Greg O’s Garage; From the Peter Helck Collection; Strange and Unusual cars #4- The 1873 L’Obéissante
Years later after Howard Kroplick received the Helck Family Collection, we are still finding surprising items deep in the files.
This time, we've come across a small box titled 'W.F. Bradley' containing about a dozen and a half photos of some of the most unusual cars ever seen. Starting in 1903, the year of the ill-fated Paris-Madrid race, W. F. Bradley began his career as a talented automotive journalist. He not only followed the Gordon Bennett Cup races and the French Grands Prix, but went to America to take part in the Glidden Tours, the first long distance reliability trials held in the USA. He also saw the start of the amazing New York-Paris Race and the beginnings of American track racing on Long Island and at Indianapolis. There is no doubt that a preeminent automotive painter and historian such as Helck would know of a journalist with the stature of Bradley.
I am slowly beginning to uncover what some of these unique automobiles are, but information on most of the autos is very difficult to ascertain due to their rarity and uniqueness. Here's the first of quite a few...
Greg O.
Apart from the aerodynamic qualities of the cars within this box of photos, another commonality with all the photos is that they all appear to be taken in France in the 1920's. Bucking the trend of the box being full of aerodynamic vehicles, was this photo.
Looking like a theater box seat on wheels, is this steamer from 1873 called L'Obéissante (French to English translation; The Obedient)
Seen here at a 1920's French exhibition, built in 1873 by French inventor Amédée Bollée, L'Obéissante in the Helck box is considered to be the first motor vehicle to have the speed and handling to be considered the first passenger vehicle in automotive history.
Amédée Bollée Sr. (born January 11, 1844 in Sainte-Croix and died January 20, 1917 in Paris) was an inventor, specializing in the field of automobile. His company is considered the first manufacturer to have marketed automobiles.
His steam vehicle was remarkable for its quiet operation, its maneuverability, and already having most of the mechanical solutions of the automobile of the future:
-four wheels,
-a double pivot steering,
-propulsion by the rear wheels,
-a suspension with four independent wheels.
It is customary to consider it as the first motor vehicle for individuals (especially since the word "automobile" - "which moves by oneself" - appears for the first time in the work of the French Academy in 1875.
The Obedient driven by Amédée Bollée's son in September 1923, at the Coupe mancelle of the ACO (circuit de la Sarthe).
-Wikipedia
In 1878, he designed and marketed "La Mancelle", equipped with a steam engine located at the front, a gearbox and a differential. This car is considered the first mass-produced car: about fifty copies were manufactured and sold.
In 1880, he perfected his cars by building "La Nouvelle", one of the very first interior drives.
In 1881, he built "La Rapide". This car is the first road vehicle capable of exceeding the threshold of one kilometer per minute by reaching a speed of 62 km/h (32.5 MPH) Very quick for a self-propelled vehicle in 1881.
An 1885 mail coach/Stagecoach of the Marquis De Broc.
A vehicle two stories tall, weighing a staggering 15,000+ pounds, capable of carrying 16 people with its 50 hp steam motor at 30 km/h (approx. 20 mph) on level ground.
The 1885 mail coach survives today in the National Museum of the Car and Tourism in Compiègne in northern France.
Comments
Being in the old car hobby most of my life I find it strange not to have heard of these wonderful machines before now. I have heard of Amedee Bollee in reference to other early vehicles. They are truly ground-breaking. I wonder if any more of them survive.