Vinot

France, 1901 – 1926

(1) Vinot et Deguingand, Puteaux, Seine, 1901 – 1926

(2) Vinot et Deguingand, Nanterre, Seine, 1919 – 1926

More correctly designated the Vinot-Deguingand, this make was invariably known as plain Vinot once it had become firmly established. The first Vinot cars (sold in England under the name La Silencieuse) had 1½-litre vertical twin aiv engines rated at 5½hp, coil ignition, pressed steel frames, and belt-and-chain transmission. An unusual feature of the Vinot car which persisted for many years was the vertical gate gear change. By 1903 Vinot cars had conventional side-chain drive and armoured wood frames, an improved 10hp twin Vinot car at 6.000fr being available alongside a pair of 4-cylinder Vinot cars (the 14hp 3.3-litre Type H and the 18hp Type F Vinot car) with mechanically-operated side valves in a T-head, and a 4-speed gearbox. Other features of the Vinot car included pump cooling, coil ignition, and sight-feed lubrication. Honeycomb radiators were introduced on Vinot cars in 1905, when the pressed steel frame reappeared on the larger Vinot cars, and there was a 5.8-litre 30hp Vinot car with dual ignition. A 3.3-litre 4-cylinder Vinot car finished 3rd in that year’s Tourist Tophy. Steel frames were standardized in 1906, when a 6-cylinder Vinot car made its appearance; this Vinot car was available in 6.5-litre form with pair-cast cylinders the following year, other regular features that season being exhaust-pressure fuel feed and high-tension magneto ignition. A 16/20hp 4-cylinder Vinot car sold at £525, and shaft drive came to VInot et Deguingang in 1908 with a L-head 10/14CV (sold as the 12/16 in Britain) of 2.1-litres’ capacity. The 3.7-litre Vinot car, now rated at 16/24hp, was also shaft-driven, and slowly live axles spread up the Vinot carrange, though as late as 1911 four chain-driven Vinot cars were still listed.

In 1909 Vinot took over Gladiator, and from 1910 to 1920 two parallel and identical ranges were on offer, even the catalogued prices being the same. The only difference was that the 24hp of just over 4-litres (with shaft drive from 1909) remained peculiar to VInot cars. In 1911 came a more modern monobloc 12hp Vinot car with pressure lubrication, town-carriage versions being available with a double-reduction back axle. In 1912 the Vinot car company took a brief interest in racing with some short-stroke 3-litres for the Coupe de l’Auto: these Vinot cars had overhead inlet valves and remarkably well streamlined tails in an era of slab tanks. The 1.7-litre Vinot car (which sold for £280 in 1912) was offered without the famous vertical gate, but this feature was retained on the next type Vinot car to go monobloc, a 15/20hp Vinot car with the classic cylinder dimensions of 80x130mm. 1914 Vinot cars were 4-cylinder cars with pressure-fed crankshafts, and came in 1.7-litre, 2.1-litre, 2.6-litre, and 4.2-litre sizes, all with wire hweels. The two smaller models Vinot car had 3-speed gearboxes and pair-cast cylinders were retained on the big 25/30hp Vinot car at £745. Apart from full electrical equipment, the Vinot cars announced in 1919 resembled pre-war models Vinot cars, though inflation had pushed the price of the 4-speed 15/20 up from £465 to £915, and VInot cars, like De Dion and Delaunay-Belleville, were not destined to recover their pre-war standing in the market. There were no Gladiators after 1920, but all Vinot could do in the way of a new model was the 11/25hp Vinot car of 1921, an ohv 1.8-litre with aluminium pistons, straight bevel final drive, cone clutch, and 4-speed gearbox with right-hand ball change. The price of this Vinot car was £685, and a year later the old-established 15.9hp Vinot car acquired overhead valves as the Vinot Type BO. In 1924 the 1.8-litre Vinot car, now rated at 12/25hp, was given front-wheel brakes, but Vinot cars were now in serious financial trouble, and few, if any Vinot cars, were made thereafter. The Nanterre works were acquired by Donnet, and the last races of a once popular Vinot car make were seen in 1928, now under the Deguingand name; this was a 2-stroke cyclecar from the drawing-board of the prolific Violet.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS 

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