The De Dion-Bouton tricycle is the De Dion–Bouton that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 0.5–8 H from Single-cylinder 138–955 . It was built from 1897 to 1905, when the motor car was still a public experiment.
How it came about
The De Dion-Bouton tricycle was the most successful motor vehicle in Europe from 1897 until 1901. With about 15,000 copies sold, the de-Dion-Bouton motor tricycle scored the first breakthrough for the distribution of motor vehicles. In particular the fast-running de Dion-Bouton engine set new standards for vehicular motors, and is regarded as the precursor of all motorcycle engines.
The hardware
Power comes from Single-cylinder 138–955 0.5–8 H is the published figure. It shifts through a Direct transmission, chain drive. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Benz & Cie. Benz type Idéal vis-à-vis, the Oldsmobile Oldsmobile, the Benz & Cie. Benz type Velociped vis-à-vis — show what else the money bought that year. Its De Dion–Bouton stablemates include the De Dion Bouton Type AM and the De Dion-Bouton 10 CV.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the De Dion-Bouton tricycle — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.