One does not often get the chance to buy a Rousson. About 130 seem to have been built from 1903 up to 1920, in the small town of Feurs, near Saint-Etienne and Lyon. To automotive historians the make may be hardly known but to the people of Feurs, the name Rousson is not. The company was founded in 1880 as a general machine builder. From 1897 they concentrated on machines for oil mills and on hubs and other parts for bicycles, motorcycles and cars. In 1903 the first chassis left the factory and from 1906 complete cars were delivered.
Rousson was an ambitious car maker which offered at least seven different models, most with Chapuis-Dornier and some with Buchet engines. There were small twoseaters but there was also a quite long hotel omnibus. After the Great War Rousson tried to retake production with a small Citroën-like model but they failed. The company, however, remained a quite imporant builder of bicycle parts and specialized in gear trimming. It was still active in the 1980s. Last year the people of Feurs celebrated the return of one of the few surviving Roussons, a 1907 model. One of the interesting aspects of the Rousson company is that the original factory is still there. If you enter “13 Rue Parmentier, Feurs” in Google Maps, you will find it. It is hard to find other ‘unspoilt’ automotive factory buildings from the 1900s in France.
(text Fons Alkemade)