Panhard
Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor were true pioneers who were instrumental in the development of the motor car. A further partner in the company was Belgian lawyer Edouard Sarazin, who had negotiated the rights to Daimlers patented engine. On Sarazins sudden death in 1887 his wife Louise was able to convince Daimler that she was capable of carrying on the arrangement, while at the same time Panhard et Levassor company were given the concession to manufacture the Daimler engine in France, as had been the original intention. She signed a new agreement on a visit to Gottlieb Daimler in early 1889, the same year that she was remarried to Emille Levassor. By 1892 Panhard Levassor came up with their cleverly thought out "Systeme Panhard" , which was a vehicle with an engine in front of a chassis, driven through mechanical gears placed behind it , and a final drive to the wheels at teh rear. All the earlier models used the Daimler narrow angle V twin engine which used the hot tube ignition principle invented by Maybach, where platinum tubes extending into the combustion space were heated externally, which would would then ignite the fuel air mixture as it was compressed. By 1895 the new Daimler Phoenix vertical twin engine replaced the earlier engines. Panhard et Levassor later evolved to making their own engines. The cars were used regularly in competitions, and unfortunately Emille Levassor died in 1897 following injuries he received while leading a race in 1896. After this, the role of General manager at the factory was taken by Arthur Krebs. Panhard et Levassor continued building the most advanced and best vehicles, and demand was high. In 1900 the waiting list for a car extended to one year! By the 1920's many of their cars engines were built on the Knight sleeve valve principles. Post World War 2 the company was known as Panhard specialised in 2 cylinder air cooled engines and were one of the fist producers of a front wheel drive car (Dyna). Panhard were taken over by Citroen in 1965.
