Le Salon de Metz — L’Officiel du cycle, 21 April 1951, the Cycle and Motorcycle Section

From L’Officiel du cycle, 21 April 1951, page 7: the report on the cycle and motorcycle section of the Salon at Metz, with a roll call of the makers and dealers on show. 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. It belongs to the trade columns that the weekly addressed to the French cycle dealers, the vélocistes.

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[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The report opens by saying that from 31 March to 15 April the second “Salon du Tourisme, de la Gastronomie et des Sports” has just been held at Metz. The city already has its Foire each autumn, but the organizers took a happy initiative in creating an early-season exhibition on the triple theme of its title. The writer visited the Salon and confines himself to its Section “Cycle et Motocycle”, which he says was a masterpiece, to the admiration and even the surprise of the writer (a word he says should not shock his Moselle friends). Its organizers were M. Camille Hocquard, Commissaire Général of the Salon and Vice-President of the “Chambre Syndicale des Vélocistes et Motocistes de la Moselle”, and the President of that body, M. Léon Sibour, assisted by M. Paul Sellier, Commissaire Général. A whole hall, hall no. 2, was given to the dealers, and the writer says he will describe each stand as visually as he can, though he finds it hard to convey the activity of M. Hocquard, who watched over the whole and the smallest detail and was rewarded by the impeccable arrangement of the section and the cordial atmosphere. He chooses alphabetical order as the most impartial for the walk through the stands.]

Vue partielle de la Section (Photo Hannemann)

[Ebykr summary, the stand-by-stand tour. Maison Aulner-Thiery, directed by M. Camille Hocquard himself, showed the cycles Excell, Jupiter, Furor, A.P., L.G. and Alérion of Nancy and is agent for the Paris cycles La Perle, with an impressive pyramid of machines of all types on an immense stand at the back of the great hall. Firme Alois Bloch-Laurent (Palais de la Moto et du Cycle) represented Peugeot in bicycles, cyclomotors, vélomoteurs and light motorcycles, with the Peugeot cyclomotor, increasingly common and noted for its clean lines, singled out. M. Pascal Carloni, a likable figure, is the Moselle specialist in stove enameling, with nearly all the dealers of the region (Meurthe-et-Moselle included) among his clients, and showed specimens of all his work. Établissements Durif of Paris, represented by M. Ch. Martin, showed the Olympia Baby cyclomotor with a 45 cm3 engine fully under casings and with gear change. Établissements Lorraine showed cycles and accessories, and Établissements Muller the marques Automoto, Ruche and Garin (a cyclomotor already studied in the paper). Mme Messein, a courageous woman head of business whose husband died tragically in the war, lined up the full series of the finest Terrot products, from the bicycle to the 500 cm3 grand sport motorcycle with sidecar (called one of the finest French achievements of the moment), and also the 4 CV, 350 cm3, four-stroke with telescopic fork.]

[Ebykr summary, continued. La Société des Cycles Messina showed its own cyclomotor with a Poulain 49 cm3 engine, a spacious 2 1/2 liter tank for a long range and a 3-speed derailleur, and is reputed for utility, touring, randonneur and racing cycles. La Maison Ch. Meyer (“Au Sport Lorrain”) showed the Alphonse Thomann cycles of the “Société Centrale de Constructions Mécaniques” of Vichy and the Gillet-Herstal productions, from the Vélomoteur to the 500 cm3. Les Établissements Michel represented the Mobylette, and Les Établissements Pennerath the range of motorcycle spare parts. The stand of Cycles Serrus of Épinal stood out for its machines and its impressive record and for two ancestors installed there: one of the first pedal bicycles of Michaux (1860) and a gigantic “grand bi” of 1870. M. Sibour, President of the Moselle dealers, showed his cycles and vélomoteurs, the motorcycles Ravat, Nancia-Lorraine, Monet-Goyon and D.S. Malterre, and the auxiliary motors Vap and Poulain. M. Jean Simon was agent for Alcyon cycles and showed his own marque Askar. La Maison N. Vohner showed the Puch vélomoteurs and motorcycles (125 touring and sport, 250 touring) with telescopic fork, hydraulic dampers and selectors. Cycles Nicolas Wirtz showed the Lorraine marque and the complete utility, touring and randonneur series of Aiglon, the great marque of Mandeure. M. François Zenner featured the two marques he specializes in: Picard-Fayolle for cycles and cyclomotors (the latter examined recently in the paper) and Epsom, mainly for vélomoteurs fitted with the Sachs 100 cm3, and the writer adds that M. Zenner won the Coupe du Président de la République, 98 cm3 engine category, in the 1938 Tour de France.]

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[Ebykr summary, after a three-star break. The Cycle and Motorcycle section had stands that rivaled one another in taste and order, and the hall was bright and impressive in perspective, though the photograph shows only part of it, since it continued in depth, in front of the central stand seen at the right of the photograph, for half again the length shown. The writer notes the absence of scooters from this faithful list, since the formula, though excellent, has not yet spread in Lorraine. Among the other sections of the show he names Hunting and Utility Vehicles, and says Sport and Camping articles were in hall no. 2 beside the cycles and motorcycles, through the stands Aulner-Thiéry and Kempf, besides the outdoor presentations. He congratulates Commissaire Général Hocquard, whose promotion in November to Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and recent decoration for Mérite Social crown his devotion and work, and M. Paul Sellier, Secrétaire Général, who assisted him competently, together with M. Léon Sibour and committee colleagues MM. Zenner, Simon and Wirtz. Their section showed that their corporation can carry out large-scale group presentations, and the Salon is said to rank, regionally, among the finest the writer has seen.]

VÉLOCISTES & MOTOCISTES
Bientôt une étude complète sur
LES VOLANTS MAGNÉTIQUES
dans le ” MOTO-CYCLOCATALOGUE ” 1951
Hâtez-vous de souscrire avant parution au Prix de Faveur
de 600 fr. au lieu de 800 fr.

S.O.S.P., 61, Av. de la Gde-Armée, Paris – C.C.P. Paris 7336-22

[A full page of text with one halftone photograph and one ruled notice. The report is set in roman type in a wide left column and a second column to its right, with bold marque and firm names and italic marque names inside the running text; a three-star ornament marks the break near the end. The photograph, under the italic caption “Vue partielle de la Section (Photo Hannemann)”, shows the interior of an exhibition hall in perspective, with rows of bicycles and wheels on stands, overhead signs reading “ZENNER” and “CYCLES MESSINA” and a glazed roof with hanging pennants. At the foot of the right column a ruled rectangular notice is set in heavy sans-serif capitals and italics: it announces a forthcoming study of magnetos in the 1951 catalog and gives an advance-subscription price of 600 francs instead of 800 francs, with the address of S.O.S.P. in Paris. The only credit is the photographer Hannemann; no artist signature appears. The crop begins at the first line of running text, so the piece’s own headline is not in it.]