Ariès

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The Ariès was a French automobile manufactured by a company in Asnières-sur-Seine from 1903 to 1938. The first cars were two- and four-cylinder vehicles built 20 chassis at a time in a large factory. These shaft-drive cars had a rather unusual double rear axle, while the engines were built by Aster. In 1907 the company made a V4 engine with desmodromic valves; it also made six-cylinder cars at the time. Ariès entered the field of commercial vehicle production in 1910, mainly for the purpose of supplying the French army; the works built mainly military trucks during World War I, as well as Hispano-Suiza aero engines.

After the war the company presented three new models; one was a four-cylinder, a 7 cv OHC 1085 cc, while the other two were variations on a 15cv 3-liter. One had a sv Aster unit, while the second featured a sporty ohc engine; some of these last were quite successful in racing events. Ariès stopped production of its 1100 cc and 3-liter cars, which had become obsolete, during the financial crisis of the 1930s. They were replaced in the catalogue with new 1500 cc and 2-liter models with an odd arrangement of a three-speed gearbox augmented by two-speed gears in the back axle, for a total of six speeds forward. Few were made.

At the outbreak of World War II production was suspended; after the war, Ariès attempted a comeback by briefly making moped engines under the name ABG.