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	Runabout
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 a very early French automobile, and was Peugeot's first model to be sold to the public and made in meaningful quantities. It was Peugeot's second internal combustion-engined car, and the first Peugeot sold to the public.

In 1891, Peugeot's Chief Engineer Louis Rigoulot and rising workshop foreman Auguste Doriot joined the cyclists in the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race. The Quadricycle completed a world record distance of 14,710 kilometres (9,140 mi) without major malfunctions, about three times further than the previous record.

Background

The earliest Peugeot model from 1889 had been steam-powered tricycles built under collaboration with Léon Serpollet. In 1890, Armand Peugeot met with contemporary trailblazers of car technology, Gottlieb Daimler and Émile Levassor, and became convinced that reliable, practical, and 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 would persevere with steam technology with continued success under the marque Gardner-Serpollet until his 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).

World record

In 1891 Armand Peugeot decided to show the quality of the Type 3 by running it alongside the cyclists in the inaugural Paris–Brest–Paris cycle race, thus gaining official confirmation of progress from the race marshals and time-keepers. His Chief Engineer Louis Rigoulot and rising workshop foreman Auguste Doriot demonstrated that robustness of the design, as the Quadricycle survived a total of 14,710 kilometres (9,140 mi) without major malfunctions, the longest trip by a petrol-powered vehicle, about three times further than the record set by Leon Serpollet from Paris to Lyon.

It later became the first Peugeot sold to the public. A lightened Type 3 was entered into the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, finishing second and maintaining an average speed of 21.5 kilometres per hour (13.4 mph).

References

• Peugeot Car Models from 1889-1909
• Company History of the Type 3
• Histomobile