PAST IMPERFECT:A revolutionary three-wheeled car failed to get production approval in post-war France
IN 1946, the French car manufacturer Émile Mathis, keen to return to production after a war that had devastated its factories, presented to the world at the Paris Salon in 1946 his idea of an economy car.
The new 333 was named for its three wheels, three seats and three litres per 100 kilometres and was the work of the talented designer Jean Andreau who was perhaps best known for his involvement in Capt George Eyston’s famous record-breaking car Thunderbolt.
His design for the Mathis 333 was pretty revolutionary although it did share certain features with the contemporary Grégoire.
Interestingly, the designs for the Mathis 333 were prepared in total secrecy while Paris was under the occupation of the German forces.
Codenamed VEL 333 which stood for Light Economical Car, the 333 featured a very futuristic aluminum body and weighed a very impressive 381kg. However, perhaps its most curious feature was the overhead valve (ohv) flat-twin engine which had individual radiators built into the cylinder heads. Front-wheel drive with coil and wishbone independent front suspension and a four-speed synchromesh gearbox together with hydraulic front brakes gave it an advanced specification for the time. The 707cc engine produced a just about adequate 15bhp and was said to achieve 100mpg at a constant 40mph.
There is some doubt whether the Mathis 333 ever achieved these claimed figures but by 1947 the car was certainly achieving 63mph and 80mpg, which was very impressive for the period.
Post-liberation France was a very unsettled environment in which to produce a car and the French government was apparently less than enthusiastic about granting the necessary approval for production of the Mathis to go ahead.
This was most curious given that, almost alone of French car manufacturers, Émile Mathis had co-operated with the Allies even to the extent of supplying them with plans for his factories to enable the most effective bombing of their facilities to deny their use to the occupying German forces. As a result the Mathis factories at Poissy received more than their fair share of attention from the RAF and USAF and did not recover until 1948. The other Mathis factory at Strasbourg had been sabotaged by Mathis before he fled to New York in 1940. There he established his Matam marine engine business which prospered to the extent that when the war ended, he seriously considered staying there and not returning to France.
However, the draw of his homeland was too strong for Mathis and he returned to France and set about re-establishing manufacture at Strasbourg. The refusal of the French government to allow him begin production of his futuristic 333 design forced Mathis into the production of engines for light aircraft and components for Renault in an effort to keep his company going. The Mathis company managed to survive until 1950 while the plant was eventually bought by Citröen in 1954. Émile Mathis died in 1956. His revolutionary 333 design had represented a big leap forward for the French motor industry which was sadly not realised and was instead to become just another curious footnote in automobile history.