1939 Sironval Sportplex Quadricycle
(Now sold)
This strange – but fabulous – machine is essentially a two-seater four-wheel bicycle. It was designed and built by Victor Sironval, in an era when fellow inventor Charles Mochet’s Velocars were evolving from similar designs into microcars, first with pedal-power and subsequently motorized.
Victor Sironval produced various models in the late thirties, including a two-wheeler and a motorized Sportplex four-wheeler.
So it’s interesting to consider whether, if WW2 had not interrupted production, Sironval’s concepts would have taken a similar route to Mochet’s.
This velocar had been completely restored by one of my friends, to a very high professional standard, and I sold it in 2009.
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STEERING & FRONT WHEELS
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MOCHET VELOCAR
Mochet was the most successful of the inventors who experimented with four-wheel bicycles. They evolved from simple wood-bodied structures, through more refined wood-bodied pedal-powered ‘cars’ in the thirties (as above), to full microcars after WW2 (below).
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GEAR TRIGGER
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HANDBRAKE
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PEDALS
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DERAILLEUR GEARS
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REAR OF SEAT
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Original 1930’s photos thanks to www.Mochet.org