Pictures needed for article!

[HEMI 426]

I was asked to write an article for Serbian classic cars forum  about first car in my city of Novi Sad. This vehicle was De Dion-Bouton and it came here in 1892, making it the first car in Serbia. However, I have enough information for article, but I haven't any pictures of the car! The car was  De Dion-Bouton , and it was bought at Paris at the World Fair event in 1892 and it was transported to Novi Sad by train later that year.  Unfortunately, I haven't god any information about model, but I was told that this was electric car, not gasoline one.

I need all De Dion Bouton pictures that you can give me, regarding a 1892, a year that car came here. As soon as I finish the article, I will translate it in to English and post it here... Thank you! 

[Allan L]

I'll ask my de Dion expert friend!

[HEMI 426]

I appreciate it, thank you very much! 

[Allan L]

I had never heard that de Dion built electric vehicles, but I thought that was just because it is not my specialist field! I have received the following from my friend whose field it is:

I am not aware that De Dion Bouton was ever involved with electric vehicles.  The earliest vehicles from 1882 were all powered by steam and manufactured by De Dion et Trepardoux.  Georges Bouton was involved with the Company from about 1894, and the first 1/2hp De Dion Bouton tricycles with high speed internal combustion engines appeared in December 1895, cars followed in 1899.  The best source of photographs would be the book: de l' Automobile... DE DION-BOUTON ...a l' Aeronautique by Pierre Boyer, published in 1995 by Retroviseur, Paris.  It is an expensive book, I think my copy cost £80.


Maybe when someone said the car was not gasoline it was actually a steamer, but someone else could only think of electric and drew a false conclusion.
Certainly the date, 1892, is the time of de Dion et Trépardoux rather than de Dion Bouton and some three years before the internal combustion tricycles appeared.

Might have looked like:

[HEMI 426]

Thank you very much! This is very interesting information and it brings new light to this story!
I was never in to "antique" vehicles and my interest in classic cars starts from late 1930's up to modern cars, so I never questioned that electric car story. However, when this car came in Novi Sad, it started a interest in that technical marvel, so prominent families all soon bought cars. Maybe, one of those vehicles was electric and trough years story changed...


I can't see the pic you posted, can you, please, post it again or on some other pic hosting site. Thank you!

[DeAutogids]

Thank you very much! This is very interesting information and it brings new light to this story!
I was never in to "antique" vehicles and my interest in classic cars starts from late 1930's up to modern cars, so I never questioned that electric car story. However, when this car came in Novi Sad, it started a interest in that technical marvel, so prominent families all soon bought cars. Maybe, one of those vehicles was electric and trough years story changed...


I can't see the pic you posted, can you, please, post it again or on some other pic hosting site. Thank you!

Try:
http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1I7ADFA_en&biw=1419&bih=687&tbs=isch:1&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&gs_rfai=&q=Dion%20et%20Tr%C3%A9pardoux

[pnegyesi]

I don't think this story is genuine. 1892 is way, way, way too early.

Back then Serbia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. It is a known fact that in 1894 there were four motorcars in the Monarchy - none of them in Hungary and to my knowledge not one in Serbia.
Theodor Liebig used two Benz cars in the Czech part of the Monarchy, I know a Benz in Austria but I can't recall the fourth one.

And I just remembered something: there was not a World Fair in 1892. There was one in 1889 and another in 1900.

After three years of research, I can say that the first internal-combustion engined car probably arrived to Hungary between July and September, 1896. So a car in Serbia in 1892 looks a bit surprising to me.


And one more thing. If anyone from Serbia would like to have confirmation one way or the other, you should go to the National Archive in Austria. There's a bunch of materials on a Benz which someone wanted to import to Trieste in 1895. The Austrian tax authorities dismantled the car, and its engine was taxed as scrap iron, while the shell was taxed as a carriage. Naturally he appealed against the decision, saying a new category, "motorcar" is needed. The finance ministry asked all member states of the Monarchy about their experiences in applying custom's duties on automobiles. I recall that there was a letter from either Bosnia or Serbia, but I was not interested in it, I focused on the reply of the Hungarian ministry of finance

[HEMI 426]

Great informations, thank you very much!

In a few days, I will get some documents form local archives ( if they are available ) about owner of this car. The story about first car in Novi Sad ( Újvidék in Hungarian ) surely, was modified and bent trough the years and I'm not surprised to find out that some parts of it wasn't true. My hopes are that I will find some more about this topic.



However, I would like to know more about cars in Serbia when it was part of Austro Hungarian Empire, so, pnegyesi, could you tell me something more? Thanx!

[pnegyesi]

Well, I've been to Subotica this spring and found some info on Ivan Saric (János Szárits) who built at least one car and a motorcycle in the early 20th century. He was also a pioneer aviator.
The local archive also publishes a magazine and one of the issues featured an article on local automobile owners in the 1920s. I can find a copy of that article.

And as I said I can direct you to the Kriegsarchiv in Vienna, Austria if you would like to do further research

BTW do you live in Beograd? And do you go the local archive?

[HEMI 426]

I live in Novi Sad ( Újvidék ), Vojvodina, second largest Serbian city, some 80km north of Belgrade.

During Austro Hungarian Empire and until WWII, Subotica was biggest city in Vojvodina and it had a quite a motoring scene in those days. It would be great if you could scan that article, thank you!