Prunel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Société des Usines Prunel
legal form Société
founding 1900
resolution 1910
Seat Puteaux , France
management J. Prunel
Branch Automobile manufacturer , commercial vehicle manufacturer

Prunel from 1901
Prunel from 1901
Prunel from 1903

The Société des Usines Prunel was a French manufacturer of automobiles and commercial vehicles.

Company history

J. Prunel founded the company in Puteaux in 1900 and began building automobiles. The brand names were Atlas until 1902 and Prunel until 1907. There was also a collaboration with Boyer . In England the vehicles were offered as Gnome in 1905 , Gracile in 1906 and JP in 1907 . In 1907 the production of the Prunel models ended.

Between 1906 and 1910, the company produced cars under the Nordenfelt brand . After production was discontinued , Phénix took over the factory facilities and manufactured automobiles under the Phénix brand between 1912 and 1914.

vehicles

Passenger cars

The first models 3 CV and 4 ½ CV had a built-in engine from De Dion-Bouton and were marketed as Atlas . From 1903 models with engines from Aster , Hérald and Pieper were also available. The four-cylinder model 20 CV had a displacement of 3800 cc . From 1904 the models 10 CV with an engine from Gnôme and 15 CV with an engine from Mutel were available . In 1905 the range consisted of the two-cylinder models with 1800 cm³ and 2250 cm³ and the four-cylinder models with 3500 cm³ and 4900 cm³. In 1906 the large 40/50 CV model was added.

A Prunel drove in the 1903 Paris – Madrid race in the Voiturette class up to 400 kg (start number 271) and arrived in Bordeaux as 47th, where the race was stopped after numerous accidents.

Vehicles of this brand can be seen in the Oldtimer Automobile Museum in Reninge , in the Musée Communal de l'Automobile Mahymobiles in Leuze-en-Hainaut and in Grandson Castle .

commercial vehicles

Prunel Camion with a payload of 4.5 tons before the long-distance Paris Tourcoing trip in April 1906.

The production of commercial vehicles was started in 1902 with a 9 CV van with box body, engines optionally from De Dion-Bouton or Aster and chain drive. In 1906 a four-cylinder model 30/33 CV with chain drive followed. Probably this was the engine of a truck with a 3 ton payload . One of these, loaded with 4.5 tons, took part in the Paris- Tourcoing long-distance journey for commercial vehicles in April 1906. The race in which he was fastest was related to the commercial vehicle exhibition Concours des vehicules industriels in Paris. Prunel also used this chassis on double-decker buses , some of which were exported to the UK. One example is mentioned in the description of the Cordingley Motor Show of April 1906. This was a rival event to the Motor Show at the Olympia in London; Charles Cordingley was the founder and editor of several professional journals, including the Motor Car Journal .

At the Paris Salon in autumn 1906, the brand name for commercial vehicles was changed to UDPX , an abbreviation for Usines de Puteaux.Finally , a new four-cylinder engine with 35 hp designed by Paul List was introduced for 1907 , which could also be operated with gas. UDPX was available as normal and front-wheel drive vehicles and as buses; however, production ended after about a year. However, it is reasonably likely that car-based delivery vans would remain available.

literature

  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 3: P – Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 . (English)
  • George Nick Georgano : Cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours. Courtille, Paris 1975. (French)
  • Anthony Bird: The single-cylinder De Dion boutons ; Profile Publications No. 25; Profile Publications Ltd., Leatherhead, Surrey, England (English)
  • Anthony Bird: De Dion Bouton - First automobile giant ; Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Car marque book No 6. (1971) Ballantine Books Inc. 101 Fifth Ave., New York, No. 02322-6 (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI (1979); ISBN 0-87341-024-6 .

Web links

Commons : Prunel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  2. ^ A b Georgano: The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.
  3. ^ Georgano: Cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours.
  4. ↑ a b c Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, pp. 502-503
  5. ↑ teamdan.com: 1903 Grand Prix and Paris Races
  6. ^ Bird: De Dion Bouton - First automobile Giant , pp. 91-92
  7. ^ Grace's Guide: 1906 Motor Show (Cordingley).