Sinpar

Sinpar was a French automobile company which was originally founded in 1907 and then restarted in 1946 by Léon Demeester.[1] The company before World War I built voiturettes, while the post-war iteration specialized in off-road vehicles.

Four-wheel drive Renault 4 Sinpar from the 1980 Paris-Dakar Rally[2]
Sinpar
Industryautomobiles
Founded1946
FounderLéon Demeester
Defunct1980
Fatetaken over by Renault 1980
HeadquartersCourbevoie, France
ProductsOff-road and sports cars

Pre-war

The Sinpar was originally French automobile manufactured from 1907 until 1914. The company built de Dion-Bouton-engined voiturettes in Courbevoie; cars used either 4½ CV or 8 CV power units. An 8 CV four produced from 1912 until 1914 was identical with the 8 hp Demeester.[3]

The name "Sinpar" was derived from the Latin "sine par", meaning "without equal".[4]

Interwar

Between the wars, the Sinpar shops engage in extending and reinforcing truck chassis, mostly Fords and Citroëns. They also sold other kits and parts such as upgraded axles, reduction and overdrive gear kits.[4]

After 1946

After operations ceased during World War II, Léon Demeester, who had established the business back in 1907, resurrected it once again in 1946 along with his son Pierre. Sinpar now engaged in winch manufacture and heavy-duty transmission sub-assemblies for four- and six- wheel drive trucks. In the fifties, Sinpar expanded into manufacturing oil field trucks. In the 1960s, Sinpar also sold around 150 four-wheel drive trucks under its own brand. Called the Sinpar Castor, they used the cabin and many other parts from the Renault Estafette.[4] These specialist items were provided to a range of industrial companies in France until 1975 when Saviem took over the company's activities.

In Autumn 1962 "Sinpar" launched an all-terrain light vehicle based on the Renault 4.

Sinpar is described in every annual edition of Automobilia. Toutes les voitures Françaises. from 1963 to 1980.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

During the later 1960s the business increasingly focused on four-wheel drive conversions for various Renault models, notably the Renault Goélette (the vans mostly being destined for service with the French army) along with the Renault 4, Renault Rodéo, Renault 6 and the Renault 12. Although most of the cars were sold in France, useful volumes were also achieved in the more mountainous regions of Switzerland where there was significant customer demand for reasonably priced four-wheel drive cars which auto-makers were disinclined to address until the European arrival of the Subaru. Sinpar also manufactured the beach car version of the Renault 4, the "Plein Air."

Another source wrote Sinpar Appareils S.A. in Colombes with the make Sinpar for cars from 1964 to approx 1974.[23] In the Eidgenoessische Typenpruefungskommission from Switzerland it was Appareils Sinpar from Colombes in 1973.[24]

In 1968 Sinpar designed the Torpedo S, a jeep-style car with body by Brissonneau and Lotz which did not enter production.[25]

Together with the company's German agent, Rau GmbH of Stuttgart, Sinpar also helped develop a four-wheel-drive version of the Ford Transit in 1982.[26] Reflecting the companies involved, it was called the SIRA-Ford Transit.

Subsequent to the 1976 death of Pierre Demeester, the company's future was uncertain. In 1980, Renault V.I. took over the company which continued to produce the modified all-terrain Renault-based vehicles at Chassieu. The new, Renault-owned business was still called "Sinpar", but now "Sinpar" was an acronym which stood for "Société Industrielle de Production et d'Adaptations Rhodanienne".[4]

In 1998 the company was fully subsumed into Renault V.I. and the Sinpar name was retired.[27]

References
  1. https://www.la4ldesylvie.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=354
  2. "Dakar Retrospective 1979-2009" (PDF). Dakar.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  3. Wise, David Burgess; Cole, Lance (2000), The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles (2004 ed.), London: Quantum Books Ltd., p. 480, ISBN 978-0862882587
  4. "Sinpar: l'as de la transformation" [Sinpar: the ace of transformation], Fondation de l’Automobile Marius Berliet (in French), archived from the original on 2022-12-14
  5. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 13. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1963. Salon 1962. Histoire & Collections, Paris 1999.
  6. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 23. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1964. Salon 1963. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2002.
  7. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 25. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1965. Salon 1964. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2003.
  8. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 27. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1966. Salon 1965. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2003.
  9. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 28. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1967. Salon 1966. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2003.
  10. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 29. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1968. Salon 1967. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2004.
  11. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 30. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1969. Salon 1968. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2004.
  12. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 31. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1970. Salon 1969. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1920. Salon 1919. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2004.
  13. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 86. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1971. Salon 1970. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1921. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2007.
  14. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 76. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1972. Salon 1971. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1922. Salon 1921. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2005.
  15. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 92. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1973. Salon 1972. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1923. Salon 1922. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2008.
  16. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 82. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1974. Salon 1973. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1924. Salon 1923. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2006.
  17. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 72. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1975. Salon 1974. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1925. Salon 1924. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2005.
  18. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 88. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1976. Salon 1975. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1926. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2007.
  19. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 78. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1977. Salon 1976. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1927. Salon 1926. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2006.
  20. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 94. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1978. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1928. Salon 1927. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2009.
  21. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 84. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1979. Salon 1978. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1929. Salon 1928. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2006.
  22. René Bellu: Automobilia. N° 74. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1980. Toutes les voitures Françaises 1930. Salon 1929. Histoire & Collections, Paris 2005.
  23. Marián Šuman-Hreblay: Automobile Manufacturers Worldwide Registry. McFarland & Company, London 2000, ISBN 0-7864-0972-X, p. 263.
  24. Eidgenoessische Typenpruefungskommission fuer Motorfahrzeuge
  25. George Nick Georgano: The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 3: P–Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1, p. 1464.
  26. Rohrbach, Hans U., ed. (1982), Internationaler Nutzfahrzeug-Katalog (Inufa) 1982 [International Commercial Vehicle Catalog] (in German), vol. 24, Solothurn, Switzerland: Vogt-Schild AG, pp. 262–265
  27. "La société Sinpar". L'Univers de la 4L (in French).


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