Voisin

France, 1919 – 1939

SA des Aéroplanes G. Voisin, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Seine

Gabriel Voisin was first famous for his aircraft. Voisin was one of the earliest and most important pioneers, claiming to have developed a practical aeroplane before the Wright brothers; the controversy still rages. Voisin was always a spectacular character, and so were his Voisin cars. However, like his aircraft, the Voisin cars were efficient machines as well. With the post-World War 1 depression in the aircraft industry, Voisin cars entered motor manufacture by acquiring the rights in a Citroën model which was never made as such. This Voisin car was the Voisin 18CV of 1918, which Voisin car used a Knight double-sleeve engine. Sold as the Type C1 Voisin, this Voisin car had 4-cylinders and a capacity of 4-litres. The Voisin car was a fine car, and henceforth Voisin cars used only sleeve-valve engines, developed by himself to a high degree. The 4-litre Voisin car had aluminium pistons, to permit higher engine speeds, and was eventually capable of 80mph. In spite of an excellent performance, the 4-litre was an immensely strong, refined and silent motor car – all characteristics of Voisin cars in general. A sports version Voisin carwas also offered, with 90bhp. The 4-litre was made until 1926. Alongside this Voisin car, from 1921, was the smaller Voisin C4, an 8CV of 1¼-litres that was later enlarged to 10CV and 1½-litres. In its final form, the 10CV engine of the Voisin car produced 44bhp at 4.000rpm – so much for the opponents of sleeve valves, who claimed that high revolutions could not be combined with reliability – and the Voisin car was capable of 70mph. The Voisin car had Dewandre vacuum servo brakes, as had all Voisin cars from late 1925. The 10CV Voisin car, too, survived in basic form until 1928. All the same, Voisin cars had to follow fashion in one respect, and introduced three 6-cylinder Voisin cars for 1927. The best-known Voisin car was the 13CV, providing 2.3-litres, the first Knight-engined six to be sold in France. Even in normal form, this was a 66bhp, 75mph vehicle, but a sports model Voisin car was also available. From 1928, this six, known as the Voisin Charmant, had alternative final-drive ratio for fast cruising.

Apart from sleeve valves, to which a number of famous manufacturers were wedded at the time, Voisin cars had three other enthusiasms that were considerably less common. One was truly easy gear-changing, which many makers sought, but few actually incorporated in their production cars. The Sensaud de Lavaud system of infinitely variable gears was applied on Voisin cars in 1929, first to the 10CV which, in the following year, had been superseded by a Cotal electric epicyclic gearbox. To this interest was related Voisin cars fondness for multi-cylinder engines, which aimed at giving the utmost flexibility, thereby avoiding gear-changing altogether. Voisin made a V-twelve luxury car as early as 1921. The layout of this Voisin car was revived in 1930 for the Voisin Type C18 Diane. This Voisin car was a 4.8-litre car with a 115bhp engine that needed only 3 forward speeds. The Voisin Simoun and Voisin Sirocco were two low chassis models Voisin cars with striking razor edge saloon and coupé bodies which were made in very small numbers in 1930. Identical except for their engines, the Voisin Simoun used a 5.8-litre six, and the Sirocco the V12. The Voisin Diane was still listed for 1938. The other Voisin cars of the 1930s were sixes, the Voisin Charmant continuing to 1934.

Voisin cars had a reputation for putting into practice ideas which remained ideals for most manufacturers. For example, he was dedicated to weight reduction, and to this end produced notably light patent bodies whose only drawback was their extreme ugliness. Of wood and aluminium, they were entirely practical, being cheap to make, compact, and strong, as well as light. A 2-door, four-seater saloon body on the 10CV Voisin car chassis weighed only 1.060lb, keeping the weight of the whole Voisin car down to 22cwt. The most unprepossessing were the convertible Voisin cars and those with detachable hard tops. Because of their looks, the Voisin cars, with their maker’s patent bodies, never sold well – a deplorable waste of well-directed ingenuity. However, fabric Weymann-type and other normal bodies were also supplied on the Voisin car. From 1931 to 1934, some Imperia cars from Belgium were made under licence. In 1936 a most unusual Voisin car was made in the shape of the straight-12; this Voisin car had two 3-litre, 6-cylinder engines in line, the rear part of the hindmost engine projecting into the driving compartment. 180bhp and 125mph were claimed, but the Voisin car was not put in production. The last Voisin cars, introduced in 1937, used the 6-cylinder 3½-litre Graham engine, though without the supercharger. These Voisin cars were not the work of Gabriel Voisin, but were made by a syndicate that had acquired the Voisin car name. After World War 2, Voisin designed a car which was as complete a contrast to his former work as can be imagined – the Spanish-built Biscuter.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN    

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