadal Y-12 aero-engine
Abadal also produced the Abadal Y-12 aero-engine, a multiple bank in-line engine with twelve cylinders in three banks of four arranged in a Y.
References
Jump up^Burgess Wise, David (1979). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles. London: New Burlington Books. ISBN0 906286 16 6.
Impéria Automobiles was a Belgian automobile factory, active from 1906 until 1948. The factory in Nessonvaux, Liège, Belgium, had a rooftop test track since 1928.
Imperia 7-25 CV from 1932
History
Imperia TA-9 BS 1938
1948 Imperia TA-8 Sport
Standard Vanguard convertible built by Imperia
Impéria was a Belgianautomobile manufactured from 1906 until 1948. Products of the Ateliers Piedboeuf of Liège, the first cars were designed by the German Paul Henze. These were four-cylinders of 3, 4.9, and 9.9 litres. The next year, the company moved to Nessonvaux, Trooz municipality, and began production in the old Pieper factory. Impéria produced a monobloc 12 hp (8.9 kW) in 1909. In 1910, the company merged with Springuel.
The Nessonvaux factory began producing Impéria-Abadals from about 1916. In 1921, it built three ohc 5.6-litre straight-eights. These were quickly replaced by an ephemeral ohc 3-litre 32-valve four-cylinder which had a top speed of 90 mph (140 km/h). This was followed by an 1100 cc slide-valve 11/22 hp four designed by Couchard, one of the first cars ever built with a sunroof. Its engine rotated counterclockwise, and its transmission brake also served as a servo for those on the front wheels. In 1927 a six-cylinder of 1624 cc appeared; this had been available in three-carburettor Super Sports form from 1930.
In 1925, the company hired Louis de Monge as chief research engineer. Some of his work included torsion bar suspension and automatic transmissions. De Monge left in 1937 to join Bugatti, where he would design the Bugatti 100P racer plane.
Around and on top of the factory buildings, there was a test track over 1 km long. The track was built in 1928. The only other rooftop test tracks were on Fiat’s Lingotto plant, opened in 1923, and Palacio Chrysler in Buenos Aires, opened in 1928.
Over the course of four years, Impéria took over three other Belgian car manufacturers: Métallurgique (1927), Excelsior (1929), and Nagant (1931). From 1934 until the company folded it built mainly front-wheel-drive Adlers with Belgian-made coachwork. The company merged with Minerva in 1934, but they split in 1939.
In addition to its production in Belgium, Impéria made a number of cars in Great Britain; these were assembled at a factory in Maidenhead.
From 1947 to 1949 Impéria built its last model TA-8 which combined an Adler Trumpf Junior-type chassis with an engine originally intended for the Amilcar Compound.
After 1948 Impéria assembled Standard Vanguards under license and also built a unique convertible version. After Standard decided to set up a new factory in Belgium, the factory was left without work and had to close doors in 1957.
The Imperia GP was going to be sold in 2013. The car was designed by Denis Stevens. The Imperia GP roadster would have had PowerHybrid motorization technology developed by Green Propulsion.
Pictures from my collection:
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
References
Jump up^Pegasus, newsletter of the Bugatti Association, issue 23
Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy. It was founded by Battista ”Pinin” Farina in 1930.On December 14, 2015, Mahindra Group, acquired Pininfarina S.p.A. in a deal worth about 168 million euros ($185 million).
Pininfarina is employed by a wide variety of automobile manufactures to design vehicles. These firms have included long-established customers such as Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, FIAT, GM, Lancia, and Maserati, to emerging companies in the Asian market with Chinese manufactures like AviChina, Chery, Changfeng, Brilliance, and JAC and Korean manufacturers Daewoo and Hyundai.
Since the 1980s Pininfarina has also designed high-speed trains, buses, trams, rolling stocks, automated light rail cars, people movers, yachts, airplanes, and private jets. With the 1986 creation of Pininfarina Extra they have consulted on industrial design, interior design, architecture, and graphic design.
Pininfarina was run by Battista’s son Sergio Pininfarina until 2001, then his grandson Andrea Pininfarina until his death in 2008. After Andrea’s death his younger brother Paolo Pininfarina was appointed as CEO.
At its height in 2006 the Pininfarina Group employed 2,768 with subsidiary company offices throughout Europe, as well as in Morocco and the United States. As of 2012 with the end of series automotive production, employment has shrunk to 821. Pininfarina is registered and publicly traded on the Borsa Italiana (Milan Stock Exchange).
On December 14, 2015, Mahindra Group, announced a deal to acquire Pininfarina S.p.A. in a deal worth about 168 million euros ($185 million).
History
The days as a specialist coachbuilder
When automobile designer and builder Battista ”Pinin” Farina broke away from his brother’s coach building firm, Stabilimenti Farina, in 1928 he founded “Carrozzeria Pinin Farina” with financial help from his wife’s family and Vincenzo Lancia. That first year the firm employed eighteen and built 50 automobile bodies.
On May 22, 1930 papers were filed to become a corporation, Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina headquartered in Turin, Italy, at 107 Corso Trapani. During the 1930s, the company built bodies for Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Isotta-Fraschini, Hispano Suiza, Fiat, Cadillac, and Rolls-Royce. With its close relationship with Lancia, the pioneer of the monocoque in automobile design, Pininfarina became the first coachbuilder to build bodies for the new technique also known as unibody construction. This development happened in the mid-1930s when others saw the frameless construction as the end of the independent coachbilder.
In 1939, World War II ended automobile production, but the company had 400 employees building 150 bodies a month. The war effort against the Allies brought work making ambulances and searchlight carriages. The Pininfarina factory was destroyed by Allied bombers ending the firm’s operations.
After the war, Italy was banned from the 1946 Paris Motor Show. The Paris show was attended by 809,000 visitors (twice the pre-war figure), lines of people stretched from the main gate all the way to the Seine. Pinin Farina and his son Sergio, determined to defy the ban, drove two of their cars – an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 S and a Lancia Aprilia cabriolet – from Turin to Paris, and found a place at the entrance to the exhibition to display the two new creations. The managers of the Grand Palais said of the display, “the devil Pininfarina”, but to the press and the public it was the successful “Turin coachbuilder’s anti-salon”.
At the end of 1945 the Cisitalia 202 Coupé was designed. An elegantly proportioned design with a low hood, it is the car that usually is given credit for establishing Pininfarina’s reputation. The Pininfarina design was honored in the Museum of Modern Art’s landmark presentation “Eight Automobiles” in 1951. A total of 170 Coupés where produced by Pininfarina.
The publicity of the Museum of Modern Art exhibit brought Pininfarina to the attention of Nash-Kelvinator managers. The subsequent cooperation with Nash Motors resulted in high-volume production of Pininfarina designs and provided a major entry into the United States market. In 1952, Mr. Farina visited the U.S. for the unveiling of his design for the Nash Ambassador and Statesman lines, which, although they did carry some details of Pininfarina’s design, were largely designed by Nash’s then-new in-house styling staff when the original Farina-designed model proved unsuited to American tastes, exhibiting a popular 1950s appearance called “ponton“. The Nash-Healey sports car body was, however, completely designed and assembled in limited numbers from 1952 to 1954 at Pininfarina’s Turin facilities. Nash heavily advertised its link to the famous Italian designer, much as Studebaker promoted its longtime association with Raymond Loewy. As a result of Nash’s $5 million advertising campaign, Pininfarina became well known in the U.S.
Pininfarina also built the bodies for the limited-series Cadillac Eldorado Brougham for General Motors in 1959 and 1960, assembled them and sent them back to the U.S. There were 99 Broughams built in 1959 and 101 in 1960. A similar arrangement was repeated in the late 1980s when Pininfarina designed (and partially assembled) the Cadillac Allanté at the San Giusto Canavese factory. The car bodies were assembled and painted in Italy before being flown from the Turin International Airport to Detroit for final vehicle assembly.
The Ferrari partnership
It started in 1951 with a meeting at a restaurant in Tortona, a small town halfway between Turin and Modena. This neutral territory was chosen because neither Pininfarina nor Enzo Ferrari wanted to meet at the other’s headquarters. Pinin’s son, Sergio Pininfarina recalled, “It is not difficult to imagine how I felt that afternoon when my father, without taking his eyes off the road for one moment told me his decision as we drove back to Turin: “From now on you’ll be looking after Ferrari, from A to Z. Design, engineering, technology, construction—the lot!”—I was over the moon with happiness.” “
Since that meeting the only road-going production Ferraris not designed by Pininfarina are the 1973 Dino 308 GT4 and 2013’s LaFerrari. Their relationship was so close that Pininfarina became a partner of Ferrari in “Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC”, the organization that ran Ferrari’s race team from 1961–1989, Pinin was a vice president of Ferrari, and Sergio later sat on Ferrari’s board of directors.
The move to large-scale manufacturing
Paris – Mondial de l’automobile 2010 – Alfa Roméo Giulietta Spider
In 1954 to 1955 Pininfarina purchased land in Grugliasco, outside of Turin, for a new factory. “The factory in no way would look like the one of Corso Trapani. It would be a car no longer on my measurements but on those of my children, built looking like them; I had this in mind and wanted it,” said Pininfarina.
Around the same time, Alfa Romeo accepted Pininfarina’s design over Bertone for the new Giulietta Spider. The Alfa was the first vehicle that Pininfarina produced in large numbers, in fact Alfa Romeo chose Pininfarina to produce the Spider in large part because they felt confident that they could produce 20 cars a day for a run of 1,000 bodies. The Spider was a huge success for Alfa Romeo and Pininfarina, Max Hoffman the importer for the United States said he could sell as many as they could make. In 1956, the first year of production, they produced 1025 units which then expanded to over 4,000 in 1959 the first full year of the new Grugliasco factory.
Starting with the planning for the new plant in Grugliasco in 1956, Pinin started to groom his replacements–Sergio his son and Renzo Carli his son-in-law. To his heirs apparent, Pinin said of the Corso Trapani facility “This old plant has reached the limits of its growth. It has no room for expansion and is far from being up to date. If I were alone I’d leave it as it is. But I want you to decide which way to go–to stay as we are or to enlarge. Either way is fine with me. It’s your decision to make and I don’t want to know what it is. I’m finished and it’s your time to take over. The future is absolutely up to you.” In 1958, upon leaving for a world tour Pinin added “In my family we inherit our legacies from live people–not from the dead.”
1961 at the age of 68, “Pinin” Farina formally turns his firm over to his son Sergio and his son-in-law, Renzo Carli, it was the same year that the President of Italy formally authorized the change of Farina’s last name to Pininfarina.
Pininfarina was run by Battista’s grandson Andrea Pininfarina from 2001 until his death in 2008. Andrea’s younger brother Paolo Pininfarina was then appointed as successor.
Modernizing for a new world
Starting in the mid-1960s, Pininfarina started to make investments in the science of automotive design, a strategy to differentiate itself from the other Italian coachbuilders.
In 1966, Pininfarina opened Studi e Ricerche, or the Studies and Research Centre in Grugliasco. The research centre occupied 8000 sq. metres (2 acres) and employed 180 technicians capable of producing 25 prototypes a year.
The Calculation and Design Centre was set up in 1967, the first step in a process of technological evolution which, during the 1970s, would take Pininfarina into the lead in automated bodywork design.
Then in 1972 construction of a full-sized wind tunnel was completed. The project was started in 1966. When it opened, it not only was the first wind tunnel with the ability to test full-sized cars in Italy, but also one of the first in the world with this ability. To put this foresight in perspective, GM’s full-sized wind tunnel didn’t open until 1980.
New infrastructure and expansion
The 1980s started a period of expansion for Pininfarina.
In 1982 the company opened “Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche” in Cambiano. It was separate from the factory and wind tunnel in Grugliasco, to keep design and research activities independent from manufacturing. On October 14, 2002, Pininfarina inaugurated a new engineering center. The new facility, which was built at the Cambiano campus, to give greater visibility and independence to the engineering operations.
In 1983 Pininfarina reached an agreement with General Motors to design and build the Cadillac Allanté. The Allanté project led to the building of the San Giorgio factory in 1985.
In 1996, Mitsubishi entered into talks for Pininfarina build their new compact SUV, the Pajero, in Italy. While Mitsubishi recognized Pininfarina’s expertise in design and engineering, the reason for choosing them was that manufacturing costs were half of those in Germany. After entering into an agreement in 1996, Pininfarina purchased an industrial site at Bairo Canavese near Turin, Italy. in April 1997, Bairo Canavese was dedicated to the production of the new Mitsubishi Pajero Pinin.
Pininfarina Sverige AB in Uddevalla, Sweden, was established in 2003 as a joint venture (JV) between Volvo Cars and Pininfarina to produce a new Volvo convertible that will be sold in Europe and the United States. The JV is owned 60% by Pininfarina and 40% by Volvo. The C70 model designed by Volvo’s John Kinsey—was launched on 13 April 2006, sharing the Volvo P1 platform used in the S40.
New economic realities
In April 2008, after three years of serious losses totaling 115 million euros at the end of 2007, Pininfarina made the first of several moves to raise capital and restructure its enormous debt:
April 29, 2008
Pininfarina’s announced Piero Ferrari, Alberto Bombassei, chairman of Brembo, and the Marsiaj family, founders of the Sabelt seatbelt company, will join with Vincent Bollore, a French financier, and Ratan Tata, head of India’s Tata conglomerate, who already announced their plans to invest, reports Reuters. The five will together invest €100 million.
Funding will come through the sale of stock to other investors. The Pininfarina family is willing to reduce its share from its current 55% to 30%, which is still enough to secure a controlling interest.
December 31, 2008
On December 31, 2008, Pininfarina announced a debt restructuring that would require the family to sell its stake in the company. The agreement was made after Pininfarina’s value dropped 67 per cent during 2008, and it then had a market capitalization of about €36 million. It had total debts of €598 million at the end of November. Of that amount, €555 million was the subject of the debt restructuring agreement that was agreed on with a consortium of banks.
March 24, 2009
Pincar, Pininfarina’s family holding company, announced it has hired Leonardo and Co to find a buyer for its 50.6% stake in Pininfarina per the debt restructuring agreement reached in December.
January 4, 2011
Pininfarina released a statement saying that it is still gathering “possible offers from potential buyers,” adding it would release more information when it was appropriate.
Company sources added, the family will not sell its entire 50.7% stake but that Pincar would no longer be a majority shareholder.
February 14, 2012
Italy’s Pininfarina family is set to lose control of the car design company as lengthy debt restructuring talks head toward the finish line, people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. A 16.9 million euros loss in the first nine months of 2011 occurred after closing its manufacturing operations to re-invent itself as a smaller niche design player.
An agreement with creditor banks including Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Mediobanca and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena to restructure net debt of 76 million euros is on track and will be reached in the coming months, said three sources close to the situation. “The debt situation is stable and the talks are not contentious, so there is no hurry,” said one of the sources, speaking on condition anonymity. “The agreement will fix the capital structure for the foreseeable future.”
When finalised, the debt accord will give control of the family’s 77 percent stake to its creditor banks, ending the Pininfarina family’s ownership.
The deal will close a chapter that began in 2008 when the banks swapped 180 million euros in debt in exchange for a promise of proceeds from a future sale of part of the Pininfarina’s family stake.
But no takers materialised. Potential buyers were not willing to acquire a design company when they can easily contract its services, said one of the people familiar with the situation.
February 15, 2012
In a statement released on 15 February, the Cambiano-based company, which owes over €100 million to a number of Italian banks, said its debt repayment date has been extended to 2018, from 2015.
The agreement, which will be signed in the next few weeks, will also see the company take advantage of interest rates “significantly lower than [current] market rates”. With the new debt restructuring deal with its creditors Pininfarina will remain under the control of the Pininfarina family.
May 16, 2012
Automotive News reports Pininfarina projects it will turn a profit for 2012, thanks in part to debt restructuring. The Italian design studio hasn’t seen a profit in eight years, but signed a deal in April to restructure $182.6 million in debt. The move effectively stretched the studio’s repayment deadline from 2015 to 2018. At the same time, Pininfarina announced it will likely see an operating loss this year, but a one-time gain of $57.6 million will result in the net profit. Last year, the company lost $8.3 million in the first quarter, though that figure has dropped to just under $4 million during Q1 2012.
Pininfarina also saw its net revenue increase by $2.9 million.
March 26, 2013
Pininfarina in the black for first time since 2004 Italian design house Pininfarina predicted last May that it would face an operating loss for 2012 but still come out with a net profit. Both predictions have come true – the company is reporting an operating loss of 8.2 million euros and a net profit of 32.9 million euros ($42.5 million US).
According to Reuters, the good news came because of a debt restructuring arranged last year that gives the company three more years to repay its $182.6 million in debt, and a one-time gain of roughly 45 million euros ($57.6 million US). It is the company’s first profit since 2004.
Acquisition by Mahindra group (2015–present)
Mahindra Group, owner of Indian automobile company Mahindra & Mahindra agreed to buy Italian car designer Pininfarina SpA in a deal worth about 168 million euros ($185 million). Mahindra group, together with affiliate Tech Mahindra, have 76 percent stake from holding company Pincar for 25.3 million euros. The Indian company will offer the same price for the remaining stock. In addition to buying stock, Mahindra will invest 20 million euros in Pininfarina and provide a guarantee to creditors of 114.5 million euros.
Board of Directors: Manoj Bhat, C.P.Gurnani, Romina Guglielmetti, Jay Itzkowitz, Licia Mattioli, Sara Miglioli, Antony Sheriff.
Statutory Auditors: Nicola Treves (president), Margherita Spaini, Giovanni Rayneri.
The end of car production operations
On December 10, 2011 Pininfarina announced it would end all automotive production. In truth production ended in November 2010 with the conclusion of the contract to produce the Alfa Romeo Brera and Spider at the San Giorgio plant.
Grugliasco factory
Opened in 1958 with nearly 1,000 employees, by 1960 output exceeded 11,000 car bodies. In 2009 Pininfarina sold the factory to Finpiemonte, the public finance of the Piedmont Region, at the price of 14.4 million euro. Finpiemonte, as part of the deal, leases the plant to Gian Mario Rossignol at a rent of €650,000 per year for six years renewable.
The Grugliasco sale did not include an adjacent structure that houses the wind tunnel.
San Giorgio plant
Opened in 1986 to build Cadillac Allante bodies for General Motors, the same year Pininfarina was first listed on the Stock Exchange in Milan. Automotive production ended at San Giorgio with the conclusion of the Ford production in July 2010, and Alfa Romeo production in November 2010.
Following the end of contract manufacturing activities San Giorgio Canavese is being used for production of spare parts for cars manufactured in the past.
Bairo Canavese
Pininfarina opened its third manufacturing plant in 1997. Currently Pininfarina leases the plant and 57 employees to the Cecomp Group. This agreement to produce 4,000electric Bolloré Bluecars runs April 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013. On September 13, 2013 a new lease agreement was announced, this new agreement will run from January 1, 2014 until the end of 2016.
Uddevalla, Sweden Pininfarina Sverige AB
A joint venture between Pininfarina S.p.A. and Volvo Car Corporation began in 2003. Volvo and Pininfarina S.p.A. have agreed upon the termination of the joint venture agreement regarding Pininfarina Sverige AB and its operations in Uddevalla, Sweden. As of December 31, 2011 the termination this agreement would result in a 30 million euros fee paid to Pininfarina.
On June 25, 2013 the last Volvo C70 was produced and the Uddevalla assembly plant was closed.
Designers
Although Pininfarina rarely gave credit to individuals, that policy seems to have changed in recent years and many of the designers of the past have become known. As of 2011 Pininfarina employs 101 people in their styling department. That is down from 185 in 2005.
Paolo Martin 1968–72, Chief of the Styling Department
Diego Ottina 1970—
Lorenzo Ramaciotti 1973-2005 deputy director of Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche, Director General and Chief Designer, CEO of Pininfarina SpA Research and Development
Ian Cameron 1975–81
Enrico Fumia 1976–91; 1982: Manager at Pininfarina R&D – Models and Prototypes Development; 1988: Manager at Pininfarina R&D – Design and Development; 1989: Deputy General Manager at Pininfarina R&D
Fabio Filippini 2011— , Vice President Design and Chief Creative Officer
Vehicles
Pininfarina designs, manufactures, assembles, and tests prototypes and production vehicles under contract for other automakers.
Past production
As of December 10, 2011 Pininfarina announced it would end all mass automotive production with the sale of its 40% stake in the Uddevalla, Sweden plant to Volvo in 2013. In the past Pininfarina has produced both cars and car-bodies under contract from other automakers. This production includes Pininfarina-designed cars and vehicles designed by others.
A sortable list of complete cars or car bodies manufactured in one of the five Pininfarina factories:
1947 Maserati A6 1500 PininFarina1953 Maserati A6G 2000 bodied by Zagato PininFarina1951 Cistialia 202 SC Pininfarina CoupéAlfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Pinin Farina CabrioletAlfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Coupé, coachbuilding by Pininfarina1949 Maserati A6 1500 Coupé Pininfarina1950-52 Lancia Aurelia B50 cabriolet by Pinin Farina1950-58 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT, 6th Series. Lancia Flaminia Coupe Pininfarina1952 Alfa Romeo 1900 C Cabriolet PF1952 ALFA ROMEO 1900 C SPRINT PININFARINA COUPE1952 Alfa Romeo 1900C PF 2+2 Cabriolet1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Pininfarina coupé1952 Lancia D20 Pininfarina + last one at le mans 19531953 Nash Healey Pininfarina Roadstar1954 Ferrari 375 MM and Ingrid Bergman and her husband Robert Rossellini to her right.Carrozzeria Pinin Farina1953 Lancia D23 Spider Pininfarina
1953 Lancia D24 Pininfarina Spider Sport; top car design rating and specifications
1953-54 Lancia D24 Spyder Sport PininFarina1954 fiat-1100-tv-coupe-pininfarina-1954-(italie)
1954 FIAT 1100 TV PininFarinaLancia Aurelia B24 (+B25 remakes) Spider America PininFarinaMaserati A6 GCS/53 Berlinetta PininFarina1956 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider boasts a race-developed V6 engine, outstanding handling and beautiful Pininfarina styling1956 Alfa Giulietta Spider Pininfarina Grey Main1958 LANCIA APPIA SERIES2+2 PININFARINA COUPE1959 Ferrari 250 GT Coupé Pininfarina1962 Alfa Giulietta Spider Pininfarina1959 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham by Pininfarina1959 Lancia Flaminia Coupé Pinin Farina1961 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 Pininfarina1966 Peugeot 404 Pininfarina Coupé1967 Peugeot 404 Coupe Cabriolet Pininfarina1962 MHV Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupé-011965 Lancia Flavia-Pininfarina Mk11968 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Convertibile1971 Lancia 2000 HF Pinifarina Coupe1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Series 105 Pininfarina1963 Alfa-Giulia-Spider-DV-10 1600 Pininfarina1963-68 Ferrari 330 gtc pininfarina1967 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Pininfarina1964 MHV Ferrari 330GT America Pininfarina 011968 Interior of Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Pininfarina (serie II)1966 Ferrari 330 GTS Pininfarina1967 Ferrari 330 GTC Pininfarina during the Saxony Classic Rallye 20101962 Ferrari 330 LM Berlinetta Pininfarina1967 Alfa Romeo 1600cc Duetto-white Pininfarina-DV-16-CI1968-72 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Tubolare Zagato (TZ) Coupe by Pininfarina1968-70 Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider Veloce North America (105) designed by PininfarinaPeugeot 504 Coupé designed by PininfarinaPeugeot 504 Cabriolet designed by Pininfarina1972 Ferrari 365 GTC 4 Pininfarina1971-75 Lancia 2000 Pininfarina Berlina 1973 1991ccFerrari 400 GT4 2+2 desined by PininfarinaLancia Monte-Carlo PininfarinaPeugeot-Talbot Samba Cabrio Design Pininfarina (Clássico)
Fiat Campagniola ?1986 Ferrari-Testarossa-Spider-by-Pininfarina1984-86 Alfa Romeo 33 1.5 4×4 Giardinetta (905) designed by Pininfarinaferrari-412 pininfarina
Ferrari 412 GT
peugeot 205-cabriolet-pininfarina1990 Cadillac Allante 25 Pininfarina1987-93 CADILLAC Allante Cabriolet PininfarinaFerrari 456 GT PininfarinaPininfarina Ferrari 456GT Venice Convertible Brunei 161993-00 Pininfarina designed Fiat Coupé 20v Turbo Model1993-02 peugeot 306 pininfarina designed cabrioletBentley Azure Mark I Convertible disigned by Pininfarinalancia kappa-sw-designed by pininfarinaPeugeot 406 Coupé designed by pininfarina2002 Mitsubishi Pajero Pinin ZR 5-door wagonAlfa Romeo GTV & Spider 916 series designed by pininfarinaHONDA ARGENTO VIVO BY PININFARINAford streetka designed by pininfarinapininfarina designed ford streetka2012 Pininfarina designed Alfa Romeo Brera Milan Design Week Superstudio in 20122006 Alfa Spider VI Pininfarina2006 Alfa Romeo Spider VI Pininfarina with extracted roof2015 ford-focus-cabrio-render-pininfarina2015 ford-focus-cabrio-render-pininfarina a2011 Volvo C70 II Pininfarina2008 mitsubishi colt czc pininfarina2006-09 Pininfarina Mitsubishi Colt CZCLancia Beta Montecarlo pininfarinaLancia Beta Montecarlo cabrio pininfarinaPininfarina designed Lancia 037 en version stradale1975 Fiat 130 Coupe PininfarinaFiat Dino 2.0-pininfarina-coupelancia gamma-coupe pininfarina1934 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Pescara Touring Cabriolet
Before the war Pininfarina built car bodies mostly for individual customers, many of the bodies were “one offs” and not mass-produced.
1931 Lancia Dilambda – the first official Pinin Farina special, presented at the Concours d’Elegance at Villa d’Este1931 Hispano Suiza H6C Coupé Chauffeur1931 Hispano Suiza Pinin Farina Coupé 1931 Hispano Suiza Coupé 1931 Cadillac V16 Roadster – for the Maharajah of Orccha1932 Fiat 518 Ardita designed by Pininfarina 1932 Fiat 518 Ardita1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Cabriolet (Pininfarina)1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 23001934 Alfa-Romeo-6C-2500-S-Stabilimenti-Farina-Cabriolet-14751 1934 Alfa Rome 6C 2300 B Cabriolet1936 Lancia Astura Cabriolet tipo Bocca – a series of six cars made for the Bocca brothers, Lancia dealers in Biella, Italy – designed by Pininfarina1935 alfa romeo 6C 2300 pescara coupe aerodinamico pininfarina 1935 Alfa Romeo 6C Pescara Coupé aerodinamico1936-39 Lancia Aprilia was manufactured by Lancia, one of the first designed using wind tunnel in collaboration with Battista Farina 1936 Lancia Aprilia1936 Alfa-Romeo-8C-2900B-Stabilimenti-Farina-Cabriolet-25684 1936 Alfa Romeo 8C 29001937 Alfa-Romeo-6C-2300-B-Pescara-Pinin-Farina-Berlinetta 1937 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300-B Pescara Berlinetta1937 Lancia Aprilia Aerodinamica Pininfarina
1938 Lancia Astura PF Convertible Front Laganland Bilmuseum, Sweden 1938 Lancia Astura1943 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Super Sport Pinin Farina Cabriolet
Concept cars, Prototypes and Individual commissions
A recent privately commissioned custom example was the Ferrari P4/5 of 2006, a one-car rebody (changing the exterior design) of the Enzo Ferrari according to the client’s specifications. Its design began in September 2005 with sketches by Jason Castriota moving through computer aided sculpture and stringent wind tunnel testing. More than 200 components were designed especially for the car though the engine, drivetrain and many other components are simply modified from the original Enzo Ferrari. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is unchanged from the Enzo it was derived from. The P4/5 was publicly revealed on August 18, 2006 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and shown again at the Paris Motor Show in late September. Another recent prototype is the Pininfarina Nido, a two-seater sub-compact that could possibly make airbags obsolete.
The Pininfarina B0 solar-electric concept, designed with Bolloré was shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show featuring a range between charges of more than 150 miles (241 km) with an electronically limited 88-mile-per-hour (142 km/h) top speed, and an estimated acceleration to 37 miles per hour (60 km/h) in 6.3 seconds. The car has solar panels on the roof and on the nose, while its battery pack is said to last up to 125,000 miles (201,168 km).
On May 15, 2013 Pininfarina announced the BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé to be revealed on May 24 at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Pininfarina announced this one-off concept car as the first collaboration between BMW and Pininfarina, but in 1949 BMW commissioned Pininfarina design and build a prototype of the BMW 501—it was rejected for being too modern.
1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Coupe Speciale
1949 bmw-501-prototype-1949-designed-by-pininfarina 1949 BMW 5011952 Lancia-Aurelia-B52-PininFarina200-Cabriolet 1952 Lancia Aurelia B52 PF 200 spider –version 11952 Lancia Aurelia B52 PF 200 coupé –version 11953 Lancia Aurelia B52 PF 200 spider –version 2 and 31954 Cadillac Series 62 PF -built for Norman Granz1954 Lancia Aurelia B52 PF 200 coupé –version 21955 Ferrari 375MM Speciale DV PalmBeach Pininfarina design1955 Ferrari 375-America Speciale Designed by Pininfarina 1955 Ferrari 375 America Coupé Speciale
1988 Lancia HIT (Pininfarina) 1988 Lancia HIT1989 pininfarina ferrari mythos 1989 Ferrari Mythos1990 Pininfarina CNR E21991 Opel Chronos Pininfarina1992 Fiat Cinquecento 4×4 pick-up1992 Pininfarina Ethos1993 Pininfarina Ethos 21994 Fiat Spunto1994 Pininfarina Ethos 3 1995 Honda Argento Vivo (Pininfarina) 1995 Honda Argento Vivo1995 Honda SSM (Pininfarina) 1995 Honda SSM1996 Fiat Sing e Song – a pair of concept cars based on the Fiat Bravo and Brava Pininfarina1996 Pininfarina etabeta1997 Peugeot Nautilus concept designed by Pininfarina1998 Alfa Romeo Dardo Spider Pininfarina1999 Fiat Wish Cabriolet / Coupé Pininfarina1999 Pininfarina Metrocubo2000 Ferrari Rossa Pininfarina2001 Ford Start (Pininfarina) 2001 Ford Start2001 Citroën Osée Pininfarina2002 Hafei HF Fantasy Pininfarina2003 Pininfarina Lotus Enjoy2004 Pininfarina Double-Face2004 Pininfarina Nido2004 Saturn Curve – Built by Pininfarina, designed by GM in Sweden2005 Chery M14 (Pininfarina) 2005 Chery M142005 Maserati Birdcage 75th Pininfarina
Pininfarina Sergio Concept Geneva 2013 2013 Pininfarina Sergio concept car
2013 BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe 2013 BMW Gran Lusso Coupé2014 Ferrari Sergio Pininfarina Tribute Car 2014 Ferrari Sergio2016 H2 Speed concept car pininfarina 2016 H2 Speed concept car
Production Cars Designed by Pininfarina
A list of Post WWII cars designed by Pininfarina that went into production.
Austin A55 Mk2: ADO 9 or Austin Drawing office 9 was the nearest to production car to Farina’s design proposal. This was the only car in this family to be built exclusively at Longbridge. As launched in 1959, the A55 Mk II had a rather severe, square, mesh front grille, very prominent fins and a body style which left the wheels well tucked in and looking a touch too small for the rest of the machine.
1959-61 Fiat 1800-2100 (112-114) designed by Pininfarina 1959 Fiat 1800/21001961 Ferrari 250 GTE Coupe Pininfarina 1960 Ferrari 250 GTE1960 peugeot-404 pininfarina 1960 Peugeot 4041961 Fiat 2300 Pininfarina 1961 Fiat 23001962 ado16dev pininfarina 101972 BMC ADO16 Austin 1300GT 1380cc Pininfarina 1962 BMC ADO16
1971 Ferrari 365 GTB-4 designed by Pininfarina 1971 Ferrari 365 GTC/4
1973 – 1976 Ferrari 365 GT4 BB Pininfarina 1973 Ferrari 365 GT4 BB1977 Ferrari 308 GTS 3 0 Pininfarina 1975 Ferrari 3081975-1986 peugeot-604-Pininfarina 1975 Peugeot 6041975 Lancia Beta Montecarlo Pininfarina 1975 Lancia Montecarlo1975 Rolls-Royce Camargue designed by Pininfarina 1975 Rolls-Royce Camargue1976 Peugeot Peugette designed by Pininfarina concept car1978 Pininfarina Jaguar XJ VI Spider 1978 Jaguar XJ61979 peugeot 505 designed by Pininfarina 1979 Peugeot 5051980 Ferrari Mondial Pininfarina 1980 Ferrari Mondial1984 Ferrari Testarossa Pininfarina 1984 Ferrari Testarossa1984-87 Ferrari 288 GTO Pininfarina 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO1985-89 Ferrari 328 GTS Pininfarina 1985 Ferrari 3281985 Peugeot 205 Cabriolet and Saloon (4 doors) based on Peugeot’s Director of Exterior Design, Gerard Welter’s, initial design of the 205 (1983) designed by Pininfarina1987-98 Alfa Romeo 164 designed by Pininfarina 1987 Alfa Romeo 1641986-93 Cadillac Allante design by Pininfarina 1987 Cadillac Allanté1987-92 Ferrari F40 PininFarina 1987 Ferrari F401987 Peugeot 405 Pininfarina1989-95 Ferrari 348 Pininfarina 1989 Ferrari 3481989-99 Peugeot 605 Pininfarina 1989 Peugeot 6051991-96 Honda Beat designed by Pininfarina 1991 Honda Beat1992-94 Jaguar XJ220 Pininfarina 1992 Jaguar XJ220—rebodied an unknown number of cars1992-03 Ferrari 456 GT Pininfarina 1995 1992 Ferrari 456 GT1993-00 Fiat Coupé Pininfarina1993-00 Fiat Coupè Momo Pininfarina Interiors 1993 Fiat Coupé – Interior only1993-02 Peugeot 306 GTI6 designed by Pininfarina 1993 Peugeot 3061994-99 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta Pininfarina 1994 Ferrari F3551994-03 Opel Omega B Pininfarina 1994 Opel Omega1994–02 Peugeot 306 (N5) cabriolet Pininfarina closed 1994 Peugeot 306 Cabriolet1993-06 Alfa Romeo Spider PininfarinaAlfa Romeo GTV 3.0 V6 24V rear pininfarina 1995 Alfa Romeo GTV & Spider1995 Ferrari F355 Spider Pininfarina 1995 Ferrari F355 Spider
2007 Chery A3 designed by Pininfarina 4-door sedan2012 Chery J3 (M1X) hatchback designed by pininfarina 2007 Chery A3 and Chery A3 Sport2007 Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet designed by Pininfarina 2007 Ford Focus CC by Pininfarina2008-17 Maserati Gran Turismo Pininfarina2013 Maserati GranTurismo Sport Pininfarina 2008 Maserati GranTurismo2008-13 Ferrari California designed by Pininfarina 2008 Ferrari California2009-15 Ferrari 458 Italia Pininfarina2011-16 Ferrari FF Pininfarina 2011 Ferrari FF2012-present Ferrari F12 berlinetta Pininfarina 2012 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta2016 Ferrari F12tdf pininfarina at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed2014-present Ferrari California T Pininfarina 2014 Ferrari California T
Electric propulsion
2008 Pininfarina Bolloré B0 Pininfarina B0
Pininfarina has an area dedicated to the new electric car Pininfarina Bolloré. Batteries are produced by the French Bolloré Group.
Pininfarina, has introduced its own electric vehicle concept, the Pininfarina B0 (pronounced “B Zero”). The four-seat hatchback features a solid-state lithium-polymer battery, supercapacitors, and a roof- integrated solar panel to achieve a range of 153 miles (246 km). Developed in partnership with the Bolore Group, the vehicle is slated for limited production in 2009.
Pininfarina will display a turbine-powered plug-in hybrid called the Cambiano at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.
At the 2016 Geneva Motor Show Pininfarina revealed the H2 Speed, an electric sports car concept. The H2 Speed is a hydrogen vehicle with two race-specification electric motors which are fed by a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen power unit was designed by Swiss company GreenGT.
Treno ad alta frequentazione Pininfarina design 1996 ALe 426/506 TAF “High Occupancy Train” for Italian commuter lines.
IC2000 Zurich – Lucerne with the control car leading the train Pinifarina design 1997 IC 2000 (double-decker train for the Swiss Federal Railways, matching the electric locomotive Re 460)
^Garcia, Gonzalo Alvarez (1983). Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint. Milano, Italy: Edizioni della Libreria dell’Automoble. p. 86. ASINB003B5M3SI. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
^Garcia, Gonzalo Alvarez (1983). Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint. Milano, Italy: Edizioni della Libreria dell’Automoble. p. 88. ASINB003B5M3SI. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
Foster, Patrick R. (Winter 2001). “Nashes With an Italian Accent” (PDF). FORWARD: The American Heritage of DaimlerChrysler: 33–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2006. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
BMC 1800 & 1100 – detail on these influential design proposals
Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of steel furniture and pressed steel components, later complete automobiles to their own design, founded in 1939 to make components for Bronzavia’s military aircraft. In 1945 in conjunction with Metallon Facel began to make short-run special bodies, coupés or cabriolets, for Simca, Ford, Panhard and Delahaye.
Monocoque bodies without a chassis became general for mass-produced cars and Facel lost their big customers. French niche manufacturers ended production. Metallon left the partnership in 1953. Facel set about designing and making their own complete cars using engines made by Chrysler, Volvo and Austin. Their first design named Vega was shown to the public in 1954.
Though initially successful Facel closed its factory in October 1964. Their Facellia model introduced in 1959 was under-developed and losses brought about by its warranty problems became impossible to recoup. Prior to closure Facel had been placed under the control of Sud Aviation subsidiary SFERMA.
Business history
Facel, Forges et Ateliers de Constructions d’Eure-et-Loir, was founded 20 December 1939 by Bronzavia, a French manufacturer of military aircraft to make special components. Jean Daninos, technical director of Bronzavia, had begun his career with Citroen where he assisted in the design of the Traction coupés and cabriolets. He moved to Morane-Saulnier then to Bronzavia. During WW II he worked with General Aircraft in USA who were using Bronzavia patents but he returned in 1945 and took charge of Facel. Facel merged with Metallon, a tie maintained until January 1953.
Daninos put Facel to the manufacture of short-run and special complete finished bodies for the major French brands. In conjunction with l’Aluminium Français Facel designed the all-aluminium alloy Panhard Dyna X and then built around 45,000 examples for Panhard.
Luxury cars
A luxury car division was established in 1948. It made various models of Simca Sport and drew publicity by designing with Farina and then building a special body on a Bentley Mark VI chassis. The car was named Bentley Cresta. The exercise was repeated in 1951 and named Cresta II. September 1951 saw the introduction of their Ford Comète. Production of the Comète ended in 1955 when Simca took over Ford France. The styling of the Crestas and Comètes was developed into the shape of the first Vega.
Scooter bodies, truck bodies, tractor bodies, jeeps and smaller components
During the same period Facel-Metallon pressed out body panels for: Delahaye’s army jeeps (painted and upholstered) ; Simca, Delahaye and Somua’s trucks (painted and upholstered); scooters by Vespa, Piaggio and Motobécane; tractors by Massey-Ferguson and stainless-steel bumpers, hubcaps and grilles for Simca and Ford and for Renault.
Aviation
In conjunction with Hispano-Suiza Facel-Metallon and Facel also turned out for Rolls-Royce combustion chambers in special metals for their jet engines.
The marque Facel Vega was created in 1954 by Jean Daninos (brother of the humorist Pierre Daninos, who wrote Les Carnets du Major Thompson), although the Facel company had been established by the Bronzavia Company in 1939 as a subcontracting company for the aviation industry. FACEL (Forges et Ateliers de Construction d’Eure-et-Loir, in English: forge and construction workshop of the department of Eure-et-Loir) was initially a metal-stamping company but decided to expand into car manufacturing in the early 1950s. Facel entered the automobile business as a supplier of special bodies for Panhard, Delahaye and Simca.
The Vega production cars (FV, later and more famously the HK500) appeared in 1954 using ChryslerV8 engines, at first a 4.5-litre (275 cu in) DeSotoHemiengine; the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis, double wishbone suspension at the front and a live axle at the back, as in standard American practice. They were also as heavy as American cars, at about 1,800 kg (3,968 lb). Performance was brisk, with an approx 190 km/h (118 mph) top speed and 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just under ten seconds.
Most cars were two-door hardtops with no centre pillar, but a few convertibles were built. Fully 77% of production was exported, due to the punitive Tax horsepower system in France.
The 1956 model was improved with a bigger 5.4-litre (330 cu in) Chrysler engine and updated transmission and other mechanicals. In the same year production began of a four-door model, the Excellence, with rear-hinged doors (suicide doors) at the back and no centre pillar. The pillarless design unfortunately made it less rigid and the handling was thus poorer than that of the two-door cars, and surviving examples are rare.
1959 models had even bigger engines, a 5.8-litre (354 cu in) and later a 6.28-litre (383 cu in) Chrysler V8, and were quite a bit faster despite their extra weight. The final evolution of the V8 models came in 1962 with the Facel Vega II, which was lighter, with sleeker, more modern lines, substantially faster still, and famously elegant.
Facellia
Facel III
Facellia F-2, 1959 to 1963
In 1960, Facel entered the sports car market with the Facellia, a small car similar in size to the then popular Mercedes 190SL. Facellias were advertised in three body styles: cabriolet, 2+2 coupé and 4-seat coupé — all with the same mechanical parts and a 2,450 mm (96.5 in) wheelbase. Styling was similar to the Facel HK500, but with rather elegant (though fingernail-breaking) flush door handles. Following Facel Vega’s demise several of M Daninos’s styling cues were “borrowed” by Mercedes-Benz. Prices were roughly US$4,000 for the Facellia, US$5,500 for the Facel III and US$6,000 for the Facel 6.
With the idea of creating a mass-produced all-French sports car competing with the Alfa Romeos, Facel moved away from American engines. The Facellia had a 4-cylinder 1.6 L DOHC engine built in France by Paul Cavallier of the Pont-à-Mousson company (which already provided manual gear boxes for the company’s larger models). The engine had only two bearings supporting each camshaft, using special steels, as opposed to the usual four or five. Despite the metallurgical experience of Pont-à-Mousson, this resulted in excessive flex, timing problems and frequent failures. Famed engineers Charles Deutsch and Jean Bertin were called in to solve the issues, but it was not enough and the engine was pronounced a disaster and the Facellia with it. Company president, Jean Daninos having been obliged to resign in August 1961 in response to the company’s financial problems, the new boss, a former oil company executive called André Belin, gave strict instructions to the after-sales department to respond to customer complaints about broken Facellia engines by replacing the units free of charge without creating “difficulties”. The strategy was intended to restore confidence among the company’s customer base. It would certainly have created a large hole in the income statement under the “warranty costs” heading, but it may have been too late for customer confidence.
Volvo engine
The troublesome engine was replaced with a Volvo B18 powerplant in the Facel III, but the damage was done. Production was stopped in 1963 and despite the vision of it being a “volume” car only 1100 were produced – still enough to make this Facel’s highest production number. Facel lost money on every car they built, the luxury car side of the company being supported entirely by the other work done by Facel Metallon, Jean Daninos’s obsession being very similar to that of David Brown of Aston Martin.
The small Facellia met with little success and the losses from this, due to strong competition at the luxury end of the market, killed off the business which closed its doors at the end of October 1964. What was, according to some, the best small Facel, the Facel 6, which used an Austin-Healey 2.8-litre engine, came too late to save the company with fewer than 30 having been produced when the financial guarantors withdrew their support.
The French writer Albert Camus died in a Facel Vega FV3B driven by his publisher, Michel Gallimard. At the time of his death, Camus had planned to travel by train, with his wife and children, but at the last minute accepted his publisher’s proposal to travel with him.
In the 1989 film “Dealers”, Paul McGann, as Daniel Pascoe, drove a Facel ll.
A Facel Vega HK500 appears in computer-animated form in the film Ratatouille (Pixar, 2007), driven by one of the main characters.
Jump up^Björklund, Bengt, ed. (March 1962). “Från skilda fronter” [From different fronts]. Illustrerad Motor Sport (in Swedish). No. 3 (Lerum, Sweden). p. 28.
^ Jump up to:ab“Automobilia”. Toutes les voitures françaises 1962 (salon Paris oct 1961) (Paris: Histoire & collections). Nr. 19: Page 34. 1200.
Jump up^Hervé Alphand, the French Ambassador to the United States, used theirs, an Excellence, from 1956 to 1965. It was sold @ Bonhams in Philadelphia 8 Oct 2012 for $159,000.
Ballot was a French manufacturer, initially of engines, that also made automobiles between 1919 and 1932.
1920 Ballot Indianapolis
Édouard Ballot became well known as a designer of reliable engines. He helped Ettore Bugatti in developing his first engines.
1924-ballot-2-lt-2
1924-ballot-2lt-open-drive-limousine
1924-ballot-2lt-open-drive-sedan-by-million-guiet
1924-ballot-cars-model-2lt-torpedo
1924-ballot-torpedo-sport
Origins
The Ballot brothers, Édouard and Maurice, founded their company beside the Boulevard Brune in south-central Paris, in 1905. Edouard Ballot was a former naval officer, which explains the “anchor” that featured in the badges on the cars.
1921 Ballot 3L lors du Grand Prix de France
Before World War I the factory concentrated on marine and industrial engines, and from 1910 or 1911 they were also offering automobile engines.
1925 Ballot
The company was re-founded as Etablissements Ballot SA in 1910.
There is little sign that Edouard Ballot himself took much interest in automobiles until December 1918. That was the month in which he had a significant conversation René Thomas, a leading racing driver who back in 1914 had won the “Indianapolis 500” race driving a Delage. Ballot was persuaded to build four 4.8-litre cars that would carry the “Ballot” name and compete in the forthcoming Indianapolis 500 race, scheduled for 30 May 1919. Time seemed very short, but Ballot lost no time, notably recruiting the Swiss born engineer Ernest Henry who had already worked on preparing Peugeot cars for their successful participation in the 1914 Indianapolis 500 race. Ballot’s cars competed in the 1919 race, two of them finishing in 4th and 11th places. Ballot was sufficiently encouraged to return the next year, and in the 1920 Indianapolis 500 race a Ballot driven by René Thomas finished in 2nd place: Ballots also took the 5th and 7th places.
More successes followed, on both sides of the Atlantic. Ralph DePalma, an American national champion and winner of the 1915 Indianapolis 500, finished second in the 1921 French Grand Prix and French driver Jules Goux finished third. Goux went on to win the inaugural Italian Grand Prix at Brescia, Italy in 1921, driving a Ballot. A Ballot with a straight-eight-cylinder 4.9-litre engine competed in the 1921 French Grand Prix.
1926 Ballot
Road cars
As well as racing engines, the company made a range of road engines which were fitted to their own production cars.
1925 Ballot 2LTS
The first of Ballot’s own road cars was the 1921 2-litre Ballot 2-litre sports tourer. In 1923 the Ballot 2 LT and a sport version, Ballot 2 LTS followed.
1927 Ballot Cabriolet Figoni ad
By the time of the 19th Paris Motor Show in October 1924, Ballot was established in the market place as a producer of expensive road going cars with spectacular performance. The 2-litre sports tourer again appeared on the manufacturer’s stand at the show The car still used a four cylinder overhead camshaft 1,994 cc engine, and it sat on a 3,110 mm (122.4 in) wheelbase. It was priced, in base chassis form, at 33,000 francs: Ballot also listed a “Torpedo” bodied version at 46,000 francs.
1927 Ballot Cabriolet Figoni Red
From 1927, eight-cylinder engines were used.
Final chapter
1928 Ballot
In 1931 the company was taken over by Hispano-Suiza. Swift decline followed: the last model was practically a Hispano-Suiza, and only the chassis was provided by Ballot. Ballot closed down in 1932.
Sociedad Española de Importación y Distribución de Automóviles (S.E.I.D.A. or, more commonly, Seida) was a Spanish cars and trucks dealer and coachbuilder that later evolved into making integral chassisless motorcoaches, and that in 1998 was subsumed into Evobus.
History
Chrysler dealer
Seida was incorporated in 1925, and began as the dealer for Spain of all the brands of Chrysler Corporation. As such, it became very well known, and in the 1930s its main showroom in Madrid, located in downtown main avenue, Gran Vía, and known as Salón Chrysler, was noted by its luxury, serving even as sporadic art gallery for some avant-garde exhibitions. By the same years, Seida opened a new rationalist repair shop and gas station building in Espronceda Street, by the renowned architect José de Azpiroz, that became a hall-mark of the modern architectural trends in Madrid.
In April 1935 Seida sponsored the show in Madrid of an american hell driver named Miller on a Plymouth car.
That same year, 1935, Seida began to assemble Chrysler’s Dodge trucks in a new plant built in Zorroza, on the docks of Bilbao. Several hundreds of them were made both before and after the Spanish Civil War.
The links with Chrysler Corporation persisted until 1969, when Chrysler Europe disembarked in Spain through the acquisition of Barreiros.
Mobile bank office for Banco de Bilbao in a bus body built by Seida in 1961 over a Pegaso 5040 chassis
Coachbuilder
In the 1940s, after the Spanish Civil War, Seida extended the premises in Zorroza with a new building to a Chrysler design, and switched to coachbuilding, the first bus chassis bodied being a hundred of German Klöckner units released in 1942. In those years Seida expanded its business to become shipowner, purchasing the merchant steamer Sendeja.
By the 1950s Seida lead the Spanish market of coach bodies, having patented, as Metalbloc, an all-metal body structure. By then Seida became the preferred bodybuilder for Pegaso, which was at the time the most pervasive bus and coach chassis maker in Spain. Specially memorable were its bodies for the Pegaso Z-404 coach or urban bus chassis, that used to receive a striking body which featured the same cross-shaped radiatorgrille that Touring put in its carrozzerie for the Pegaso Z-102 sports cars.
1945 autocares H-S modelo 202, carrozados por Seida para el Ejército del Aire
Along those years Seida other significant works were the bodies for Hispano-Suizatrolleybuses for the city of San Sebastián, Dodge two-level coaches for Iberia airliner, double-deckGuy and single-deck Pegaso buses, for the city of Madrid, and ACLO and Pegaso inter-city line coaches for Alsa. For the city of Madrid too, Seida made its most impressive bodies; namely four three-axle Vétra VA3B2 trolleybuses with GEE (General Eléctrica Española) electrical equipment.
1955 Pegaso Z-404 Seida
Rootes and Babcock dealer
For a few years along the 50s, Seida was also dealer in Spain for the British Rootes Group car brands, and too for the short-lived Spanish-made Babcock truck.
1960 – PEGASO BUS SEIDA
The Kässbohrer connection
In 1963 Seida reached an agreement with German Kässbohrer to license-build Setra chassisless coaches. These were equipped with Pegaso engines and other mechanical units and were marketed with simultaneous double badge as Setra Seida and Pegaso. Initially Seida built models S14 and S10 from Setra, the first one, a full-length 12-meter 55 seat vehicle, being with a great difference the most demanded. A few years later the S154, recently launched by Setra, replaced the S14 while the S10 was discontinued.
1961 Pegaso flota tb1168 seida 9 g
Despite being rather expensive, these coaches were very successful in the Spanish market, to the point that Seida opened a second plant in Vigo. In the 1970s MAN, Mercedes-Benz or Cummins engines were offered as alternative power units to the Pegaso ones, and the Setra Seida and Pegaso badging was replaced by just Setra.
In 1981 Seida inaugurated a new modern plant in Castro Urdiales, but soon ran into difficulties, including bitter disagreements with Kässbohrer, and suffered in the late 80s and early 90s a long and rather complex financial and legal process, which included several changes of the society registered name and ownership. The plant in Vigo meanwhile was sold to Talleres Varela Bus, a general auto repair shop.
The end
In 1998 the Castro Urdiales plant went to the hands of Daimler-Benz‘s Evobus concern and Seida successor company disappeared.
Pegasus was the brand that markets its vehicles the company state located in Catalonia ENASA ( National Company Autocamiones SA ).Founded in Barcelona in 1946 , the company maintained its headquarters in the district of Sagrera until 1980 , when he moved to the Zone . Throughout its existence, ENASA manufactures all kinds of vehicles, although it is remembered primarily for its trucks and buses. In1990 it was sold to Italian company Iveco and 1994 ceased its activity.
History
It all started on September 25, 1941, when the Spanish regime created the Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI) in order to face the problems of transport, defense and others. In 1946, the Technical Centre for the Study of the Automobile (CETA), created by engineer Vilfredo Ricart , was commissioned to develop a diesel truck 7/8 tons. At the same time, the INI was created Automobile Technical Council and all this was the origin ENASA, the company had manufactured the truck. On 26 June 1946 the company was established with a registered capital of 240 million pesetas of the time, and through the INI was forced sale of the old Hispano Suiza , located Sagrera ( the current Park Pegasus). ENASA took charge of personnel and facilities, taking advantage of the popularity it had in passing the old company.
And thus was born the Pegasus, which was very similar to the Hispano Suiza 66d, followed by Diesel Pegasus (Pegasus II) around 1949, and then the Z-206 engine with a six-cylinder 100 mm in diameter 120mm race, which gave 120 hp at 1,800 rpm, and an eight-speed gearbox, although subsequently it increased the power to 140 hp. This model was known by the nickname “Mofletes “(” cheeks “). Based on these mechanics also appeared a coach with a curious body. This type of engine architecture, together with direct injection that was followed in the construction of the Pegasus engines.
Timeline
Pegaso ” Mofletes “
The Troner , last Pegaso truck
1949: Pegaso Z-701 first tractor ENASA
1950 Paris Motor Show, self-presentation racks.
1951 Paris Motor Show, was presented the legendary grand touring car Pegaso Z-102 , with several bodies ENASA intended to give prestige to the brand.
1953: Launch of the facilities of the new plant to Madrid Barajas. It sells the model Z-207 model “Barajas”. Prototype military truck m3
1960 Reorganization of technical structure, creating the Central Technical Department , standing in Sagrera, and assuming all the functions of CETA.
1962: Agreement with Leyland was born as a result of which the model Pegaso Comet again had four valves per cylinder.
1963: We developed the model in 1065, called “Europe” because it fulfilled the new guidelines of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport 1960. Presentation of 4×4
1964 begins marketing vehicles three and four axles. It sells Comet
1966: Purchase of Vehiculos Sociedad Anonima de Industriales (SAVA), based in Valladolid, entering the field of trucks and engines 1.5, 1.8 and 3.4 liters
1967: The project and development of a new 12-liter diesel engine versions aspirated and supercharged with a wide range of powers.
1968: Improvements in department experience, Sagrera.
1969: Creates the Delegation Projects factory Madrid, who began his studies for the application of military vehicle manufacturing, 4×4 and 6×6.
1971: Began relocating factory Sagrera Zone (now COMESA).
1973: They mounted 12-liter turbo engine, and the pilot would be working on a new bridge further reducing the rate of planetary wheels.
1974: Starts together with Jaro BV (Netherlands-based) study the cab tilt
1976: We construct new facilities Experiences ZF Barcelona (Zone). Implemented in the cabin tilt series. Mounted in series, the new 12-liter engine, and become amphibious armored.
1977: They build armored military vehicles.
1980: Ends relocating Sagrera Zone. Purchase of the British company Seddon Atkinson
1981: Test comparison between two Pegasus engines (9156.13 and 9180.00) and five European engines 2,000 hours. Collaboration agreement with ZF German factory.
1983: Presentation of the range T1. According to manufacture the bus MAN 6420.
1984 introduced the CAD-CAE to design and engineering.
1985: Pre-sale agreement am the American company International Harvester. Launch of the range T-2 “Techno”.
1987: Launch of the range throne. According to market the MAN range Ekus
1988: Attempted sale Mercedes German holding 28 billion pesetas.
1990: Sales for the Italian group Iveco billion pesetas.
1995: End of the manufacture of Pegasus.
Models Featured
Z-206 “Mofletes”, derived from the Hispano Suiza 66d with a six-cylinder engine of 100 mm diameter by 120 mm race, which gave 120 hp at 2,200 rpm, and an eight-speed gearbox.
Z-102/103, legendary super sports car with eight-cylinder V engine, two valves per cylinder, double overhead camshaft head, aluminum alloy and other important technical innovations for its time
Coach Binivell mono hull, engine derived from the Z-206 engine boosted to 140 hp, which was used to link the airports.
Z-207 “Barajas”, known for its revolutionary solutions such as six-cylinder engine in V 120 ° (Joint Venture Cummins), independent front suspension with coil springs and shift six-speed, with the second and third synchronized in the same letter that the clutch and its characteristic corrugated cabin.
Coach Z-408 derived from Barajas pro engine 165 hp, 10 feet long total, representing a breakthrough in passenger transport.
1060 and derivatives
Pegasus monotral Viberti
Buses 5020 and 5041
Pegasus-Comet model 1090 as a result of the agreement with Leyland, also with a cabin “Panoramic” feature.
1065 “European” model of long duration, and large diversification. 4×2 gearbox and gear in the differential.
6035 City bus with mixed leaf spring suspension-air exchange with automatic clutch, and rubber floor sandwich. Horizontal engine and all groups under the floor.
1100 with four-cylinder engine, derived from Comet
T-1, with new cabin tilt
City bus 6420 as a result of the agreement the German company MAN am, to emphasize the independent front suspension and all her pneumatic and low floor for easy access.
T-2 “Techno” with new boxes ZF S6-36 and S6-90 up to 4×4 relations.
T-3 “Tron” collaboration DAF cab and engine up to 360 hp.
Military Vehicles
3050 military truck
3046, military truck 4×4, 170 hp. Could transport 5 tons by road, or 3 tons all terrain. Dragged up to 4.5 tonnes and its range was 1,000 km
3055, truck, SUV 6×6, equipped with 200 or 220 hp engine. Could transport 10 tons or 6 tons in road SUV and towing capacity 7,500 kg SUV, or 14.5 tonnes on the road.
VAP, large capacity 4×4 amphibious vehicle navigation engine with 170 hp. Suitable for transportation, establish beachhead or auxiliary naval maneuvers. Capable of reaching 90 km / h road, with a range of 800 km. Longitudinal slopes may exceed 60%, and 30% side. The ship speed was 5.5 knots.
BLR, Light Armored Vehicle with wheels, 4×4 transportable by air, 170 hp engine that can reach 110 km / h on roads with a range of 800 km. The loading capacity was 15 people, including the driver, the tires were bulletproof. The ability to overcome remaining 60% was longitudinal, lateral and 30%.
BMR, Middle wheeled armored vehicle, 6×6, amphibious and transportable by air independent suspension for each wheel, power steering shafts front and rear. All mechanical groups were protected by the helmet shield, engine 306 hp. That can reach above 100 km / h and overcome remaining as above.
Bodywork biggest
As usual policy, the Pegasus was sold in the case of trucks, cab and chassis, and coaches, sold a frame with mechanical groups, which after all had floats in this section is not more intends to disclose the companies that worked on this necessity.
Gary Girona Body of luxury coaches.
Setra-Seid, coachbuilder specializing in auto body bearers, and very fast as coaches.
Castrosua specializes in coaches and buses.
Irizar coaches gran turismo.
FRUEHAUF, semi truck.
Marzasa, military bodies.
Ugarte, Body Coach.
Unibus y Servicios, special bodywork.
Leziñena, semi truck.
There are many that do not go in this regard, especially those who only supplied boxes for transport, and the sports car bodywork.
External impact
Throughout its history Pegasus received several awards in exhibitions held outside our frontiers axis as material exported to various countries, especially in Latin America. In planting branches to manufacture vehicles, eg Guanahay Cuba, Venezuela Desiauto.
Exports began in 1961 in Colombia, pro continued in Egypt, Venezuela, Congo, Portugal, Peru, Cuba, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Poland, etc..
Also noteworthy dealer network across Europe to attend the TIR trucks.
Hispano-Suiza (literally: “Spanish-Swiss”) was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines in the pre-World War II period of the twentieth century. In 1923 its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the parent company. In 1968, the French arm was taken over by the aerospace company Snecma, now a part of the French SAFRAN Group. The Spanish parent sold all its automotive assets to Enasa in 1946.
They designed the first 4 cylinder 16 valve engine and the car considered to have been the very first real sports car in history, the Hispano Suiza 45 Cr.
History
Early years
In 1898 a Spanish artillery captain, Emilio de la Cuadra, started electric automobile production in Barcelona under the name of La Cuadra. In Paris, De la Cuadra met the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt (1878–1953) and hired him to work for the company in Spain. La Cuadra built their first gasoline-powered engines from a Birkigt design. At some point in 1902, the ownership changed hands to J. Castro and became Fábrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles (Spanish-Swiss Automobile Factory) but this company went bankrupt in December 1903.
1908 Hispano-Suiza 12-15 HP
Yet another restructuring took place in 1904, creating La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles, under Castro’s direction, also based in Barcelona. Four new engines were introduced in the next year and a half. 3.8-litre and 7.4-litre four-cylinder and a pair of big six-cylinder engines were produced. This company managed to avoid bankruptcy and its largest operations remained in Barcelona until 1946, where cars, trucks, buses, aero engines and weapons were produced. Other factories in Spain were at Ripoll and Guadalajara.
France was soon proving to be a larger market for Hispano’s luxury cars than Spain. In 1911, an assembly factory called Hispano France began operating in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. Production was moved to larger factories at Bois-Colombes, under the name Hispano-Suiza in 1914.
1911 hispano-suiza-alfonso
1911 Hispano Suiza King Alfonso XIII Double Berline
1915-Hispano-Suiza-15-20HP-Omnibus
1918 Antoni Bellet Hispano Suiza 15-20
World War I
With the start of World War I, Hispano-Suiza turned to the design and production of aircraft engines under the direction of Marc Birkigt. His chief engineer during this period was another Swiss, Louis Massuger. Birkigt’s solution to building aero engines was ahead of its time. Traditionally, aircraft engines were manufactured by machining separate steel cylinders and then bolting these assemblies directly to the crankcase. Birkigt’s novel solution called for the engine block to be formed from a single piece of cast aluminum, and into which thin steel liners were secured. Manufacturing an engine in this way simplified construction and resulted in a lighter, yet stronger more durable engine. Thus, Birkigt’s new construction method created the first practical, and what are commonly known today as, “cast block” engines. His aluminum cast block V-8 design was also noteworthy for incorporating overhead camshafts, propeller reduction gearing and other desirable features that would not appear together on competitor’s engines until the late 1920s. Another major design feature was the use of a hollow propeller shaft to allow projectile firing through the (reduction geared only) propeller spinner, avoiding the need for a synchronization gear, a feature used in future Hispano-Suiza military engines. Hispano-Suiza’s aero engines, produced at its own factories and under license, became the most commonly used aero engines in the French and British air forces, powering over half the alliance’s fighter aircraft.
1918 Antoni Bellet Hispano Suiza 15-20
1918–1936
After World War I, Hispano-Suiza returned to automobile manufacturing and, in 1919, introduced the H6. The H6 featured an inline 6-cylinder overhead camshaft engine based on the features of its V8 aluminum World War I aircraft engines and a body design by the American coach designers Hibbard & Darrin.
Licences for Hispano-Suiza patents were much in demand from prestige car manufacturers world-wide. Rolls-Royce used a number of Hispano-Suiza patents. For instance, for many years Rolls Royce installed Hispano-Suiza designed power brakes in its vehicles.
Through the 1920s and into the 1930s, Hispano-Suiza built a series of luxury cars with overhead camshaft engines of increasing performance. On the other hand, in the 1930s, Hispano-Suiza’s V-12 car engines reverted to pushrod valve actuation to reduce engine noise.
1920 HISPANO-SUIZA Bus
During this time, Hispano-Suiza released the 37.2 Hispano-Suiza car built at the Hispano works in Paris.
In 1923 the French arm of Hispano-Suiza was incorporated as the Societé Française Hispano-Suiza, the Spanish parent company subscribing to 71% of the share capital. The French subsidiary was granted a large degree of financial and project independence but the technical co-operation between the Spanish and French arms of the company was always closely maintained. Luxury car production was increasingly concentrated in France while the Spanish operations moved into the production of commercial vehicles.
Hispano-Suiza stork hood ornament.
The mascot statuette atop the radiator after World War I was the stork, the symbol of the French province of Alsace, taken from the squadron emblem painted on the side of a Hispano-Suiza powered fighter aircraft that had been flown by the World War I French ace Georges Guynemer.
1921-1925 HISPANO SUIZA
In 1925, Carlos Ballester obtained permission to represent Hispano-Suiza in Argentina. The agreement consisted of a phase in which the chassis were imported, followed by complete domestic production in Argentina. Thus “Hispano-Argentina, Fábrica de Automóviles S. A. (HAFDASA)” was born, for the production of Hispano-Suiza motors and automobiles, and also the production of spare parts for other car, truck, and bus manufacturers.
1922 Hispano Suiza 30-40 R Spanje
A fictional example of a Hispano-Suiza appears in the P.G. Wodehouse “Blandings Castle” stories; the family drove or rather were driven in a Hispano-Suiza (H6), rather than, say, a Rolls-Royce. Also in the Agatha Christie novel The Seven Dials Mystery the main character, Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, drives herself about in her “Hispano”. In Kerry Greenwood‘s detective series set in 1928 Melbourne, the main character Phryne Fisher has a large red open-top Hispano-Suiza. In Evelyn Waugh‘s Decline and Fall Margot Beste-Chetwynde has at least two, as her ‘second best Hispano Suiza’ collects Paul Pennyfeather before his wedding. A yellow open Hispano-Suiza plays a central role in Michael Arlen’s The Green Hat. Perhaps the best known example of a Hispano-Suiza in cinema is the leopard-skin upholstered 1927 model belonging to the demented Norma Desmond, which features prominently in the 1951 classic “Sunset Boulevard”.
Spanish Civil War and World War II
In 1936, the French arm of Hispano-Suiza was told to stop production of cars and turn solely to aircraft engines once again. At the time they had just introduced a new series of water-cooled V-12 engines and the Hispano-Suiza 12Y was in huge demand for practically every French aircraft. However Hispano was never able to deliver enough of these engines, and many French fighters sat on the ground complete but for the engine. Meanwhile, the Republic of Spain conscripted Hispano-Suiza’s Spanish operations into war production of trucks, armoured vehicles and weapons for the civil war of 1936-1939. After the war, the company was severely affected by the devastated state of the Spanish economy and the trade embargoes imposed by the victorious allies. In 1946, Hispano-Suiza sold off its automotive assets to ENASA, the maker of Pegaso trucks.
1922 Hispano Suiza 30-40. Four cylinders, 4710 cc, 43 Horsepower Madrid
A development of the era were a series of 20 mm autocannon, first the Hispano-Suiza HS.9, followed by the Hispano-Suiza HS.404. The 404 was licensed for production in Britain and equipped almost all RAFfighter aircraft during the war. Production was also set up in the US, but these versions never matured even though the USAAC and US Navy both wanted to use it in place of their existing .50 BMG weapons. A lesser-known success was the Hispano-Suiza HS.820, a higher performance 20 mm design that was also used in the US as the M139. A variation of the 20 mm guns used on the Lockheed P-38 Lightningaircraft were produced by International Harvester. In 1970 Hispano-Suiza sold their armaments division to Oerlikon, the HS.820 becoming the KAD.
1922 La viajera Hispano-Suiza de Sagalés
In 1940, Hispano-Suiza, together with the Spanish bank Banco Urquijo and a group of Spanish industrial companies, founded the ‘Sociedad Ibérica de Automóviles de Turismo’ (S.I.A.T.). This led to Spain’s first mass-production car maker SEAT.
1925 HISPANO-SUIZA Bus
1950s–Today
After the Second World War the French arm of Hispano-Suiza continued primarily as an aerospace firm. Between 1945 and 1955, building the Rolls-Royce Nene under licence, designing landing gear in 1950 and Martin-Bakerejection seats in 1955. The company’s attention turned increasingly to turbine manufacturing and, in 1968, it was taken over and became a division of SNECMA. In 1999 Hispano-Suiza moved its turbine operations to a new factory in Bezons, outside Paris, using the original factories for power transmissions and accessory systems for jet engines. In 2005 SNECMA merged with SAGEM to form SAFRAN.
1926 Hispano Suiza REINA VICTORIA HOTEL Y HOTEL NIZA
The marque may be seeing a revival in the automotive sector with the showing of a model at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show .
The Hispano-Suiza is driven by the affluent main character, Phryne, in the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries television series produced by the ABC (Australia) and set in 1920s Melbourne.
In 1907 werd door drie broers Jules, Gaston en Paul Chausson te Asnières-sur-Seine opgericht de Firma Ateliers Chausson Frères, in latere jaren werd de naam gewijzigd in Société des Usines Chausson. In deze eerste beginjaren hield men zich bezig met de opbouw van koetswerken op wagens, van echte carrosserieën zoals wij dat tegenwoordig kennen was nog geen sprake. Naast de koetswerken hield Chausson zich ook bezig met de bouw van water gekoelde radiateurs, brandstoftanks, buizen, inlaatspruitstukken en uitlaten. In 1942 waren er twee belangrijke aandeelhouders in het bedrijf, t.w. Renault en Peugeot.
Hoewel men in 1945 begon aan de ontwikkeling van een kleine personenauto voorzien van een water gekoelde één cilinder-tweetact motor van 10 PK, waarbij de open carrosserie plaats bood aan twee personen, kwam de serie productie niet op gang, en werd het project afgeblazen.
Men ging zich vanaf 1946 richten op de bouw van autobussen, en niet zonder succes. Door hun uiterlijk met de voor uitstekende radiateur (koeler grill), maakte deze bussen wereld beroemd. In Frankrijk kregen ze naam „nez de cochon“, vrij vertaald tot „varkensneus“. Deze grill vond men ook terug in de Peugeot 1 tons bestelwagen.
Bussen Chausson 47-270348 Hotschkiss 1947 Groote Markt Den Haag
In de latere modellen werd de radiateur binnen de carrosserie verwerkt, en kreeg de grill meer de vorm van een visbek.
De Firma Chausson genoot vooral in het begin van de jaren 1950 een groot succes, in vrijwel geheel Frankrijk waren deze bussen gemeengoed geworden. Door dit succes kon de firma zich expanderen en kon men de firma Chenard & Walcker overnemen. Ook werd er van de Locomotiefbouwer Brissonneau & Lotz nog een afdeling, die auto onderdelen fabriceerde, overgenomen.
In de goede jaren werkten bij Chausson 15.000 medewerkers, werkzaam in de hoofdvestiging Asnières-sur-Seine, en in de nevenvestigingen Creil, Gennevilliers, Laval, Maubeuge, Meudon en Reims.
CHAUSSON EMA 48 Mercedes Benz
In 1959/1960 werd Chausson geheel overgenomen door Renault, eerst nog onder de naam Saviem-Chausson, doch na een paar jaar onder de naam Saviem. Dit merk was al reeds door Renault overgenomen. Maar in de jaren zeventig verdween ook de naam Saviem, en werd Renault zo langzamerhand de enige fabriek van zware bedrijfswagens en autobussen in Frankrijk. Daarmee was niet alleen de tijd van Chausson en Saviem voorbij, maar ook die van Berliet, Citroën (alleen zwaar materieel), Somua ,Unic en Willéme. De Chausson bussen waren vlak na de oorlog zo populair in Nederland omdat het nogal „grote“ bussen waren ten opzichte van al het beschikbare „nood“ materieel. Bovendien liet de Nederlandse importeur Adriaan Beers uit Den Haag in een advertentie weten dat Chausson bussen binnen 3 weken, of wellicht nog korter, leverbaar waren.
CHAUSSON HTM 48 uit 1946
In het boek „La grande aventure des cars Chausson“ in 1988 geschreven door Nicolas Tellier, werd beschreven dat er in 1947 110 stuks complete Chausson autobussen aan Nederlandse bedrijven zijn geleverd. Nu wou ik gaan uitzoeken welke bussen dat zijn geweest, en dan op volgorde van de eerste eigenaar, maar zo U ziet is mijn lijst niet compleet. Ik heb er zelfs meer dan 110 stuks, maar kennelijk is niet altijd de 1e eigenaar bekend, of het kan ook heel goed zijn dat de schrijver misschien circa 110 stuks bedoelde. Opmerkelijk is de afwijkende Snelle Vliet 23 met zijn bergruiten. De meeste Chausson’s in Nederlanden werden geleverd met een Hotchkiss motor (type AH), een enkele kreeg een Panhard (AP) motor. EMA in Valkenswaard, die tevens Mercedes dealer was, verving de Franse motoren door er een Mercedes-Diesel in te plaatsen. Omdat deze motoren veel compacter waren kon de radiateur binnen de carrosserie gebouwd worden, en verviel het authentieke varkensneusje die deze Chausson’s zo kenmerkten. Een ander opvallend detail waren de achterwielen, die waren n.l. enkellucht gemonteerd, d.w.z. de achteras bevat slechts twee wielen, aan beide zijden slechts één wiel. Dit kwam echter op meerdere Franse bussen voor, o.a. bijv. Saviem, Renault, Somua en Isobloc. Met dank aanhttp://www.openbaarvervoerinboskoop.nl/rubrieken/gerritgunnink/Deel167.html voor deze info in het nederlands.
CHAUSSON HTM 54
De Franse Chausson, een bus die zijn tijd ver vooruit was.
Op verzoek van diverse bezoeker/lezers, een uitleg over deze toch zeer bijzondere bus.
In dit geval schrijven we over een heel bijzondere bus, een type dat bij HTM kwam als een pleister op de wonde, toen men een chronisch gebrek had aan materieel.
Na de oorlog werd door HTM zeer veel moeite gedaan de volledig ontmantelde busdienst zo snel mogelijk weer op gang te brengen. Nu was de grote moeilijkheid hierbij dat vrijwel het gehele wagenpark of geroofd of onbruikbaar was. En….dit was niet alleen bij HTM het geval, bijna alle vervoersbedrijven hadden met de zelfde problemen te kampen.
Zo stonden in de garage een aantal bussen zonder banden en andere belangrijke onderdelen. Men stond dus voor een vrijwel hopeloze taak, temeer daar de onderdelenvoorziening zo vlak na de oorlog ook niet of nauwelijks functioneerde.
GTW 47 Chausson-2
HTM was dus zeer verheugd dat zij erin slaagde in Frankrijk een aantal bussen te bestellen. Deze bestelling vond plaats in december 1945 en toen in februari 1946 als eerste lijn ’T’ weer op straat verscheen waren reeds 4 Chaussons voor deze dienst beschikbaar.
Deze Chaussons hadden een typisch Frans uiterlijk met een klein neusje en waren nog voorzien van een benzinemotor die wist waar de brandstof moest blijven.
Hoewel HTM al voor de oorlog haar wagenpark gestandaardiseerd had op dieseltractie had men gewoon geen keus en was men al met al toch zeer verheugd met deze helpers uit de nood.
Chausson APH252 Nantes
De 41 t/m 50 werden afgeleverd in een grijze kleur.
Deze wagens hadden aanvankelijk een lopende conducteur en er werd ingestapt door een klapdeur aan de achterzijde van de bus.
In juli en augustus 1946 werd een vervolgserie afgeleverd met de nummers 51 t/m 54.
Deze waren in een groene kleur bij HTM afgeleverd.
De toenmalige pers bezong deze Franse bussen als een zee van ruimte waarin maar liefst 70 passagiers vervoerd konden worden.
Eind mei 1946 waren voor de lijnen ‘G’, ‘K’ en ‘T’ 22 Kromhout-bussen en 10 Chaussons beschikbaar met nog enige Kromhouts in herstelling.
HTM besloot de Franse bussen, die tot nu toe provisorisch voor de dienst geschikt waren gemaakt, te verbouwen tot volwaardige stadsbussen.
Begin 1946 verscheen de ‘41′ in de bekende HTM-uitmonstering. Deze wagen had nu een zitplaats voor de conducteur tegenover de ingang. Van deze ingang was de klapdeur vervangen door de gebruikelijke vouwdeuren. Tevens was een optische signaalinrichting aangebracht.
Hoewel daar wel de mogelijkheden toe aanwezig was werden deze bussen niet voorzien van richtingsfilms. Nadat eerst alleen aan de voorzijde door middel van een bordje de lijnaanduiding werd aangegeven, kregen de 41 t/m 54 tijdens de verbouwing aan de blinde zijde, achterop en vlak voor de achteringang eveneens het bekende bordje met de lijnletter.
Chausson
Als laatste verbouwde Chausson kwam de 46 op 11 januari 1947 weer in dienst.
Voor het stadsbedrijf bleken deze benzinebussen echter toch weinig geschikt.
Er deden zich zeer veel storingen voor. Vooral in de strenge winter van 1946/1947 was het voor de passagiers duwen geblazen. Een constant gebrek aan onderdelen was er de oorzaak van dat vele Chaussons vaak langere tijd gedwongen buiten dienst stonden.
In november 1947 waren deze problemen opgelost en reden alle Chaussons weer, uitgezonderd van de ‘48′ die pas begin 1948 weer rijvaardig was.
HTM bracht in het najaar van 1947 nog richtingsaanduidingen aan boven de voorruit van deze bussen. Vlak onder de niet gebruikte filmkast werd een frame gemonteerd waar de lijnletter- en bestemmingsborden ingeschoven konden worden.
Deze richtingsborden waren bruin van kleur met witte- en gele letters.
Toen er nieuwe bussen voor de dienst beschikbaar kwamen verhuisden de Chaussons al snel naar het tweede plan. Een grote handicap van deze wagens was het zeer grote benzineverbruik waardoor het niet mogelijk was dat deze bussen een hele dienst reden. Onderweg moest dan worden bijgetankt bij de garage of bijvoorbeeld op lijn ‘G’ bij het tankstation op de Sportlaan bij de Houtrustbrug.
De Chaussons kwamen nu op de “korte” lijn ‘N’ (Vreeswijkstraat-Grote Markt), op spitsuurdiensten en later op lijn ’Y’ (Hollandse Spoor- Ypenburg).
In november 1949 kwam het moment dat HTM de gewaardeerde Franse hulpen kon missen en werden zij verkocht aan diverse touringcarondernemers in het gehele land die nog jaren plezier van deze wagens hebben gehad. Voordat deze ondernemingen de ex-HTM-Chaussons in dienst stelden werden zij grondig verbouwd en van een toerwageninterieur voorzien.
Hoewel deze serie uiteindelijk toch niet zo’n grote rol in het HTM-gebeuren heeft gespeeld waren zij zo vlak na de oorlog toch van onschatbare waarde.
Het Haags Bus Museum was dan ook zeer verheugd dat zij in 1980 in Frankrijk een dergelijke bus konden aankopen, een wagen die ooit als HTM-48 de Haagse straten zo nu en dan weer zal mogen sieren.
Deze bus werd toentertijd in Bourges in Frankrijk aangekocht en werd ruim dertig jaar later op een dieplader van de firma Gordijn naar Nederland gehaald.
Het heeft veel energie en vakmanschap gekost om deze bus weer in oude luister bij te zetten en heden ten dage horen we bij de regelmaat van de klok deze bus weer, met zijn typische rokende dieselmotor, weer door ons Haagje rijden.
AYATS II. Ik had het niet gedacht, maar vond tijdens het maken van het vorige blog nog zoveel mooie oude AYATS bussen, dat er gewoon nog een deel II volgt.
Ayats Pegaso derbibusu
Een prachtige Reclamebus over Campiona Del Mundo. Een mooi model met een korte draaicirkel.
Ayats Sava small bus
En kijk nu toch eens, een mini bus van SAVA met een Ayats opbouw. Wat een portie glas, en een prachtig front.
Ayats Hispano Suiza Pegaso Z1230
En een Hispano Suiza Pegaso.Die combi kende ik ook nog niet. Dit model wel eerder gezien als AYATS in combinatie met DAF.
Ayats Hispano Suiza Pegaso Z1229
En nog een Hispano Suiza Pegaso, maar hier is alles veel ronder, en wederom bijna compleet van glas, met van die cadillac achtige vleugelachterlampen.
Ayats Hispano Suiza Pegaso 5023 CL Ayats
Ayats Austin Autocar Gerona Spanje
En hier een paar prachtige foto’s van model AYATS met Austin motor.
Ayats Austin Autocar Gerona Spanje
Ayats Austin Autocar Gerona Spanje
Ayats Austin Autocar Gerona Spanje
Ayats Berliet 1952
En hier een prachtige Spaanse Franse Ayats Berliet PCR bus. Wat een Chrome en glas.
Ayats Berliet pcr Ayats 1952 Zijkant
Een prachtig Ouwetje uit 1935 een Ayats BMC 1935 nobmc1935el0
Ayats Diamond
En nog een beauty:een AYATS Diamond jaar onbekend.
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1966 Ferrari 330 GT 2 PlNINFARINA 2 DV-07-CC
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Facel Vega Facellia
Facel III
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Myn Transport Blog 