The Ariès was a French

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufactured by La Société des Automobile Ariès in

Asnières-sur-Seine Asnières-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies on the left bank of the river Seine, some eight kilometres from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of t ...

. The firm was founded in 1902 by Baron Charles Petiet. The decision to end production was taken in 1937. Around 20,000 vehicles were produced in total. The first cars were two- and

four-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

vehicles built 20

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpa ...

at a time in a large factory. These shaft-drive cars had a rather unusual double

rear axle An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, beari ...

, while the engines were built by Aster. In 1907 the company made its own narrow-angle

V4 engine A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The V4 engine is less common compared to straight-four engines. However, V4 engines have been used in automobile ...

. The engine had a single cast iron

T-head An anchor plate, floor plate or wall washer is a large plate or washer connected to a tie rod or bolt. Anchor plates are used on exterior walls of masonry buildings, for structural reinforcement against lateral bowing. Anchor plates are made of ...

monobloc on a light alloy crankcase. This contained four cylinders in a square layout with a narrow 15° vee angle. Bore and stroke were 60 by 100mm, giving a capacity of 1.13 litres. It was rated at 8/10

fiscal horsepower The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries such as Britain, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate pu ...

. The crankshaft was short with

disk web Disk or disc may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a geometric shape * Disk storage Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other uses * Disk (functional analysis), a subset of a vector spac ...

s, two main bearings and fork-and-blade connecting rods.

Crankpin A crankpin or crank pin, also known as a rod bearing journal, is a mechanical device in an engine which connects the crankshaft to the connecting rod for each cylinder. It has a cylindrical surface, to allow the crankpin to rotate relative to the ...

s and main journals were held in the webs by tapers and a shallow nut, giving the effect of an

undercut crankshaft An undercut crankshaft is a form of crankshaft for piston engines, where the overall length of the crankshaft is shortened by overlapping the main bearings of the crankshaft with the big end bearings of the connecting rods. Although this seems i ...

. This made the engine extremely compact overall, long, wide and tall. The intention was to offer this compact engine as a replacement that would fit into a wide range of other vehicles. The crankshaft was drilled for a pressure oil feed to the crankpins, an advanced feature for this time, but the pistons and gudgeon pins were still lubricated by splash. In 1910 Ariès introduced a V6 engine on the same pattern for the 10/14 hp S6. AutobusOmnibus

Ariès entered the field of

commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to ...

production in 1910, mainly for the purpose of supplying the

French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

; the works built mainly military trucks during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, as well as

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years man ...

s. After the war the company presented three new models; one was a four-cylinder, a 7 cv OHC 1085 cc, while the other two were variations on a 15cv 3-litre. One had a sidevalve Aster unit, while the second featured a sporty OHC engine; some of these last were quite successful in racing events. Aries Berline, 4 Places, 1932 (France)

Ariès had some motor-racing success in the 1920s, particularly with associated, although without success, at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

and with more success in other

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

events. Their most successful drivers wore Robert Laly and

Jean Chassagne Jean Chassagne (26 July 1881, in La Croisille-sur-Briance – 13 April 1947) was a pioneer submariner, aviator and French racecar driver active 1906-1930. Chassagne finished third in the 1913 French Grand Prix; won the 1922 Tourist Trophy and f ...

, driving the 3 litre cars. Ariès stopped production of its 1100 cc and 3-liter cars, which had become obsolete, during the financial crisis of the 1930s. They were replaced in the catalogue with new 1500 cc and 2-liter models with an odd arrangement of a three-speed

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), diffe ...

augmented by two-speed gears in the back axle, for a total of six speeds forward. Named the Super 10-50, few were made. After the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, Ariès attempted a comeback, briefly producing

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typic ...

engines under the name ABG.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aries Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1902 1902 establishments in France Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1937 1937 disestablishments in France Truck manufacturers Truck manufacturers of France Motor vehicle manufacturers of France

See also

References