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Details
1898 FISSON 8 HP WAGONETTE
Chassis No. to be announced
VCC No. 1644
Black with varnished wood panels and yellow wheels with black leather interior
Engine: vertical twin-cylinder, 2920 cc (178 cu. in.), water-cooled, with electric ignition; Gearbox: four-speed and reverse with final drive by side chains; Suspension: full-elliptic front & semi-elliptic rear; Brakes: transmission from foot pedal, parking brake on rear tires, plus sprag. Left hand drive.
Louis Fisson was among the first generation of motor car manufacturers in Paris, France, operating from a workshop at 14 Rue Maublanc in the 14th Arrondissement to the south of the city. He first came to public attention when he entered a car for Monsieur Ferte to drive in the Paris-Marseille-Paris race of 1896. In that inestimable work A Record of Motor Racing 1894-1908 author Gerald Rose writes about the event: The first car away, the Fisson driven by Mr. Ferte, unfortunately caused an accident at the very beginning of the race. The crowd surrounding the competitors was thicker than ever before, and the police had some difficulty in keeping the passage for the cars; but in spite of these precautions M. Ferte ran over a man in the Avenue de Paris, though no injury was caused beyond bruises and shock. Never mind the man, the Fisson did not make it to the first night's stop at Auxerre! Rose also records that the engine of the car was a Benz, and the complete vehicle was Benz-like in appearance.
Monsieur Fisson seems to have continued to make a very limited number of vehicles with horizontal engines of Benz inspiration through 1897 and in July of that year entered one for himself to drive in the Paris-Dieppe race. Gerald Rose records that it arrived in 9th place in its class for four-seated cars. Fisson clearly needed something better than a modified Benz if he was going to make his mark on the rapidly growing motoring scene.
On the 21st of April 1898 he lodged a patent for an 'improved vertical' engine with supposedly advanced lubrication, but, more importantly, having variable timed electric ignition. It was a twin-cylinder engine of this type with 130 mm bore & 110 mm stroke that he installed into a reinforced-wood chassis, allied to a four-speed sliding gearbox with side-chain drive and the relatively advanced feature for the day of wheel steering. In appearance the car closely resembled the best car of the period: a Panhard-Levassor; but retained three Benz features: left-hand drive, a pot-type surface carburetor and two levers for selecting the gears, although in Fisson's case one was for the lower two gears and the other for the two higher ratios. A single example was exhibited at the annual Salon du Cycle et de l'Automobile in Paris in December 1898 about which The Autocar correspondent commented: The whole of the mechanism is concealed, and this gives a particularly neat appearance to the carriage. Nevertheless, few cars were made, let alone sold, and Louis Fisson dissappeared from the motoring scene some time in the following year.
The car offered here is the only known surviving Panhard-Levassor-type Fisson and none of the earlier Benz-type cars are believed to exist. It was owned for many years by Robert Dowling, a prominent east coast collector and friend of Henry Austin Clark. The Fisson remained on display in Clark's famous Long Island Museum for many years until it eventually travelled to the U.K. in the 1980s. During a most sympathetic restoration, the car was found to be mechanically authentic and to have completely original bodywork. Despite these important factors, perhaps because it is from an obscure manufacturer, the car did not come to be held in particularly high esteem and was little used. However in 1995, with a number of significant centenary events in the offing in the U.K., it underwent a thorough mechanical preparation and was then found to perform far better than previous experience had suggested. The writer drove it at this time and found that the engine provided an abundance of power, was easily regulated by both the ignition advance and retard and the accelerator, the clutch was sweet in its operation and the chassis possessed good roadholding for a 19th century motor car, certainly comparing well with that of a Panhard-Levassor of the era. The major idiosyncrasy: the need to return the lever that controls the two lower gears to neutral before selecting third and top speeds with the lever that controls these, proved to be an interesting challenge, but was not a problem.
The Fisson successfully took part in the 1995 centenary run to celebrate the first car imported into Great Britain and completed the 1995 and 1996 London to Brighton Runs without incident. The car was given a 1898 date by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain in 1992 and carries Dating Certificate number 1644.
Nineteenth century motor cars of any type rarely appear for sale. The Fisson demonstrates that such vehicles are not necessarily museum pieces and that with a sympathetic owner even a unique and original example such as this can participate in suitable events along with the better known makes of the period.
Chassis No. to be announced
VCC No. 1644
Black with varnished wood panels and yellow wheels with black leather interior
Engine: vertical twin-cylinder, 2920 cc (178 cu. in.), water-cooled, with electric ignition; Gearbox: four-speed and reverse with final drive by side chains; Suspension: full-elliptic front & semi-elliptic rear; Brakes: transmission from foot pedal, parking brake on rear tires, plus sprag. Left hand drive.
Louis Fisson was among the first generation of motor car manufacturers in Paris, France, operating from a workshop at 14 Rue Maublanc in the 14th Arrondissement to the south of the city. He first came to public attention when he entered a car for Monsieur Ferte to drive in the Paris-Marseille-Paris race of 1896. In that inestimable work A Record of Motor Racing 1894-1908 author Gerald Rose writes about the event: The first car away, the Fisson driven by Mr. Ferte, unfortunately caused an accident at the very beginning of the race. The crowd surrounding the competitors was thicker than ever before, and the police had some difficulty in keeping the passage for the cars; but in spite of these precautions M. Ferte ran over a man in the Avenue de Paris, though no injury was caused beyond bruises and shock. Never mind the man, the Fisson did not make it to the first night's stop at Auxerre! Rose also records that the engine of the car was a Benz, and the complete vehicle was Benz-like in appearance.
Monsieur Fisson seems to have continued to make a very limited number of vehicles with horizontal engines of Benz inspiration through 1897 and in July of that year entered one for himself to drive in the Paris-Dieppe race. Gerald Rose records that it arrived in 9th place in its class for four-seated cars. Fisson clearly needed something better than a modified Benz if he was going to make his mark on the rapidly growing motoring scene.
On the 21st of April 1898 he lodged a patent for an 'improved vertical' engine with supposedly advanced lubrication, but, more importantly, having variable timed electric ignition. It was a twin-cylinder engine of this type with 130 mm bore & 110 mm stroke that he installed into a reinforced-wood chassis, allied to a four-speed sliding gearbox with side-chain drive and the relatively advanced feature for the day of wheel steering. In appearance the car closely resembled the best car of the period: a Panhard-Levassor; but retained three Benz features: left-hand drive, a pot-type surface carburetor and two levers for selecting the gears, although in Fisson's case one was for the lower two gears and the other for the two higher ratios. A single example was exhibited at the annual Salon du Cycle et de l'Automobile in Paris in December 1898 about which The Autocar correspondent commented: The whole of the mechanism is concealed, and this gives a particularly neat appearance to the carriage. Nevertheless, few cars were made, let alone sold, and Louis Fisson dissappeared from the motoring scene some time in the following year.
The car offered here is the only known surviving Panhard-Levassor-type Fisson and none of the earlier Benz-type cars are believed to exist. It was owned for many years by Robert Dowling, a prominent east coast collector and friend of Henry Austin Clark. The Fisson remained on display in Clark's famous Long Island Museum for many years until it eventually travelled to the U.K. in the 1980s. During a most sympathetic restoration, the car was found to be mechanically authentic and to have completely original bodywork. Despite these important factors, perhaps because it is from an obscure manufacturer, the car did not come to be held in particularly high esteem and was little used. However in 1995, with a number of significant centenary events in the offing in the U.K., it underwent a thorough mechanical preparation and was then found to perform far better than previous experience had suggested. The writer drove it at this time and found that the engine provided an abundance of power, was easily regulated by both the ignition advance and retard and the accelerator, the clutch was sweet in its operation and the chassis possessed good roadholding for a 19th century motor car, certainly comparing well with that of a Panhard-Levassor of the era. The major idiosyncrasy: the need to return the lever that controls the two lower gears to neutral before selecting third and top speeds with the lever that controls these, proved to be an interesting challenge, but was not a problem.
The Fisson successfully took part in the 1995 centenary run to celebrate the first car imported into Great Britain and completed the 1995 and 1996 London to Brighton Runs without incident. The car was given a 1898 date by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain in 1992 and carries Dating Certificate number 1644.
Nineteenth century motor cars of any type rarely appear for sale. The Fisson demonstrates that such vehicles are not necessarily museum pieces and that with a sympathetic owner even a unique and original example such as this can participate in suitable events along with the better known makes of the period.