Congratulations! That's the car!
Well done,
Here the story I have:
"Engine: De Dion Bouton single cylinder, 100 x 120mm bore and stroke, 942cc, water-cooled with mechanically operated valves, magneto ignition; Gearbox: three speed and reverse, cone clutch, shaft-drive to bevel back axle; Suspension: front, semi-elliptic leaf springs, rear, three-quarter leaf springs; Brakes: two wheel drum. Right hand drive and controls.
Saumur, on the south bank of the sleepy river Loire, is not an industrial centre. It is best known for its fairy-tale chateau that dominates the town and the vine-covered hinterland that in a good year produces wines of above average quality, and in other years not, both reasons why the locals keep knowledge of their production largely to themselves. They also seem to have exhibited a similar reticence on the subject of motorcars produced in the town, since the name of Bobrie Freres appears in not one period or later list of car producers, and the make has been lost to history until now. Were it not for the survival of this one example this would almost certainly have remained the case.
That this voiturette with its De Dion Bouton engine of about 1908 is not just a re-badged example from a well-known maker is shown by the fact that the words 'Bobrie Freres - Constructeur' are cast into the gearbox and the back axle, the name is engraved on the hub-caps, and it appears on the dashboard plate and the threshold strips, along with the Saumur address. The 1907 Michelin Guide reveals that the Bobrie Freres were garagistes at 28 rue St Nicolas, and, significantly, were the De Dion Bouton agents for Saumur. By 1913 they had moved to the rue de Bordeaux, and were then also agents for Berliet, Clement-Bayard, and Renault. Manufacture of motorcars is not mentioned at all in either entry.
It is not only the name on the components that singles it out as an 'own make' but it also has a distinctive technical feature: an extension of the gearbox casting forms a bell-housing over the flywheel and clutch and unites it with the engine crankcase, thus forming in effect a single unit. Decauville and Motobloc had pioneered this form of unit construction on larger cars in the first years of the 20th century, but it is most unusual to find it on a voiturette, even from several years later.
The car has been stored in less than ideal conditions and is very rusty. It has suffered some hacking about of the bell-housing and appears to be missing at least its prop-shaft and radiator. Therefore it requires total restoration. However once done it will make a charming addition to the ranks of surviving voiturettes and for once the term 'unique au monde' so often arbitrarily applied to the most commonplace of motorcars displayed in French museums can correctly be used."
