Systeme Panhard

1891 · Front Engine with Sliding Gear · Work 249 of 1,871

Systeme Panhard, 1891, Front Engine with Sliding Gear

A Panhard et Levassor Systeme Panhard on the Avenue d'Ivry in Paris, vertical Daimler V-twin at the front behind a coal scuttle panel, sliding gear box amidships, chains to rear wheels.

What it was used for
Panhard & Levassor of Paris built cars with Daimler engines, for which it held the French licence. According to the Château de Compiègne, Levassor drove the second, still rear-engined prototype the 225 km from Paris to Étretat on 31 July and 1 August 1891, averaging 10 km/h. Between 30 October and 4 December 1891 the firm delivered six cars to French customers. The seventh car, already front-engined, was bought in November 1891 by a Monsieur Bedel of Trouville for 3,404 francs. In April 1892 the firm took it back for 4,750 francs and resold it at once for 5,000 – used, it was worth more than new.
What was new
Émile Levassor placed the engine in front of the driver rather than under him and, according to Britannica, replaced the usual belt drive with a gear transmission giving different ratios through a clutch. The Science Museum describes the result: engine in front, then clutch, central gearbox and drive to the rear axle – the "système Panhard". Britannica calls the cars the first true, if embryonic, automobiles. The dates are inconsistent: Compiègne shows a car of June 1891 still rear-engined and records deliveries from October 1891, while Britannica says the car was put on sale in 1892.

Connections

Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.

  1. Follows fromMaybach Stahlradwagen1889Panhard & Levassor built Daimler engines under licence from the end of 1889. The Mercedes-Benz archive says the firm's first cars were, in their conception, based on the steel-wheeled car shown in Paris; the Musée des Arts et Métiers writes that Daimler ceded the French manufacturing rights to Panhard & Levassor.Source: Mercedes-Benz Public Archive: Daimler wire-wheel car, 1889 · Musée des Arts et Métiers: Quadricycle Peugeot Type 3

Further reading