Voitures automobiles Decauville was a Frenchautomobile maker, a subsidiary ofSociété Decauville, a company already famous for producinglocomotives, located at Petit-Bourg, nearCorbeil.^[1]

Established byPaul Decauville, the company was registered asSociété des Voitures Automobiles Decauville in 1897 and the factory started producing automobiles in 1898.^[2] The first car was designed by Messrs Joseph Guédon and Gustave Cornilleau and the design was purchased for 250,000French francs. Cornilleau was also taken on as chief engineer.

The car, atiller-steered three-seater in thevoiturette (cyclecar) class, was called avoiturelle.^[3] It had a peculiar structure, it featured independent suspension by transverse spring and two single-cylinderair-cooled engines produced byDe Dion-Bouton sharing a common crankcase.^[3] The 498 cc (30.4 cu in)^[3] engine, allegedly producing 3 hp (2.2 kW; 3.0 PS),^[3] was mounted under the seat and drove the back axle through an unlubricated^[3] two-speedtransmission. It had an advanced sliding-pillar front suspension, but no suspension at all in the rear.^[3]

Like many pioneer marques, includingNapier andBentley, Decauville enteredmotor races, winning thevoiturette class of the1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris Trail.^[3] Works driversM. Gabriel andLéon Théry came first and second, with another Decauville third, in thevoiturette class of the 1899Tour de France Automobile.^[3] This was followed with class wins in the 1900Bordeaux-Biarritz and Paris-Rouen-Paris rallies.^[3] The marque also took theDaily Mail prize in the 1900 English Thousand Miles Trial.^[3]

This car sold well, supplying 107 cars by 1898 and 350 by 1904. Beginning in 1899, it was being sold in England by R. Moffat Ford, and being built under licence byAutomobilwerk Eisenach (as the Wartburg) in Germany and Orio and Marchand in Italy.^[3]

The original model was joined in 1900 by a 5 hp (3.7 kW; 5.1 PS) water-cooled model and shortly an 8 hp (6.0 kW; 8.1 PS)twin with "horseshoe-shaped dashboard radiator and a bullet-nosed bonnet".^[3] In 1901, a 3-literfour (two 8 hp (6.0 kW; 8.1 PS) twins mounted in tandem) was offered.^[3]

In 1902, thevoiturelles were dropped and a 10 hp (7.5 kW; 10 PS) 2,090 cc (128 cu in)^[2]sidevalve twin debuted, featuring engine,gearbox, and clutch cast as a unit.^[3] One of these, purchased byHenry Royce, inspired his design for the firstRolls-Royce.^[3]

From 1905, the company produced larger models with four-cylinder engines. The customer could choose the engine type from 2.7 to 9.2 litres. A range of trucks and buses was also made.

By 1906, the company offered five distinct models, all fours: 12/16 (which actually produced 20.14 hp (15.02 kW; 20.42 PS)), 16/20, 24/28, 30 hp (22 kW; 30 PS) (also producing more than its ratedtax horsepower), and 45 hp (34 kW; 46 PS) (with chain drive, at a cost of £1020 ready to run).^[3]

Demand for its cars fell, and in 1907, Decauville dropped the 12/16 and 16/20. Sales fell still further, and Decauville was forced to close its automobile factory in 1911.^[3] The parent company, Société Decauville continued to produce locomotives.

• Decauville 16/20 CV^[4]
• Decauville 24/28 CV^[5]

• A DecauvilleVoiturelle from 1898 may be seen in theMusée Automobile de Vendée inTalmont-Saint-Hilaire,France
• A DecauvilleVoiturelle Vis-à-Vis from 1899 is in theMusée Henri Malartre inRochetaillée-sur-Saône, France
• A Decauville from 1900 is in the Aalholm Automobile Museum inNysted,Denmark (this museum closed in 2008)
• A Decauville 10 HP Tonneau belonging to theNational Motor Museum inBeaulieu, Hampshire,United Kingdom, has been a regular participant at theLondon to Brighton Veteran Car Run, last attending in 2010 (No. 143)
• Another DecauvilleVoiturelle,ca. 1899, from Belgium, participated in the 2010 London-Brighton Run (No. 35)

• Three pictures of Decauville locomotives

• 1901 Decauville (box six)
• Decauville mentioned in world history