This 1891 Panhard & Levassor dogcart was one of the first cars of the famous make and probably used by Hippolyte Panhard himself. In P&L code the type was a P2C of 1.5 H.P., in which the P stands for the Daimler engine, the 2 for the 2 cylinders (in V) and the C for chain drive. The car was not only bodied, but practically built by the well known coachbuilding firm Belvallette frères. Their offer of 430 francs included the frame, the body (weighing only 30 kgs.!), the iron mountings of the seats, upholstering and four wooden wheels. Not included: the cost of painting, which depended on the total surface that required painting. Axles, springs and lamps were also not included. Just as the ingenious canopy with fours straps, weighing only 12 kgs. The 'douloureuse' (or total amount) would finally add up to 500 to 600 francs. In 1895 the price for a Panhard & Levassor with a similar body was 5,000 francs. It's hard to recalculate how much that would have been in our currency in 2017, but a conservative estimate would be € 50,000! In 1904 the average weight of a body had increased to 300 kgs, taking the price for the body only to an equal ten-fold level of 5,000 francs. In the same year prices for the chassis ranged from 7,000 francs for the smaller models to a staggering 45,000 francs for a 60 H.P. model. In these days the threshold for becoming an auto-addict was high ...
Words and picture: Ariejan Bos
This 1891 Panhard & Levassor dogcart was one of the first cars of the famous make and probably used by Hyppolite Panhard himself. The type was in P&L code a P2C of 1.5 H.P., in which the M stands for the Daimler engine, the 2 for the 2 cylinders (in V) and the C for chain drive. The car was not only bodied, but practically built by the well known coachbuilding firm Belvallette frères. Their offer of 430 francs included the frame, the body (weighing only 30 kgs.!), the iron mountings of the seats, upholstering and four wooden wheels. Not included: the cost of painting, which depended on the total surface that required painting. Axles, springs and lamps were also not included. Just as the ingenious canopy with fours straps, weighing only 12 kgs. The 'douloureuse' (or total amount) would finally add up to 500 to 600 francs. In 1895 the price for a Panhard & Levassor with a similar body was 5,000 francs. It's hard to recalculate how much that would have been in our currency in 2017, but a conservative estimate would be € 50,000! In 1904 the average weight of a body had increased to 300 kgs, taking the price for the body alone to an equal ten-fold level of 5,000 francs. A year before the prices for the chassis ranged from 7,000 francs for the smaller models to a staggering 45,000 francs for a 60 H.P. Model. In these days the threshold for becoming an auto-addict was high ...