A lot more to learn about Pax, who can help?

The company of Martin et Lethimonnier, 32 rue Felicien-David, Paris, became Lethimonnier et Cie after the death of the eponymous Henry Paul Martin who crashed driving the No.35 M. et L. during the August 1907 Criterium de France; two passengers also died in the head-on collision. The Number 34 M. et L. had also crashed in that event killing its driver Lequiun.

Martin had helped Mr. Henri de Buren set up a Sultan car manufacturing operating in the ex-Otis Lift factory in Springfield, Massachusetts by 1906; it started with $200,000 capital. The first American sales office was at 121, West 89th Street New York City, then 249-251 West 64th St and then 1659 Broadway in 1909. Buren had first imported examples of 12-16-h.p., 24-32-h.p. and 35-50-h.p. French Sultan (Sultane?) cars in 1904 to test their suitability. The manufacturing operation was initially licensed by the Societé Anonyme des Moteurs Thermique, Paris, the company which controlled the M. et. L. patents. Sultan adverts in 1908 changed to “Licencee of Lethimonnier and Co”. A factory to make Sultan/Sultane cars under license was also set up in Italy in 1906.

The American model range included a 4-cylinder (3-inch bore x 4.75-inch, maybe 4.375-inch stroke) 12/14-h.p. town car, with a 98.5-inch wheelbase and based on the same chassis, a cab, of which 1400 were said to be in use in Europe by 1909. The Springfield plant was able to make 300 cabs per year, as well as a building the town car version and a 5-passenger touring car with a 24-32-h.p. 4-cylinder engine (4.125-inch bore x 5.125-inch stroke) in a 116.25-inch chassis. The operation in Springfield produced its cars using imported “motor, change gear and other chassis parts”, while the wheels, bodywork, etc. (including Truffault-Hartford shock absorbers) were locally sourced; it was right-hand drive. By 1907 they were making twenty-four 5-passener models per week and starting to make a licensed truck chassis.

The imported engine of the 1907-8, American Sultan 5-passenger Touring Car looks very much like Daniel’s, with four separate cylinders, where the smaller 12/14-h.p. town-car or cab’s was stated to be paired, like Kees’. Pictures of the former can be seen in a six-page technical description of the whole car in the Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal (Vol.XII. No.1.) of July 1st 1907. This can be openly accessed on the HathiTrust website here: #62 - Automobile trade journal. v.12 1907-1908 Jul-Jun. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library

A two-page report about the 1909-10, 12/15-h.p. Sultan Landaulet Town Car on a 97-inch chassis, with a scimitar badge and an engine like Kees’, can be seen in the Motor journal here: #383 - Motor. v.12-13 1909 Jul-Dec. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library

Lethmonnier 7-h.p. (twin), 12, 14, 20/22, 28/30, 30 and 40/45-h.p. (four-pot.) cars and a Pax 10-h.p. 4-cylinder appear in the list of French cars in the International Motor Cyclopaedia year book for 1908 but Sultan/Sultane only appears as a brand name under Martin et Lethimonnier, Paris and Sultan Motors, Springfield; American Sultan 14.4-h.p. cars and taxicabs were still widely exhibited and on sale in 1909-10. 

Second pics of Automobile Sultane

Hi Kees
I'm really interested in all of these comments about your car, because, I'm restoring a "Automobile Sultane" and I saw some similarities on the design of the radiator that is missing on my car.
I post two pics about my car.
I have some questions :
Why someone speaks about "Martin et Lethimonnier or Sultane", the engine is completely different as you can see on my car who this fitted with a Sultan motor. I found some press articles dated from 1899 that explains that the Moteur Sultan was design to fit Automobile Sultane
And ,
How can I get more pics an information of details to rebuild a radiator for my car
Many thanks to all of the guys of this topic
Daniel

Hi Kees, This is an important bit of history found and preserved and this seems to be the right place to get such support in the comments. The international nature of such a small maker is fascinating and the M. Stéphane is pretty funny. Is the guy in the top hat, the American?

Thank you for the info, that is new to me. I uploaded a partial photo of a 'real' Pax showing the logo, which is identical to the one on the poster, though with slightly smaller lettering. The registration plate is interesting as almost all I4 registrations were issued in June 1907, when according to my opinion Pax didn't exist yet. I would assume that the name change from Martin & Lethimonnier to Pax took place after the fatal accident of Lethimonnier during the Critérium de France in August 1907.

Hello Ariejan,
Thank you for your comments. Indeed, the radiator shell of the car is similar to the Lethimonnier-Martin cars, but there are three observations that helped me to conclude for Pax: The is a car plate on the car which mentions “Automobiles Pax 76, Bd Malesherbes Paris”; second: on the brake pedal the “PAX” logo is just visible. And third: The radiator badge is missing but you can see the circular traces of missing badge which corresponds to the shape on the commercial PAX poster. By the way: Hans Veenenbos pointed out that the chassis of the PAX automobiles are probably produced by Malicet et Blin. That could be true as I found the MAB logo on every bearing and many other parts of the front- and rear axles as well on parts within the gearbox and drive shaft.
I guess that engines were produced for both Sultan cars in the USA as for Pax as for Sultane in France.

This car must originate from the 'hidden' Mahy collection. How do you know the car is a Pax and not a Martin & Lethimonnier? The engine carries the Sultan name and in appearance (i.e. radiator shape) the makes were identical. To complicate things, the trade name Sultane was also used in Europe, having a similar radiator shape for some time. Besides I see in addition to Sultan the letters US. Does this mean that the engine was built for the US market? Checking the American Sultan, I notice that the engine is quite similar still to the engine in the 1910 town car (MoToR 1909-12 p.62 ff)
I wouldn't be surprised if this car is a sole survivor. I don't know of any other Martin & Lethimonnier or Pax survivors. There are a few Sultan(e) survivors, but these have different looks.

OMG…..would I ever love to have found this one!!