2 antique French-made scooters

We return to France a moment, turn out this beautiful and romantic country located in mainland Europe also has contributed many creative innovations in the automotive world, especially scooters.

As we know, during the heyday of the two-wheeled mode of transportation called scooters in the 1950s to the 1960s, there were also several French brands is enlivened the atmosphere of the scooter market at that time, like Bernardet, Guiller, Manurhin, Peugeot, Scootavia, Terrot, etc.

1951 Mors SIC scooter on display at the Auto Moto Bike Museum of Châtellerault. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/31qagIL)

Indeed, those French scooter brands have not been matched the great names of Italian scooters such as the Vespa and Lambretta which at that time were known as the most dominant scooter brands in the market.

However, there is something interesting about these French scooters, most of which have a unique and attractive appearance. One of them is the Alcyon aka Mors-Speed scooter that we are discussing today.

The Alcyon aka Mors-Speed scooter brand is owned by the Edmond Gentil company which was originally a bicycle shop located in Neuilly Seine, France was founded in 1890, and developed to a factory. It is known that the manufacturer is developed by adding motorcycle production in 1902 and that of motor cars in 1906. The company moved to Courbevoie, Seine in 1912.

1951 Mors SIC scooter uses a 2-stroke 115cc engine capable burst power of 3hp and coupled with a 2-speed gearbox. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3jatAQd)

Gentil's products were marketed under the 'Alcyon' name, meaning the kingfisher (a beautiful song bird species). Various sizes of automobiles were produced prior to the 1st World War, after which the firm concentrated on cyclecars until 1928 when it returned exclusively to the bicycles and motorcycles manufacturer.

And during the 2nd World War, a wide range of models was manufactured and after 1945, Alcyon concentrated on selling lightweight vehicles powered by AMC, Vap, and Zurcher engines among others.

Over the years Alcyon acquired a number of smaller French manufacturers and marketed its models under various brand names. Alcyon also sponsored a successful professional cycling team, winning the Tour de France six times, which perhaps explains the choice of the 'Paris-Nice' name for one of its motor scooters, although known there are only two scooter models produced by this company.

1954 Alcyon Mors-Speed S3 Paris Nice scooter went into production in 1953 to 1954 and debuted at the 1953 Paris Auto Salon. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3aT2BWB)

Alcyon's first scooters named Mors SIC were designed by Pierre Brissonnet whose patent was purchased by SICVAM (an industrial and commercial motor vehicle company), a subsidiary of the Mors company. SICVAM will further become the distributor for all Mors-Speed scooters.

The Mors SIC uses a 2-stroke 115cc engine capable burst power of 3hp and coupled with a 2-speed gearbox. And these French lightweight unique scooters produced from 1951 to 1953 and debuted at the 1951 Paris Auto Salon.

1954 Alcyon Mors-Speed S3 Paris Nice scooter uses a 123cc 2-stroke engine capable burst power of 6hp and coupled with a 3-speed gearbox. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/2YyIOXo)

And the second and the most famous is the Mors-Speed S3 Paris-Nice with the Alcyon badge was designed by Jean Henri Labourdette and debuted at the 1953 Paris Auto Salon. It uses a 123cc 2-stroke engine capable burst power of 6hp and coupled with a 3-speed gearbox. So, the S3 scooter able to run up to 70 kph. And these scooters went into the production line in 1953 and sold until 1958.😢

In 1955, Mors ceased its scooter production and return to the original activities of manufacturing railroad signaling, household appliances, and mechanics. Then the two scooter productions and distributions were taken over by the Courbevoie-based Gentil group under the Alcyon brand while also absorbing SICVAM.

Beside sold domestically turned out the French-made scooters also succeeded in reaching the auto market outside the country such as England to Spain under the Mors-Speed brand. This can be seen in several units of the Mors-Speed S3 Paris-Nice scooters that are still existed in the UK and the Mors SIC models in Spain.

That's it, and if the article above is still considered inadequate or inaccurate, or if you have additional information related to this unique scooter, please don't hesitate to let us know via the comments column below this article.

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Friday, August 28, 2020

2 antique French-made scooters