The story
History
Robert Hannoyer owned a large and successful car-repair business in Paris, which RM places in Levallois-Perret.source 1source 2 After the war he set out to build a vehicle for two people in cities like Paris, and in 1947 he built a prototype that the Weiner museum calls “a rather radical solution to the problem of parking”.source 1 RM sets the scene: France was living with shortages and restrictions, small cars of the cyclecar class were taken seriously for their tax advantages, and parking in the street was restricted.source 2 He called the car the Reyonnah, which is Hannoyer spelt backwards.source 3source 2source 4source 5
The idea was in the front wheels. The narrow body, built for two in tandem, was reinforced with tubes that formed outriggers at the front and rear to carry the suspension, and the front wheels hung on parallelogram arms.source 1 To park, you lifted the nose, which was easy because the car was so light, and the wheels came together beneath it of their own accord, leaving the car 29 in (74 cm) across.source 2 The Weiner museum gives the folded width as 75 cm, against 1.45 m (4 ft 9 in) on the road.source 1 The English Wikipedia describes the parked car’s curiously raised nose: the wheels did not fold away under the cabin but were lowered and drawn together under the front.source 4source 1source 2 Folded, the car could be wheeled like a motorcycle through a garden gate or a courtyard door.source 1source 2source 4
It looks like a three-wheeler, but there are four wheels: a wide pair at the front and a very narrow pair at the back.source 4source 5 The engine sat at the rear and drove the rear wheels, through a chain by the English Wikipedia’s account and to the right-hand wheel only by the German.source 4source 5 It was a 175 cc AMC four-stroke single of 8.5 hp; Ydral engines are also mentioned.source 1source 2source 4
An exceptionally original conception that owed nothing to existing designs (the Messerschmitt and Inter three-wheeler tandems were both three years in the future).
The tandems it anticipated were the Messerschmitt KR175 and the Inter 175 A Berline, which also had folding front wheels.source 2source 5
Two bodies, five years
The car shown at the Paris Salon in October 1950 was an open “torpedo”, with a body by Jean Demarne. Its rear wheels were hidden by skirts and its front ones by helmet-shaped wings; the waistline dipped down and back from a folding chromed windscreen, then rose to a curved tail; the front seat was an exposed tube frame of the aircraft type; and the wheels were radially slotted. There was no top at the Salon, though the same car was later photographed with a canopy that tilted sideways and carried a canvas top.source 2source 1
The production version of the spring of 1951 was squarer and more practical. The sides ran straight, the rear wings were cut away and the front ones became simple motorcycle-type guards, the windscreen was fixed and painted to match, and narrow running boards carried aluminium foot pads on the right, for a leg-up over the side. The canopy was hinged on the left like an aircraft’s, in canvas or as a slightly taller steel hardtop with side windows and a sunroof; clear bubble tops were also seen. The wheels came from the Simca Cinq. Inside, the large steering wheel reached under the dashboard into the hinged front luggage compartment, and the engine, at first started by hand with a long bar, later had an electric starter.source 2source 3
Getting in was the price of the shape. The Weiner museum, which showed the car on its tour, found the wheel and controls “stuffed into a cramped knuckle-bruising space under the front cowl”.source 3
This fascinating car sacrifices ergonomics for design, however. It is difficult to imagine a lady in a ’50’s tight skirt clambering over the tall sides into the tub.
There was a flaw in the trick as well. Nothing locked the front wheels in the folded position, so as soon as the car was pushed forward to roll it into its slot, they dropped back down, which rather defeated the purpose.source 3source 2 The English Wikipedia, citing Automobilia’s retrospective of the October 1952 Paris Salon, published in 2000, adds that the hood could be opened over the driver alone, a style that at least one commentator called “à la Milord”.source 4
Full order books, no capital
Hannoyer wanted the press to notice, and RM says he entered two events sponsored by the Automobile Club de France: the Paris–Chartres economy run of 1951, whose result has not been found, and a speed run at Montlhéry in 1952 in a special Torpedo-Sports, which reached 100 km/h (62 mph).source 2 The car appeared at the Paris Salon five times by RM’s count, at least three by the English Wikipedia’s.source 2source 4 It had the coverage, full order books and even an offer from a coachbuilding firm to produce it. What it never had was the capital to build it in numbers, and in 1954 Hannoyer closed his doors.source 2 What became of him afterwards has not been found.
