Lion-Peugeot Type VC3

Lion-Peugeot Type VC3
Overview
Manufacturer	Lion-Peugeot
Production	1911
Body and chassis
Class	small car
Layout	FR layout

The Lion-Peugeot Type VC3 was an early motor cars produced near Valentigney by the French auto-maker Lion-Peugeot in 1911. 135 were produced.

The car was in many respects little changed from the Lion-Peugeot Type VC2 which it replaced. The Type VC3 retained a single cylinder 1,045 cm³ four stroke engine, mounted ahead of the driver. A maximum 9 hp of power was delivered to the rear wheels.

The wheelbase of 2,250 mm, supported a vehicle length of 3,320 mm, providing space for between two and four people depending on the body specified. With this model Lion-Peugeot followed a trend already observable among manufacturers of larger more expensive cars, offering a wide range of open and closed body types, including a Phaeton, a Torpedo, a Landaulet, a Limousine, a sports car and a small delivery van.

Lion-Peugeot and Peugeot: the difference

“Lion-Peugeot” is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of their cousin Armand’s ^[1] "Automobiles Peugeot" company, established a car manufacturing business at Beaulieu near Vallentigny. Ten years earlier the automobile pioneer Armand Peugeot had split away from the family business after a long-standing disagreement over how intensively the company should diversify into larger scale automobile production. An agreement had at that time been entered into between Armand’s “Automobiles Peugeot” company and the residual Peugeot business that the residual business should concentrate on its established metal tools and components businesses along with its successful bicycle manufacturing activities, while Armand would have Peugeot branded powered vehicles to himself. During the ensuing ten years Armand’s automobile business had grown rapidly, although it appears that the residual Peugeot business had probably not entirely avoided producing powered vehicles. In any event, under a new agreement signed in 1905, the residual Peugeot business made Armand an annual payment in return for which Armand consented to the residual business itself producing motor cars under the “Lion-Peugeot” name. The arrangement continued until 1910 after which (the death of Robert Peugeot’s father Eugène having apparently removed a major impediment to the idea) the Lion-Peugeot business and the Peugeot automobiles business were merged into a single company. Nevertheless, some smaller models continued to be branded as “Lion-Peugeots” until 1916.

Sources and further reading

Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: Die große Automobil-Enzyklopädie, BLV, München 1986, ISBN 3-405-12974-5
Wolfgang Schmarbeck: Alle Peugeot Automobile 1890–1990, Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 1990. ISBN 3-613-01351-7

↑ Armand Peugeot and Robert’s father, Eugène Peugeot, were both great grand-sons of Jean-Pierre Peugeot jr (1768 - 1852), who himself was the son of the similarly named company founder Jean-Pierre Peugeot sr 1734 - 1814. Therefore Robert Peugeot and Armand Peugeot were second cousins once removed to one another.

Peugeot, a marque of PSA Peugeot Citroën, road vehicle timeline, 1889–1944 — next »
Type		1890s										1900s										1910s										1920s										1930s										1940s
Type	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
Supermini	1	2	3 / 4			5 / 6 / 7 / 8				21 / 24 / 30 / 31				37	54							57	69 "Bébé"								B P1/ B3/P1 "Bébé"¹											161/172 "Quadrilette"				5CV			190
Supermini											26 / 27 / 28				48							126																			201									202
Small family car									14 / 15 / 25						56	58	68	VA/VC/VY¹				V2C/V2Y¹			VD/VD2¹						159	163												301				302
Small family car													33 / 36			63			99	108	118	125													173 / 177 / 181 / 183
Family car						9 / 10 / 11 / 12				16 / 17 / 19 / 32				49/50		65/67	77	78	88			127		143		153						153 B/BR					176									401		402
Family car								18						39		61	71	81	96	106	116	126	138												175
Large family car										23					42/43/44	62	72	82	92	104	112/117/ 122/130/134		139		145/146/148										174 / 184
Large family car																66	76	83	93				135									156
Executive car																		80	103		113		141			147/150
Executive car																		85	95	105
Cabriolet / Spider																		91		101/120		133 / 111/129/131	136			144
Panel van							13			22			34/35
Minibus									20 / 29											107
¹ These cars were marketed as "Lion-Peugeots", produced by what was till 1910 a separate Peugeot company, run by cousins of Armand Peugeot, then in charge of the principal automobile business. In 1910, Armand having no sons of his own, it was agreed that the two branches of the Peugeot business be reunited.