Cottereau

Cottereau 1898 - 1910
Cottereau et Compagnie, Dijon, France.

This company was founded in 1891 by the brothers Lois and Henri Cottereau. Bicycles were made exclusively up to 1898 when a light car powered by a 5hp , 1272cc, air cooled V-twin engine, 3 speed gearbox and single chain drive was launched. The cars merited the title voiturette but as this name had been appropriated by Leon Bollee, the Cottereau called theirs a voiturine. Steering was initially by handlebar, but was replaced by a wheel in 1900, when the engine was enlarged to 9hp, 1884cc. A Benz-like car with a 3.5hp single cylinder engine was offered in 1900, but Cottereau customers preferred the more refined twins, and few were sold. Five models of Cottereau were offered in 1901, three twins of 5, 7 and 9hp, a single cylinder called the Selecta, and a 10hp four.
From 1901 to 1903 the 7hp Cottereau was made under licence by E.J. Brierre, who was the Paris agent for the Dijon company. In 1902 the 5 and 7hp 2 cylinder voiturines had water coled cylinder heads. The smaller had single-chian drive, while the 7hp used twin chains. Both had an unusual camshaft brake in which the operation of a pedal brought into effect a different camshaft profile which closed all the valves, thus acting as a brake on the engine, a system also used on the 1904 8hp Rover. The largest of the 1902 Cottereaus was a chain driven 16hp 2 litre four. Cottereau made a complex range at this time, from a 5hp single called the Populaire in England, to a 9hp vertical twin, a 10/12hp 3 cylinder model and a 16hp four. In 1905 there were three 3 cylinder models, the 1786cc 10/12hp, a 2550cc 12hp, and a 15/18hp, the latter of the same size but offered with a choice of shaft or chain drive. Cottereau was a comparatively large firm at this time, with 350 employees who made prctically all of the cars, chassis and bodies, in the factory, although some frames were bought in from Arbel. Motorcycles were also made from 1905 to 1909.
The 1906 range was the widest yet, from an 8hp single cylinder with tubular steel chassis and asingle chain drive, which could also be had with armoured wood frame and double chain or shaft drive, through a 9hp twin, the 10/12hp, 12hp an 15/18hp 3 cylinder cars and a 24hp four. Cottereaus were characterised by Hotchkiss-like round radiators. The firm adopted the pretentios badge of a torch accompoanied by the words "In hoc signo vinces" meaning "In this sign I conquer" used by the French Emperor Constantine. The French historian Jean-Robert Dulier observed that customers for the smaller cars did not understand Latin, while those who might have bought a larger Cottereau were unimpressed with such pretension. Sales declined inexorably from 1908, despite a varired range which included a 26hp four with cylinders cast in pairs in 1907 and a 9hp chain driven single cylinder light car in 1910. Before the end of that year Cottereau was bought by the Constructions Industrielle Dijonaise, which launched a new range of cars under the name C.I.D.