- Vidéo Yves Coeurdray - Les 3A -

 

In the second half of the 19th century, a large industrial region characterized by the diversity of its sectors took shape around Lyon, which appeared to be an ideal location for visionary business owners, eager to modernize industry with ever more effective innovations: Guimet blue, Jacquard looms, the automobile, and so on.

 

When, in 1894, he decided to set up what was to become Lyon's first automobile company, Maurice Audibert chose the Monplaisir district, then very popular with business owners for its proximity to the Guillotière suburb and its large available spaces. In 1896 he joined forces with Émile Lavirotte. they are joined by other car manufacturers all eager to show that at that time "Lyon was always two cylinders ahead of Paris". Thus, in 1914, all the big names in Lyon automobile manufacturing were established in the Monplaisir district, on either side of the Heyrieux road which then constituted the main axis of the district.

 

More than sixty vehicle brands of greater or lesser importance, and as many automobile bodybuilders, were born in Lyon. It seemed interesting to us to make available to the general public on the Internet an updated list of all the industrialists, manufacturers, constructors, mechanics, craftsmen, bodybuilders, inventors who have built touring, luxury, sports, racing cars, and carts, cyclecars, quadricycles, tricars, industrial vehicles, motorcycles, cycles, boats, amphibians, planes, engines, mechanical accessories, etc. in our city.

 

There already exist reference works on the history of vehicles in Lyon such as La Grande Aventure automobile lyonnaise by Pierre-Lucien Pouzet or the articles by Lucien Loreille Les Bulletins de la Société d'Histoire Rive Gauche.

 

But none of these are based on a complete scientific study of the sources and until today no website has referenced the entire history of the Lyon's vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, cycles, boats, planes, bodybuilders, engine manufacturers, mechanical accessories manufacturers, subcontractors) with access to online archives. It is the scientific and new project, quite ambitious, that we have for the 3A, which should be the collector and guardian of the memory of the Lyon's automobile.

 

Only the 3A association has the reputation and legitimacy for such work. In addition, it seemed logical to us to associate it with the provision of archives, documented and validated by the 3A to trace history using the sources. 

 

The Internet hosting space has been chosen and is operational, the site is accessible at the address https://www.les3a-histoire.fr. The planned pages are:

 

• home page: project description, word from the president,

• list of manufacturers: cars and motorcycles, initially in the Rhône department,

• cartography: evolution as data is recovered,

• archives: currently being structured,

• bibliography: bibliography, web links, archives of Bulletins des 3A,

• anecdotes: planned for the future,

• contacts

 

Manufacturer List and Mapping Sections:

 

• company name,

• type of vehicles (cars, motorcycles, trucks, coaches, construction, agricultural),

• address at the time,

• corresponding address today,

• town,

• description in French,

• description in English,

• dating,

• latitude, longitude,

• 1 to 5 photos,

• 1 to 3 web links,

• copyright,

• index/reference,

• link(s) with archives.

 

Additional sections planned for the archives:

 

• biographical elements,

• corporate actions,

• patents,

• trademark registrations (INPI),

• catalogs and commercial posters,

• technical sheets and photos of the models,

• addresses: headquarters, design office, factories.

 

 

 

A word from the Chairman

 

The story of the Lyon manufacturers: a saga that the 3A club had to tell to the general public. A team of volunteers as is the tradition at the club, under the leadership of Pierre Edmond Desvignes and Didier Mahistre, decided to tackle it. Members of our club who have become researchers and archivists collect, classify and photograph everything relating to Lyon vehicles from their beginnings to the end of the 20th century. The work is long and tedious, but knowing the tenacity of those in charge, I am certain that they will get through it. Long live this section. We always need good will: amateurs beware!

 

Michel FOURNIER

 

The long-term objectives must be constituted in the following order:

 

• a knowledge base,

• a more sufficient summary publication on the Internet, French/English,

• links to more information,

• dynamic online mapping of establishments,

• book publishing,

• conference opportunities,

• online and offline archives with simple but localized indexing.

 

To do this, have already been carried out:

 

• the definition of the first tools, technical means and a budget,

• the study of a hierarchical controlled vocabulary (thesaurus), and a nomenclature.

 

 

The members of the group
work "Les 3A - Historique":

 

- Nadège BERAUD
- Jean-Paul BESSY
- Francis CINCOTTA
- Daniel CULAS
- Pierre Edmond DESVIGNES
- Michel FOURNIER
- Alain GUILLAUME
- Didier MAHISTRE
- Anthony PINTO
- Dominique THIBAUDON
- Hubert VILDRAC