The story
History
Jean Bellier’s business at Les Sables-d’Olonne, on the Vendée coast, was founded in 1946 to make car batteries.source 1source 2 Its first vehicles, in 1968, were for children. The old site describes a kart and a small car, both driven by a Solex engine; the Weiner museum describes a small Solex-powered three-wheeler for teaching children road safety.source 1source 2 In 1972 it launched the Buggy Formule 85 at the toy fair, the Salon du Jouet. The buggy was used on Prévention routière tracks to teach children road safety, and by 1976 it had been exported to 48 countries.source 2source 1
The first Véloto, in 1974, was a pedal car for adults with no body and no engine.source 1 The English Wikipedia says Bellier built such quadricycles for the bicycle-hire shops of the beach resorts, and then thought of adding a Solex engine and the look of a car.source 3 The collector behind the original microcarfan.com saw in it the Mochet Vélocar reborn: a pedal quadricycle with a helper engine, which is what the maker called it.source 1
Pedal to start
When the engine arrived is disputed. The old site says two Solex versions joined the range at the 1975 Paris Salon, one bare and one with front and rear covers and a fringed sun canopy; the Weiner museum and the English Wikipedia place the launch at the Salon of October 1976.source 1source 2source 3 Either way the car weighed 80 kg (176 lb), the pedals helped the engine, and on the flat it did 25 to 30 km/h (16 to 19 mph) with one or two aboard.source 1source 3 A hard roof came first, then soft doors that folded from back to front, round aluminium headlamps and whitewall tyres, and during the year a 50 cc Motobécane version, still started by pedalling.source 1 It was sold in sky blue, orange, mustard, white or prairie green, always with a black top like a tent.source 2 It cost 5,950 F at the launch and 6,850 F by June 1977.source 3
What set it apart was the second seat. For years it was the only licence-free car that could legally take two adults.source 1source 2
It was essentially aimed at retirees who had given up driving.
Bel-Motors and the black C10
In February 1977 Jean Bellier joined SOTRAM, a metalworking firm, to form Bel-Motors International, which built and sold the Véloto and nothing else; the English Wikipedia dates Bel Motors to 1976.source 1source 3 The top could now be folded down, the doors rolled up from the bottom, and the engine disappeared inside the rear bodywork. By 1978 there were two versions: the Type A, started by pedal and keeping two independent sets of pedals, at 100 kg (220 lb) and 7,600 F; and the Type BL, with an electric starter, one emergency set of pedals, chrome bumpers, a luggage rack, a mileometer and foot pedals for throttle and brake, at 120 kg (265 lb), 40 km/h (25 mph) and 9,300 F.source 1source 3
The C10 that followed is known by its 10-inch wheels, the Motobécane Mobyx’s size. It gained front brakes, and its pedals gave way to an emergency lever pumped back and forth to move the car, compulsory then on every enclosed moped. A proper fuel tank replaced the Renault jerrycan of the earlier cars. It came in black with a beige hood; the old-site author knew of no other licence-free car ever offered in black.source 1 The C10S “Super Deluxe” of 1979 had a fully enclosed glass-fibre body, and the Weiner museum says 50 were made.source 4 The Super Véloto, shown in July 1979 and built in very small numbers, became the C12S for 1980, with plastic bumpers, rectangular lamps, a reverse gear and 45 km/h (28 mph).source 1 The English Wikipedia names the types differently, calling the first motorised model the Super Véloto (1976–1978) and dating the C‑10 S to 1979; this page follows the old site’s dated sequence.source 3
Two roads after 1980
In 1980 Jean Bellier and Bel-Motors went separate ways. Bel-Motors built one more car, the Minoto, and filed for bankruptcy in February 1981.source 1source 5 Bellier started again under his own name with the Formule 85, reviving the children’s buggy’s name: a Motobécane 50 cc, 45 km/h and, a luxury in 1980, wind-down windows. A 125 cc Sachs at the back came later, then front-wheel drive with a Sachs 50 cc or a 325 cc Lombardini diesel, and in 1987 the XLD.source 1
Bellier Automobiles, at Talmont-Saint-Hilaire under Jean-Jacques Bellier, carried on.source 6 In 2004 the failure of a polyester subcontractor stopped production for two months and pushed the firm into receivership, and on 1 December 2004 it joined the Fast group of La Roche-sur-Yon, a coach builder and operator.source 7 What it has done since 2005 is not recorded here.
