Vivinus

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s were made by Ateliers Vivinus S.A., a company founded in 1899 in

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. The company was renamed Automobiles Vivinus S.A. in 1908. The owner, Alexis Vivinus (1860-1929), had made bicycles in the 1890s and become an importer of Benz. From 1895 he started to make his own range of cars. These were belt-driven

voiturette A voiturette is a miniature automobile. History ''Voiturette'' was first registered by Léon Bollée in 1895 to name his new motor tricycle. The term became so popular in the early years of the motor industry that it was used by many makers ...

models with a 785 cc

single-cylinder engine A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, motorized bicycles, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, power tools ...

and 2-speed transmission by belt drive. Licences to make his designs were sold to firms such as

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

of England,

Georges Richard Georges Richard (1863–1922) was a French racing driver and automobile industry pioneer. His first automobile manufacturing business, "Société des Anciens Établissements Georges Richard", was founded in the North-Paris suburb of " Ivry-Port" ...

of France and

De Dietrich The history of the de Dietrich family has been linked to that of France and of Europe for over three centuries. To this day, the company that bears the family name continues to play a major role in the economic life of Alsace. De Dietrich is a h ...

in Germany. From 1907 a range of more conventional 4-cylinder cars were made with shaft drive, along with motorcycles and aero engines. The company went into liquidation in 1912. The workshop was taken over by . Vivinus himself later joined

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

References

* George Nick Georgano: ''The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.'' Volume 3: ''P–Z.'' Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, . Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Belgium Car manufacturers of Belgium Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles Belgian brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1899 Schaerbeek Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1912 1912 disestablishments in Belgium Belgian companies established in 1899 {{Veteran-auto-stub