The Jeantaud was a make of French

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

manufactured in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from 1893 until 1907. It was the brainchild of Charles Jeantaud, a coachbuilder who built his first electric carriage in 1881. Among the vehicles he constructed was the first car to set a

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

at , driven by

Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat Count Charles-François Gaston Louis Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat (7 June 1866 – 20 November 1903

, as well as

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

s and

hansom cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safety ca ...

s; in these the driver sat high, and to the rear. Some cars had an unusual bevel-gear

front-wheel-drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...

layout. From 1902 to 1904, Jeantaud offered a range of 2-, 3- and 4-cylinder gasoline-engined cars similar to 1898

Panhard Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed ...

s. The company ceased trading in 1906 following the suicide of its founder.Jeantaud (France) 1881/1893–1906 (Archived copy from 28/10/2014)
(in French), accessed 18 December 2018, Originally at www.vea.qc.ca/vea/marques/jeantaud.htm

Specifications of record breaker

The 1899 Jeantaud ''Duc Profilée'' was powered by a electric engine. The car weighed around and transmitted its power to the rear wheels through a chain-drive gearbox. The ''Profilée'' was designed to be more aerodynamic than its older brother, featuring pointed ends on both the front and back, which allowed it to break the record top speed of of its less aerodynamic rival the GCA ''Dogcart'' on 4 March 1899, achieving a speed of . Its record, though, was quickly broken by the more famous

La Jamais Contente ''La Jamais Contente'' ( en, The Never Contented) was the first road vehicle to go over . It was a Belgian electric vehicle with a light-alloy torpedo-shaped bodywork and batteries. The high position of the driver and the exposed chassis und ...

, the first purpose-built land speed record car, which reached on the same day.

Gallery

File:Jeantaud Électrique 12 HP (1895).jpg, alt=Jeantaud Électrique 12 HP (1895), Jeantaud Électrique 12 HP (1895) File:Jeantaud Électrique (1895 Paris-Bordeaux, Jeantaud no. 25).jpg, alt=Jeantaud Électrique 7 HP (1895 Paris-Bordeaux), Jeantaud Électrique 7 HP (Paris–Bordeaux 1895) File:Jeantaud Cab électrique (1898 Concours de fiacres).jpg, alt=Jeantaud Cab électrique (1898 Concours de fiacres), Jeantaud Cab électrique (Concours de fiacres 1898) File:Jeantaud Landaulet électrique (1898 Concours de fiacres).jpg, alt=Jeantaud Landaulet électrique (1898 Concours de fiacres), Jeantaud Landaulet électrique (Concours de fiacres 1898)

References

*{{Cite book , last = Burgess-Wise , first = David , authorlink = David Burgess-Wise , title = The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles , publisher = BookSales Inc. , edition= Rev Upd , date=2000 , pages = 559 , isbn = 0785811060

External links

Picture of a Jeantaud
Vehicles introduced in 1893 1890s cars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Electric land speed record cars 1890s in motorsport Manufacturing companies based in Paris Brass Era vehicles Veteran vehicles