Quiz Archive
About quiz # 215 Zedel
This was one of those makes that either you know or you don’t. There wasn’t a single answer from the USA, which isn’t strange considering the origin of the car. At the end of the nineteenth century Ernest Zürcher and Hermann Lüthi made motorcycle engines in Neufchatel, Switzerland. In 1905, to avoid French import duties, they set up a factory just over the border in Pontarlier, France, where they started car production. At first it was known as the ZL (a contracted name made from the initials of the two founders) which later became Zedel. And not Zédel or Zédèl as it is sometimes written, check the
shares of the company. This particular car rests in a small French museum in
Champlitte. The French claim their Zedel dates from 1910, but according to French automobile expert Fons Alkemade it is a model CF from 1912. We’ve received two entries that came very, very close. Both said it was a 1912 Model CI, but Marc Fellman from Australia named the car Zédel, so we decided that the winner is Nicolas Boissier from France. Congratulations Nicolas! This makes you a third time winner and jury member! One small point though: several of you mentioned that there was a Zedel in the Ramsgate Motor Museum in England. Unfortunately this museum is now closed, but does someone know what happened to this Zedel? (photo: Fons Alkemade)
(RB)
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Friday, 16 November 2007
This was one of those makes that either you know or you don’t. There wasn’t a single answer from the USA, which isn’t strange considering the origin of the car. At the end of the nineteenth century Ernest Zürcher and Hermann Lüthi made motorcycle engines in Neufchatel, Switzerland. In 1905, to avoid French import duties, they set up a factory just over the border in Pontarlier, France, where they started car production. At first it was known as the ZL (a contracted name made from the initials of the two founders) which later became Zedel. And not Zédel or Zédèl as it is sometimes written, check the shares of the company. This particular car rests in a small French museum in Champlitte. The French claim their Zedel dates from 1910, but according to French automobile expert Fons Alkemade it is a model CF from 1912. We’ve received two entries that came very, very close. Both said it was a 1912 Model CI, but Marc Fellman from Australia named the car Zédel, so we decided that the winner is Nicolas Boissier from France. Congratulations Nicolas! This makes you a third time winner and jury member! One small point though: several of you mentioned that there was a Zedel in the Ramsgate Motor Museum in England. Unfortunately this museum is now closed, but does someone know what happened to this Zedel? (photo: Fons Alkemade) (RB)
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