Panhard et Levassor were both young engineers which inherited the company they
worked for after the death of the owner Tod Perins in 1886. Levassor’s friend Sarazin
owned the Licence to build the German Daimler motors, but died in 1887. Levassor
then married his friend’s wife. She allowed him to use the Daimler license to supply
engines to other manufacturers such as Peugeot etc. Later they decided to produce
their own rear engined cars, which were launched in 1891. Soon after this Levassor
developed the new system of placing the engine in front and rear wheel drive, with
the transmission in between. This innovative solution was quickly adopted by many
other car manufacturers. One of the first to copy this was Maybach for the 1900
model Mercedes. Panhard et Levassor were becoming well known through winning
many long distance races such as the Paris to Rouen and the Paris to Bordeaux.
They were also one of the first to replace the tiller with a steering wheel. Following
the death of Levassor, the Panhard name was used. After the war in 1947 they
innovated with a 610cc two cylinder boxer motor and light weight construction with
streamlined bodies achieving low fuel consumption. However their streamlined
bodies were way ahead of their time and eventually they stopped production in 1967.
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