Les spécialités Mafac — L’Officiel du cycle, 1 October 1955, the Critérium and Racer Brakes and the Emergency Tool Kit

From L’Officiel du cycle, du motocycle et du camping, 1 October 1955, N° 20, the paper’s special number before the Salon du Cycle at the Porte de Versailles, page 203: les specialites Mafac: Clermont-Ferrand brake maker, Criterium and Racer brakes (Tour de France, L. Bobet), Jacky children’s brake, steel model, and a portable repair tool roll for cyclists. The title, headings, captions and lists are transcribed as printed; the text is summarized in Ebykr’s words, and the page images carry it in full.

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Les spécialités MAFAC

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Mafac is described as the well-known Clermont-Ferrand firm that took on the problem of braking first for cycles and then for cyclomoteurs, and that has won in this specialty a place of choice and a unique, widely deserved reputation. The author says this comes from its constant concern for irreproachable quality, with the essential aim of fully satisfying a clientele whose wishes and needs it knew perfectly. It aims to satisfy users with brakes that are safe, powerful and supple, that need only minimal effort and give total safety. It aims also to satisfy constructors, dealers and mechanics by supplying articles of impeccable presentation, designed to current standards and therefore easy to mount, easy to adjust because of the precision of the machining, and thus saving labor, with the sentence continuing in the next image after the words “d’une”.]

[Text only, a block of editorial copy cut from the top of a magazine column. The heading “Les spécialités MAFAC” is in bold roman type aligned to the right. The body is set in italic, with the firm name Mafac in small capitals at the start of the first paragraph. The last line is cut at the foot of the crop and its sentence continues in the next image. There is no drawing, photograph, signature, street address or telephone number, and no text from the reverse of the leaf shows through.]

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[Ebykr summary, continuing the sentence from the previous image; the article’s text is not reproduced. Rigorously followed quality can only bring the firm the compliments and gratitude of its clientele. The production and sales figures of Mafac, in constant progression since the founding of the house, testify that these aims have been perfectly met. The first letter of the word “compliments” is missing at the left edge of the crop.]

MAFAC

[illisible]PARATION
[illisible]STANTANÉE
[illisible]AMBRES À AIR

[Ebykr summary, after the drawing. Whether with its Critérium type, now universally known and used, or with its “Racer” Course type, which in sport has won important events including the Tour de France with L. Bobet, or again with the Jacky, a children’s brake described as very gentle yet very effective, or with the steel model for cyclomoteurs, described as extra powerful and a version extrapolated from the Critérium, each type answers its particular purpose perfectly. Mafac has also directed part of its activity toward a different field, portable repair tools for the exclusive use of cyclists, motorcyclists and even motorists. The result is a very large variety of small tool rolls, each meeting the particular requirements of a given type of vehicle: bicycles, cyclomoteurs, scooters, motorcycles and cars.]

[Ebykr summary, last paragraph. All these select products enjoy growing favor in France and in many foreign countries. Although the Établissements Mafac exceptionally have no stand of their own at the Salon this year, they will be found on most of the constructors’ stands, on all quality machines.]

[Text with one framed line drawing, a column cut from a magazine page. The paragraphs are set in italic with a few phrases in bold roman and the firm name Mafac in small capitals. In the middle, a thin black rectangular frame holds a line drawing with light stippling and hatching, showing a small leather tool roll at the left with a printed paper packet half out of it and a strap hanging below, then six flat tools laid in a fan beside it, three tire levers and three box wrenches with hexagonal openings, and at the right a cantilever-style brake set on a bicycle fork with two brake arms, a cable and two brake blocks. The name MAFAC is lettered on the roll, on the levers, on the wrenches and on the brake parts, and the packet carries the partly cut words “PARATION INSTANTANÉE” and “CHAMBRES À AIR”. A small stylized signature in the form of a monogram stands at the lower left of the drawing, and a second small signature that appears to read “Rebour” stands at the lower right. No street address or telephone number is given, and no text from the reverse of the leaf shows through.]