French Cyclocars

[Reckless Rat]

Nothing really to do with Austin Sevens apart from the fact that I was invited to participate in a meeting of our local car & motorcycle club in a village called Bessèges for their annual Chestnust festival. In amongst the attendees were not one but two MOCHET Voiturettes (cyclocars) which I guess must be a pretty rare ocurrence to see two in the same place. They both date from the early 1950s and feature a mid mounted 125cc two stroke engine driving the rear wheels, which are closer together than the fronts. Bit similar to a Bond mini-car but the other way round and even more agricultural:



There was also a very tidy Facel-Vega convertible, also pretty high on the rarity scale (so I'm told):



Not much pre-war stuff on show apart from a Citreoën 11BL Traction , a 1930 Peugeot 201 (unrestored) and a little 4 seater from Angleterre...

[Shuttle]

I can see a 'Puch' label on one 'bike behind the blue cyclocar, but is that a Peugeot moped behind the yellow cyclocar?

A couple of 4CVs too.

I love that sort of stuff.

[Reckless Rat]

I can see a 'Puch' label on one 'bike behind the blue cyclocar, but is that a Peugeot moped behind the yellow cyclocar?

A couple of 4CVs too.

I love that sort of stuff.

The red one is a Puch 250 and the blue and white one with legshields is a Puch 50cc moped.
Some nice british bikes too, a Norton ES2, a Velocette (don't know the model) and an AJS 600 twin. Very tidy they were, and an immaculate Terrot 500 which sounded lovely:

[Mark McKibbin]

Nothing really to do with Austin Sevens apart from the fact that I was invited to participate in a meeting of our local car & motorcycle club in a village called Bessèges for their annual Chestnust festival. In amongst the attendees were not one but two MOCHET Voiturettes (cyclocars) which I guess must be a pretty rare ocurrence to see two in the same place. They both date from the early 1950s and feature a mid mounted 125cc two stroke engine driving the rear wheels, which are closer together than the fronts. Bit similar to a Bond mini-car but the other way round and even more agricultural:



There was also a very tidy Facel-Vega convertible, also pretty high on the rarity scale (so I'm told):



Not much pre-war stuff on show apart from a Citreoën 11BL Traction , a 1930 Peugeot 201 (unrestored) and a little 4 seater from Angleterre...

Certainly an eclectic mix but I think its not a Facel Vega but a Facelia. Most of these have had an engine transplant.  From Wikipedia:

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.[4] 

[Reckless Rat]

I'll take your word on that - I'm like Sgt Schultz in Hogan's Heroes - "I know nothing!"

[Duncan Grimmond]

If we're getting into "Becans" (Motobecans) one of  my French pals sent me this on Saturday, a rally in his village near Rennes. All beautiful mopeds, 50cc apart from one or two larger things, I like the oily rag one in the first pic...

[Erich]

I particularly like the muffler/silencer on the Pigout. Definitely a go fast item. Would something like that work on an Austin Seven?

[Duncan Grimmond]

Only if you fit pedals!

[Shuttle]

Not that the pedals are serving much purpose on the Peugeot. There seems to be a chain missing.

[Mark McKibbin]

I suppose a VeloSolex would look too mundane in this company, they were very popular though.