Atlas Babycar

At the Paris Salon of 1949 the Société Industrielle de Livry, S.I.L., showed a small two-seat roadster with rounded, bulbous wings and called it the Coccinelle, the ladybird. Early in its development the name became Babycar.source 1source 2 Its body was built in Paris by Duriez.source 1source 2

There was another Coccinelle at the same Salons. RM’s cataloguer noted a curious relationship with the Sofravel Coccinelle, shown in 1948 and 1949 by the Société Annonay Sofravel: the two cars looked strikingly alike, and Duriez had the stand next to Sofravel’s. Duriez, which converted war-surplus American lorries and designed four-speed gearboxes for the Citroën 2CV, was then contracted to build the Atlas for S.I.L.source 2 What passed between the three firms is not recorded.

Small, but engineered

Underneath, the Babycar was a well-engineered car. It had a steel-tube chassis with independent suspension on every wheel, A-arms and coil springs at the front, rack-and-pinion steering, cable brakes and two-piece cast aluminium wheels.source 1source 2 The engine drove only the left rear wheel, through a separate gearcase that also held the reverse, so the car needed no differential.source 1source 2 It was started by pulling a lever on the floor.source 1source 2

The engine settled on was an AMC four-stroke single of 175 cc and 8.5 hp, 170 cc by the Weiner museum’s card; 125, 150 and 250 cc units had been considered or offered along the way.source 1source 2 An ILO of 250 cc with an electric starter was considered with the buyers in mind, who were mostly women.source 1source 2 The German Wikipedia gives the prototype a 125 cc engine and says a 200 cc twin was offered later.source 3

Over its first year or so the windscreen, the grille casting, the seat cushions and the height of the headlamps all changed, and doors were added, which suited those buyers too.source 1source 2 The body really was steel, its compound curves formed by Duriez’s craftsmen.source 2 The old site was firm about it.

Three cars, three prices

S.I.L. then tried an idea that keen cyclecar advocates in the press had put forward before, as RM tells it: three cars on the one chassis, at three prices. The Atlas cost 245,000 francs; the doorless Kover 215,000 francs; and Le Piaf, the sparrow, 200,000 francs.source 2 Le Piaf, of 1951, was the barest of the three: flat alloy panels, sides completely open, a steeply raked screen and canvas hammock seats, much in the manner of the Voisin Biscooter.source 5source 2

It did not work. Sales, RM says, never materialised to any great extent, and S.I.L. was not heard from at the 1953 Salon.source 2 Production ended in 1952; the old site dates the cars 1949–⁠1951.source 1source 3source 4 The Atlas was sold in France only, and only ever made in very small numbers.source 1source 4source 2

The Kover was the middle step of the ladder: the Babycar’s chassis without doors or a folding screen, with its headlamps on the wings and plainer castings.source 5source 2 RM dates it to 1950; the Weiner museum says it was introduced at the 1951 Salon.source 2source 5 It cost 215,000 francs, 30,000 less than the Atlas.source 2

Its engine is disputed. The Weiner museum’s card for its 1951 Kover CK 1 lists an AMC of 125 cc and 5.5 hp, described as a two-stroke; the German Wikipedia gives the 175 cc AMC four-stroke of the Atlas.source 5source 3 The card adds four gears and reverse, cable brakes, a length of 2,450 mm (8 ft 0 in), a width of 1,150 mm (3 ft 9 in), 235 kg (518 lb) and 60 km/h (37 mph).source 5 It was made, the museum says, for only a short time and in very small numbers.source 5

The name has its own puzzle. One website says the Kover was designed by a French engineer, Alex Kover, and was also built in Spain as the Kover-Capilla.source 6 The German Wikipedia, citing the Beaulieu encyclopaedia, says there was no link with the Spanish Kover-Capilla.source 3 The Weiner museum had a 1951 Kover CK 1, and the German Wikipedia says Kovers can be seen in some microcar museums.source 5source 3

Two Atlas Babycars are known to survive.source 1 The Weiner museum’s 1951 car, identification no. FH297, was found in original condition in France and fully restored. Period French press was so scarce that the restorers studied old photographs with a jeweller’s loupe, and they found one-franc coins fitted in place of steel washers on the steering arms, a small sign of how short materials were.source 2 It sold for $60,375 when the collection was dispersed in 2013.source 2 Nothing is known of an owners’ club.