Solved: PN #650 -- Aesculap, 1900

[4popoid]

1900 Crouan by Société des Automobiles Crouan, Paris?

[pnegyesi]

no

[Wendax]

Looking for the Hungarian road train I found this picture: it is Herskovits Ignác at the wheel of a La Mouche in 1901. But AFAIK the La Mouche was built by Teste & Moret in Lyon. But I found a note that the Esculape by Automobile Union of Paris was actually the same car.

[pnegyesi]

I thought that sooner or later someone would find this (and other puzzles :))

This is Herskovits, who ran the Hungarian subsidiary of Automobile Union of Paris, which sold the La Mouche as the Aesculap. We already had the La Mouche as a puzzle.

So should we merge or should we not merge :)?

[Wendax]

The Esculape is a variation of the theme, so I think it is fair enough to leave this as a puzzle of its own.

[4popoid]

Rats!!!  I had it as a La Mouche days ago, but ruled it out when it was stated that the puzzle car was manufactured in Paris (or suburbs), while the La Mouche was manufactured in Lyon.  I was not aware of the connection between the Esculape and the La Mouche, but, in my mind, the Esculape ts clearly not the puzzle car, as witnessed by the picture below from the Cité de l'Automobile - Schlumpf Collection - National Museum in Mulhouse, France.  The picture shows the Esculape with handlebar steering and a vertical steering column, while the La Mouche had a steering wheel with an angled steering column, as does the puzzle car.  Since the Esculape only existed for one year (1899), I doubt that it had two different models with different steering columns.  The puzzle car must be a La Mouche, and this a repost.

[pnegyesi]

You may be right, but then why this car was captioned Aesculap La Mouche in the contemporary Hungarian article and more important, why it was sold by the Budapest office of Automobile Union de Paris (which manufactured/sold the Aesculap)?

[4popoid]

I can only speculate, but I suspect that the puzzle car was a badge engineered La Mouche (you say it "was captioned Aesculap La Mouche") which was manufactured in Lyon, but rebadged and sold in Paris (and Budapest?) as an Aesculap La Mouche.  Perhaps this was because Automobile Union de Paris had a sales organization, and branding, in place but needed a product to sell when the Esculape only lasted one year. 

[pnegyesi]

Here's an ad from 1900. I declare this now solved