Lion-Peugeot Type V4C3
Encyclopedia
The Lion-Peugeot Type V4C3 was a motor car produced near Valentigney
by the French
auto-maker Lion-Peugeot
between 1912 and 1913. It was the manufacturer’s first car with a four-cylinder engine. 653 were produced.
The V4C3 was propelled using a four-cylinder 1,725 cm³ four-stroke engine, mounted ahead of the driver. A maximum 9 hp of power was delivered to the rear wheels. The car was the first of several Lion-Peugeot models that became known as a Lion-Peugeot 10 hp. This was a reference to the car’s fiscal horse power
, applying a system of car classification for taxation purposes then being established in France. Tax horsepower then, and for several decades to come, was defined purely as a function of the combined surface area of the engine’s cylinders, this being far easier to assess consistently and accurately than the actual power produced by an engine. At this stage fiscal horse-power tended to equate approximately to actual horse-power, although the two would diverge subsequently, as engines became more efficient at extracting power from a given sum of cylinder diameters. Eventually, in the second half of the twentieth century, more complex (and less internationally consistent) definitions of fiscal horse power would replace those defined only by cylinder diameters.
The V4C3 shared it’s 2,250 mm wheel base with the manufacturer’s models from the previous year such as their twin-cylinder Type V2C3
. The 3,200 mm (approximately) body length provided space for between two and four people depending on the body specified. The wide range of different body types offered followed a pattern that by now would have been familiar to many Lion-Peugeot buyers. It included a Phaeton
, a Torpedo
, a Limousine
, a Landaulet
, a “Touring Car”, a Coupé, a delivery van and a sports car.
"Automobiles Peugeot" company, established a car manufacturing business at Beaulieu near Vallentigny. Ten years earlier the automobile pioneer Armand Peugeot had split away from the family business after a long-standing disagreement over how intensively the company should diversify into larger scale automobile production. An agreement had at that time been entered into between Armand’s “Automobiles Peugeot” company and the residual Peugeot business that the residual business should concentrate on its established metal tools and components businesses along with its successful bicycle manufacturing activities, while Armand would have Peugeot branded powered vehicles to himself. During the ensuing ten years Armand’s automobile business had grown rapidly, although it appears that the residual Peugeot business had probably not entirely avoided producing powered vehicles. In any event, under a new agreement signed in 1905, the residual Peugeot business made Armand an annual payment in return for which Armand consented to the residual business itself producing motor cars under the “Lion-Peugeot” name. The arrangement continued until 1910 after which (the death of Robert Peugeot’s father Eugène having apparently removed a major impediment to the idea) the Lion-Peugeot business and the Peugeot automobiles business were merged into a single company. Nevertheless, some smaller models continued to be branded as “Lion-Peugeots” until 1916.
Valentigney
Valentigney is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.Valentigney is best known as the place where Peugeot began operations; several members of the Peugeot family still live in the area....
by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
auto-maker Lion-Peugeot
Lion-Peugeot
Lion-Peugeot is a formerly independent French auto-maker. It is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of the established Peugeot car business, began to produce automobiles at Beaulieu near Valentigney....
between 1912 and 1913. It was the manufacturer’s first car with a four-cylinder engine. 653 were produced.
The V4C3 was propelled using a four-cylinder 1,725 cm³ four-stroke engine, mounted ahead of the driver. A maximum 9 hp of power was delivered to the rear wheels. The car was the first of several Lion-Peugeot models that became known as a Lion-Peugeot 10 hp. This was a reference to the car’s fiscal horse power
Tax horsepower
The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries, such as Britain, Belgium, Germany, France, and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate purchase and renewal fees for passenger...
, applying a system of car classification for taxation purposes then being established in France. Tax horsepower then, and for several decades to come, was defined purely as a function of the combined surface area of the engine’s cylinders, this being far easier to assess consistently and accurately than the actual power produced by an engine. At this stage fiscal horse-power tended to equate approximately to actual horse-power, although the two would diverge subsequently, as engines became more efficient at extracting power from a given sum of cylinder diameters. Eventually, in the second half of the twentieth century, more complex (and less internationally consistent) definitions of fiscal horse power would replace those defined only by cylinder diameters.
The V4C3 shared it’s 2,250 mm wheel base with the manufacturer’s models from the previous year such as their twin-cylinder Type V2C3
Lion-Peugeot Type V2C3
The Lion-Peugeot Type V2C3 was an early motor car produced near Valentigney by the French auto-maker Lion-Peugeot in 1911. It closely resembled the manufacturer’s Type V2C2 which it replaced. 520 V2C3s were produced....
. The 3,200 mm (approximately) body length provided space for between two and four people depending on the body specified. The wide range of different body types offered followed a pattern that by now would have been familiar to many Lion-Peugeot buyers. It included a Phaeton
Phaeton body
A Phaeton is a style of open car or carriage without proper weather protection for passengers. Use of this name for automobiles was limited to North America or its products....
, a Torpedo
Torpedo (car)
The torpedo body style was a type of automobile body used from the early twentieth century until the mid-1930s, and which fell quickly into disuse by the Second World War....
, a Limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
, a Landaulet
Landaulet
A landaulet or landaulette is a car body style, "an enclosed sedan or coupé with a folding top at the extreme rear quarter, over the rear seat."...
, a “Touring Car”, a Coupé, a delivery van and a sports car.
Lion-Peugeot and Peugeot: the difference
“Lion-Peugeot” is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of their cousin Armand’sArmand Peugeot
Armand Peugeot was a French industrialist, pioneer of the automobile industry and the founder of the French firm Peugeot.-Family:...
"Automobiles Peugeot" company, established a car manufacturing business at Beaulieu near Vallentigny. Ten years earlier the automobile pioneer Armand Peugeot had split away from the family business after a long-standing disagreement over how intensively the company should diversify into larger scale automobile production. An agreement had at that time been entered into between Armand’s “Automobiles Peugeot” company and the residual Peugeot business that the residual business should concentrate on its established metal tools and components businesses along with its successful bicycle manufacturing activities, while Armand would have Peugeot branded powered vehicles to himself. During the ensuing ten years Armand’s automobile business had grown rapidly, although it appears that the residual Peugeot business had probably not entirely avoided producing powered vehicles. In any event, under a new agreement signed in 1905, the residual Peugeot business made Armand an annual payment in return for which Armand consented to the residual business itself producing motor cars under the “Lion-Peugeot” name. The arrangement continued until 1910 after which (the death of Robert Peugeot’s father Eugène having apparently removed a major impediment to the idea) the Lion-Peugeot business and the Peugeot automobiles business were merged into a single company. Nevertheless, some smaller models continued to be branded as “Lion-Peugeots” until 1916.
Sources and further reading
- Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: Die große Automobil-Enzyklopädie, BLV, München 1986, ISBN 3-405-12974-5
- Wolfgang Schmarbeck: Alle Peugeot Automobile 1890–1990, Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 1990. ISBN 3-613-01351-7