1927 Benjamin/Benova B3 Sports

• Rare 1920's cycle car produced by Maurice Jeanson in 1927
• 945cc Chapuis-Dornier engine with a sports car body
• Diminutive styling in line with Amilcar and Salmson
• One of the first vehicles to be offered under a finance agreement
• Your earliest inspection is encouraged and welcomed
• This car has formed part of a large collection with little or no use. An element of recommissioning is to be expected to return it to the road once again
• A new V5c will need to be requested by submitting a V62 form

It's not only quality, engineering, innovation or competitiveness that can make a car manufacturer successful. Perhaps most important of all is marketing. And this is where French manufacturer Maurice Jeanson excelled, albeit for a limited time. Jeanson entered the car market in 1921 during the cyclecar craze. He chose the name of his nephew, Benjamin, as a brand name and introduced a small 750 cc 4-cylinder car with shaft drive that weighed just under 350kg. That meant that the car benefitted from the tax advantages for cyclecars whilst offering the better build quality of more conventional cars. More importantly, he concocted an innovative financing scheme for his customers. In association with bank Societe Generale, he offered a credit scheme which meant that the cars could be bought by paying 12 monthly instalments, which added only 200 Francs to the price. Benjamin acted as a security to the bank, which proved to be both productive as well as risky.

At first business boomed and sales grew rapidly. In 1923 the range was expanded with a long-chassis model that could be fitted with 4-seater bodies but was also offered for commercial vehicles. That same year a 2-seater sports model was introduced with a single overhead cam engine that propelled the car to a maximum speed of 100 kph. A year later a true cyclecar was marketed as the Benjamin P2. It was powered by a 525 cc twin-cylinder 2-stroke engine that was mounted in the rear of the boat-tailed car. Though it had some success in competition, the car didn't sell well and the model soon disappeared from the range. After that Benjamin stuck by 4-cylinder 4-stroke models and capacities up to 1095 cc were offered.

Up to 1926 production grew and grew and Benjamin prospered. Four-wheel braking was introduced on the cars, which had made a name for themselves for offering quality at a modest price. But then things went awry as the economy declined and customers failed to pay off their loans. Since Benjamin acted as guarantor, the company was obliged to reimburse the bank for the failed payments of their customers and this led to bankruptcy in 1927. As the creditors saw more advantages in continuing production as opposed to selling the assets the company was not liquidated and Jeanson was allowed to re-establish his company, but now closely governed by his main creditor, the bank. Benjamin was renamed into Benova, meaning