Le Dauphin was a French auto maker established in the

3rd arrondissement of Paris The 3rd arrondissement of Paris (''IIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements (districts) of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as the ''"troisième"'' meaning "third" in F ...

by André L. Dauphin. The company first presented a small two-seater

cyclecar A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. A key ...

in the spring of 1941; production ended in 1942. The car was an open-roof cyclecar with the seats positioned one behind the other. The body was built around a simple tube-based structure, probably inspired by recent developments in

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurat ...

construction; there was no separate chassis. The vehicles were produced on a production line at a small factory belonging to Kellner, a coachbuilder previously known for supplying bespoke bodies for chassis of France's luxury car makers. Dauphin versions were made with a

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...

or an electric engine, with the

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

for the petrol version being a

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

unit of 100 cc or 175 cc supplied by Zurcher. Petrol for civilian use was becoming unobtainable, and a 2 hp 48-volt electric power unit was substituted. The electric-powered cars were steered from the rear seat, whereas the petrol-engined ones were steered from the front.

Sources and further reading

* G.N. Georgano: ''Autos. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours.'' Courtille, 1975 (French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dauphin, Le Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Car manufacturers of France Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1940 Cyclecars Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1942 1940 establishments in France 1942 disestablishments in France