It was in the mid nineties when I discovered an almost bare wooden triangular frame standing upright to the wall of an obscure old cars workshop in the inner city of Amsterdam. The frame had just a few attachments to awaken my interest. After asking what it was I heard it was from an early "car" and it was purchased in France and brought to Amsterdam by an antics dealer many years earlier with the intention to do the London to Brighton run. That never happened. The car was dismantled for transport and stored in two places. After showing my interest in buying the lot things went amazingly fast and the owner brought the seat, axles, engine, scuttle and water tank and so to the shop and a price was haggled. What had I done.... no rims, incomplete engine, incomplete all over and no plans to work from. Was it liable to do London to Brighton? Was I able to put it back together? and what exactly was it. I did a mock up to see how it would look like. The engine was made by "AutoMoto". Its a 600cc single cylinder engine with water cooled head. It has an automatic inlet valve (it is opened by suction of the piston). The transmission is a simple three pulley system. the operator just had to choose the right one before take of. There is a wooden/leather/steel cone clutch to disengage the engine from the driven rear wheel. the drive belt has a v-shape and is made from stacked leather layers that are riveted together by meaning of bronze rivets. Now for the identification I had only a printed business card of the maker nailed to the side of the bodywork. It simply says: "J Defrance Automobiliste Constructeur" and in handwriting "Quintenas" which is a little town in the Ardèche France. Now its so long in my possession and sleeping in a place not ideal for it so it is time to take it out. It will be on show at the PreWarCar.com - PostWarClassic.com stand at the Retromobile show in Paris. |
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Monday Mystery: a veteran racer at Rétromobile!
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