THEY’RE STILL OUT THERE

Mike Lyons, a botanist with the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation was asked to make a survey of all the native flora in an aboriginal reserve on the coast of the vast Kimberley Region of Western Australia. You can get some idea of the size of the place from the map.

While going about his business earlier this year Mike came across the reasonably complete remains of an early vintage Le Zebre, a popular French voiturette that many (Georgano, Bolster, Sedgwick) believe was probably the very first “people’s car”. Boy-oh-boy, haven’t there been some contenders for that particular honour! The engine and radiator are missing but may be nearby as there were huge land-holdings in this area with generations-old mountains of discarded equipment and machinery.  There was always a chance something could be recycled or used to repair existing equipment. After all, if you couldn’t make it happen yourself it was a very long way to the nearest shop.

Le Zebre was a Parisian marque made between 1908 and 1931, although one of the two founders, Jules Salomon, was persuaded to go public just prior to the First World War and lost control of the company in one of those all-too-familiar shifty corporate deals and quit in a fury. His partner and great friend was Jacques Bizet, son of the composer, Georges, who set the world on fire with his opera Carmen. Georges died young and Jacques killed himself over a woman. Many of the team that came together to make Amilcars got their start with Salomon when they left the Polytechnique. He was an inspirational engineer who believed in encouraging youngsters. During the war he joined his fellow Jew, Andre Citroen, and stayed on to design the early models of the cars that put Citroen on the map as a car maker.

This Le Zebre was made sometime between 1920 and 1923 and fitted with a four-cylinder, inline engine of 999cc and the rest you can see for yourself. A similar model Le Zebre is currently for sale in South Australia (see For Sale in this issue) and there is a veteran one-cylinder model in Sydney that was imported by Mark Foy and bodied locally. It is now owned by Barry Perdriau, the grandson of the tyre manufacturer who uses the car regularly in veteran events.

The Le Zebre expert is Philip Schram, born in France but now a U.S. citizen. Philip has written a book about Le Zebre and recently published a revised and expanded second edition. Google his name and you’ll be directed to his website and a treasure trove of Le Zebre information you never even suspected you were mad to know about. Perhaps.

Le Zebre was the name of a racehorse. Salomon and Bizet had more than a passing interest in betting on the gee-gees and won a packet by backing this particular one. They used the money to kick-start the company although Salomon later confessed he really only made the first car as a babe magnet. Apparently it worked like a charm. No wonder all the young blokes wanted one. 

Bruce Smeaton