Société des Automobiles Pilain (SAP) was an automobile manufacturer based in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

between 1902 and 1920. The SAP founder, François Pilain, had a nephew called Émile Pilain whom he trained in the automotive business and whose own company,

Rolland-Pilain Rolland-Pilain was a French car maker formally established on 4 November 1905 at 95, rue Victor-Hugo in Tours by François Rolland and Émile Pilain. The partners Rolland was already a successful businessman locally who had made a fortune in t ...

, presented its first car in 1907. François Pilain was based in the auto-making hub that grew up around

, however, while his nephew’s business was based in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, more than to the west. Sources sometimes confuse the two companies, but in fact there was no link or collaboration between them, once the nephew had grown up and established his own company.

History

François Pilain (1859–1924) had a long career as an engineer-entrepreneur in and around the auto-business, working at different times with

Gardner-Serpollet Gardner-Serpollet was a French manufacturer of steam-powered cars in the early 20th century. Léon Serpollet is credited with inventing and perfecting the flash boiler in the late 1800s.La Buire LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

. Between 1893 and 1897 he ran his own company, ''Société François Pilain'', after which he worked for Établissements V. Vermorel. In 1901 François Pilain established his own business, as an automobile manufacturer, in

. The cars were sold under the ''Pilain'' name, During 1906/1907 motor car chassis were being produced at the rate of approximately one per day. However, in 1908 SAP was placed in

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

. It was permitted to continue in the auto-making business, but Pilain himself was obliged to resign, to be replaced by a new managing director called de Villeneuve. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the manufacturer assembled trucks for Hotchkiss. Afterwards, in 1920, it was taken over by a locally based recently created company called the Société Lyonnaise de l’Industrie Mécanique et Autos Pilain (“SLIM”). Between 1920 and 1929 the factory produced cars using the “SLIM” badge.

The cars

SAP started out producing both twin cylinder engine cars and four cylinder cars, but production of the twin cylinder cars ended in 1904. In 1906 the manufacturer was offering cars with engines of 4000cc and 8600cc. These were joined in 1909 by a 1900cc model, and in 1912 a six-cylinder 2400cc model was added. By 1913 the Société des Automobiles Pilain was offering a broad range of cars with engine sizes from 1000 cm³ to 6300 cm³. The cars were meticulously constructed and therefore very expensive. A car of this type can today (2010) be seen at the ''Musée Henri Malartre'' in south-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at Rochetaillée-sur-Saône.

Reference, sources and notes

* Harald Linz, Halwart Schrader: ''Die Internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie.'' United Soft Media Verlag, München 2008, . (in German) * George Nick Georgano (Chefredakteur): ''The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.'' Volume 3: ''P–Z.'' Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, . (in English) * George Nick Georgano: ''Autos. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours.'' Courtille, Paris 1975. (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Societe Des Automobiles Pilain (Sap) Car manufacturers of France Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Manufacturing companies based in Lyon 1900s cars 1910s cars Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1901 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1920 French companies established in 1901 1920s disestablishments in France Brass Era vehicles Veteran vehicles