Paul Vallée was a wealthy industrialist with a complex and interesting personality. He could anticipate novel ideas before others, yet he did not carry them through in practical terms. He ran a successful transport business, married into wealth, and opened a mechanical shop called S.I.C.R.A.F. (Société Industrielle de Constructions et de Réparation des Automobiles Francaises). He founded and ran a successful Grand Prix team, the Écurie France, which fielded the magnificent Talbot-Lago T26 racing cars driven by legendary drivers like Louis Chiron. However, he regarded the Grand Prix team not as an end in itself, but as a way of promoting his other businesses, scooters included.
Vallée had anticipated the widespread need for a scooter during the post-war recovery period very early on, but it was overtaken by Vespa and Lambretta, who took the idea a great deal further. The Paul Vallée scooter won enthusiastic praise for its superb finish and its highly original large-diameter telescopic front fork. It was premature praise though, as the scooter proved somewhat unstable on the road. The problem was eliminated by replacing the fork with a two-wheeled load platform, and the iconic Paul Vallée Triporteur was built in the large quantity of about 5,000 examples; it was seemingly seen scuttling about in every village in France.
Vallée’s disbanded racing team’s heritage resurfaced at the Paris Salon of 1952, where he displayed a small, very streamlined monoposto “racer” with a Brooklands-style windscreen. The chassis and motor were none other than the Triporteur 175, clothed in a sensational steel body by Paul Née. Performance approaching 100 km/h was promised. Also on the stand were studies for a two-seater version with a bench seat and full-width windscreen, which would serve to lay the groundwork for the next project.
This appeared at the Paris Salon of 1955 in the form of the Paul Vallée Chantecler, a three-wheeler with a streamlined teardrop fiberglass body tapering to a pointed tail. The bench seat was wide and comfortable, the low sides and D-shaped steering wheel offering easy entrance. The windshield was of very solid construction with sturdy posts, which supported a convertible top and side screens. Conventional folding top bows were eschewed in favour of a highly original T-shaped single fiberglass bow, which retracted into the body. Flat spring-steel bumpers in the front and rear were a useful addition to what was intended as an urban runabout.
Text and images found at RMauctions
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