1921 Métallurgique 12-14 HP sports roadster fr3q

Métallurgique were cars made by ''

Société Anonyme The abbreviation S.A. or SA designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and employ civil law. Originally, shareholders could be literally anonymous and collect div ...

L'Auto Métallurgique'',

Marchienne-au-Pont Marchienne-au-Pont ( wa, Mårciene) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It was a commune in its own right before the merger of communes in 1977, when it had a popul ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, between 1898 and 1928. Before making cars, the company had made railway locomotives and rolling stock. Metallurgique Speedster

Production

The first cars were 2-cylinder models with chain drive. In 1900, the company switched to shaft drive. In 1905 an all-new range was introduced, resembling contemporary Daimlers, both designed by Ernst Lehmann, who come to Métallurgique from there in 1903.Ritzinger, Andre, Métallurgique 12/14 HP http://www.ritzsite.nl/Archive/0408.htm www.ritzsite.nl These cars, with pressed-steel chassis, live rear axle, shaft drive, high-tension ignition, and the option of dynamo-powered electric lighting, were to establish the company as one of the finest makers of sporting cars in Europe. Production was targeted for export, and most sales were in Britain. In 1906, there came the 4-cylinder

inlet over exhaust An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm (geography), arm, bay, sound (geography), sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or margi ...

, with a claimed output of at 1400 rpm, enabling the car to reach . The cars got a distinctive V front radiator in 1907. For 1908 the car range included the 60/80 and the 40-hp, which was a smaller version of the 60/80, the 2-cylinder cars being finally dropped, the last of them a 12/14. They were replaced in 1909 by a 12/14 four-cylinder (built in Germany by '' Bergmann Elektrizitäwerke'' of

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), joined by a 5-litre , and in 1911 all cars got 4-speed gearboxes. Bodywork was made by

Vanden Plas Vanden Plas is the name of coachbuilders who produced bodies for specialist and up-market automobile manufacturers. Latterly the name became a top-end luxury model designation for cars from subsidiaries of British Leyland and the Rover Group, ...

. The Bergmann-built cars proved expensive in Britain, thanks to tariffs. Métallurgique cars were also made from 1909 under licence by Bergmann in Berlin, Germany who had previously made electric cars. These were sold as Bergmann-Métallurgique. All prewar cars were of exceptionally high quality. The company's agent in Britain, Oscar Cupper, also served as "one of the firm's most able" works drivers. After World War I, car production restarted with the 26/60, the 20/40, and the 15/20. The 26/60 was newly-fitted with Adex brakes at all four corners,. a rarity at the time. The first post-war designs arrived in 1921 with the 3-litre. The 15/20 disappeared in 1922, replaced by a new tourer with four-wheel brakes, powered by an overhead-valve four, designed by Paul Bastien. It remained the company's primary product until 1927. It was in 1927 the company was taken over by

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...

Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Muss ...

, and it ceased to exist.Wise, p.1329.

Takeover

The company was taken over by

in 1927 and the factory was acquired by

. The name was dropped. Paul Bastien joined Stutz in America where he was responsible for the Vertical Eight. La Societe Anonyme des Automobiles Métallurgique has been set up to bring Métallurgique owners together.

References

Sources

*Wise, David Burgess, "Métallurgique: The luxury market their forté", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. ''World of Automobiles'' Volume 12, pp.1328-9. London: Orbis, 1974.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20170925182658/http://metallurgique.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Metallurgique Vehicles introduced in 1898 1890s cars Cars introduced in 1898 Car manufacturers of Belgium Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Belgium Vintage vehicles Companies based in Hainaut (province)