Peugeot Type 3

Peugeot Type 3
Overview
Manufacturer	S. A. des Automobiles Peugeot
Production	1891-1894 64 produced
Designer	Armand Peugeot
Body and chassis
Body style	Vis-à-vis
Layout	RR layout
Powertrain
Engine	565 cc V-twin 2 hp @ 1000 rpm
Dimensions
Wheelbase	1.63 metres (64 in)
Chronology
Predecessor	Peugeot Type 2
Successor	Peugeot Type 4

The Peugeot Type 3 was an early French automobile; it was Peugeot's first model to be produced in significant numbers. It was their second car with an internal combustion engine.

Background

The earliest Peugeot models from 1889 were steam-powered tricycles, built in collaboration with Léon Serpollet. In 1890, Armand Peugeot met with car technology innovators Gottlieb Daimler and Émile Levassor and became convinced that reliable, practical, lightweight vehicles would have to be powered by petrol and have four wheels. The Type 2 was the first such model. Peugeot's one-time partner, Serpollet, continued with steam technology under the brand name Gardner-Serpollet until Serpollet's death in 1907.

Performance

The engine was a German design by Daimler but was licensed for production in France by Panhard et Levassor and then sold to Peugeot. It was a 15° V-twin and produced 2 bhp, sufficient for a top speed of approximately 18 kilometres per hour (11 mph).

Italian production

Beginning in 1894 Costruzioni Meccaniche di Saronno began assembling Peugeot Type 3 cars, it was produced under a Peugeot license.

World record

Armand Peugeot decided to show the quality of the Type 3 by running a demonstration model alongside the cyclists in the inaugural Paris–Brest–Paris cycle race in September 1891, thus gaining official confirmation of progress from the race marshals and time-keepers. His chief engineer Louis Rigoulot and rising workshop foreman Auguste Doriot proved the robustness of the design, as this demonstration car ran for 2,045 kilometres (1,271 miles), from Peugeot's factory in Valentigney to Paris, over the race course, and then back to Valentigney, at an average speed of 14.7 km/h (9.1 mph), without major malfunctions. This was the longest run to that time by a petrol-powered vehicle and about four times as far as the previous record set by Léon Serpollet from Paris to Lyon. Later the demonstrator became the first Peugeot sold to the public.

A lightened Type 3 was entered into the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race in June 1895, finishing second and maintaining an average speed of 21.7 kilometres per hour (13.5 mph).

References

• Peugeot's A Century of Models - 1891 : Type 3 quadricycle at the Wayback Machine (archived 2012-02-06)
• Peugeot Car Models From 1889 - 1909 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2015-01-28)
• Histomobile's Peugeot Type 3 (1891-1894) at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-06-15)