Solved NIC#236 - 1899 Begot et Mazurie 5hp

[nicanary]

Year, make and model, please.

[Allan L]

Nice one again Nicanary!

[nicanary]

Nice one again Nicanary!

Yes, and some members think we're going to run out of marques to select!

[nicanary]

Experts?

[AlexFrance]

What a lovely little car! 

French maybe?

[nicanary]

What a lovely little car! 

French maybe?

It is French, yes.

[AlexFrance]

Was it made by a defunct, obscure manufacturer?

[nicanary]

Was it made by a defunct, obscure manufacturer?

Yes. I think this is the only one left in existence.

[FrontMan]

It's the 1899 5hp Begot et Mazurie.  I think it appeared many years ago in "The Veteran Moror Car Pocketbook" where it was nick-named the "Bag-o-Misery".

[nicanary]

It's the 1899 5hp Begot et Mazurie.  I think it appeared many years ago in "The Veteran Moror Car Pocketbook" where it was nick-named the "Bag-o-Misery".

Well done. A point for you.

(I thought I had found something which would be hard to solve, but the next day I opened the latest issue of the world's largest circulation classic car magazine, and this very car was pictured for sale at a well-known dealer. I'm surprised it took so long to solve!)

[Allan L]

Yes, Nicanary, your surprise is well justified as it had not been for sale for a very long time.
As I recall it, John Leitch inherited the Bégot & Mazurié from his father many decades before I knew him as a fellow researcher at the Veteran Car Club in the 1980s.
Fine little car in a minimalist sort of way with a four-speed gearbox and wheel steering even in 1899. As the dealer says, small size means light weight - for the car if not for the owner!

[ftg3plus4]

One car encyclopedia says that an (unnamed) English owner of a Begot et Mazurie, who wasn't too pleased with the car, referred to it as the "Bag o' Misery."