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Early French automotive engineers

The Cars of Émile Claveau Part 4

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A magnificent brochure heralded the arrival of the Claveau Descartes ‘for 1947’. Seen as a complete car in 1948, the Descartes was awesomely ambitious for a private entrepreneur.

By Karl Ludvigsen

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When war intervened Émile Claveau had almost completed the first prototype of a stunningly advanced envelope-bodied six-passenger saloon with a V-8 engine and aluminium alloy body/frame—the Audi A8 of its day. Claveau named it after the philosopher who had been his consistent inspiration: ‘Descartes’. At the 1947 Paris Salon this was present only in scale model form plus its impressive completed engine. This sufficed as a stage from which Claveau could and did discuss the shortcomings of the existing French makers with visiting President Vincent Auriol.

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The Cars of Émile Claveau Part 3

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Artist Brian Hatton followed a colour photo of the 1928 9 CV for its hue.

By Karl Ludvigsen

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The potential of the Claveau 7 CV Sport design was recognized by the magazine Omnia: ‘Sponsored by a big industry, this could well be a people’s car,’ it opined. Although lacking big-industry backing, Automobiles Claveau now at 22 Place de la Madeleine offered an attractive range of mid-engined cars in its handsome catalogue for the 1928 season. This was forecast by its showing at the 1927 Paris Salon, where a strikingly advanced closed version was displayed.

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The Cars of Émile Claveau Part 2

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The first Émile Claveau prototype, the 7 CV Sport, contrasts dramatically with its neighbors in the 1926 Paris Salon.

By Karl Ludvigsen

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From 1924 Claveau began thinking through the design of an auto from first principles, guided as he was by the Discours of Descartes. On 5 September 1925 he lodged a patent on a suspension system that he pictured as applying to two vehicles, both open models and both teardrop-shaped in plan view. At that time French makers Cottin & Desgouttes and Sizaire-Naudin were leaders in deploying transverse leaf springs as a means of giving independent suspension.

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The Cars of Émile Claveau Part 1

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With the launch of his 7 CV Sport in late 1926, Émile Claveau showed that the future could be fun if you were driving the right car.

One of the French Republic’s most talented engineers produced wave after wave of advanced automobiles. Yet both hands would probably suffice to count all the cars he built. Émile Claveau deserves recognition for his undaunted creativity.

By Karl Ludvigsen

French pioneers, among them Panhard et Levassor, de Dion and Renault, made France the early leader in the production of motors and the promotion of motoring. Soon the French were building bigger and faster cars to compete in road races from city to city. They established the first club for motorists, led the founding of the first international association of motoring clubs and organised the first Grand Prix race in 1906.

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