Description
Saving VAP 3 ca1949 48cc two stroke frame # 23783 engine # 30823
The brand name VAP is an acronym derived from Vérots-Andriot-Pierre, Pierre being the common first name of Pierre Vérots and Pierre Andriot. During the Second World War they develop a cycle motor that can be mounted on any bicycle. The design is patented in 1940 and 1942. A small series of VAP auxiliary motors is probably built during the war years.
Paris is liberated in August 1944 and already in January 1945 reports appear in the French press about the introduction of the VAP auxiliary engine. The naming is initially VAP and later changes to VAP 2, with the engine undergoing minor changes on an ongoing basis. The engine is hinged to a stub axle, which screws onto the bicycle’s rear axle, and drives the rear wheel through an aluminium sprocket with internal teeth mounted on the spokes. The sprocket is driven by a pinion, which can slide axially on the output shaft of the motor.
The VAP 3 is introduced around 1947. The VAP 3 differs from the VAP and VAP 2 in a number of ways. For example, the exhaust with a horizontal cylindrical muffler makes way for an exhaust with a fishtail. A lever mounted on the seat tube allows the engine to be lifted out of the gearing, so that the pinion gear separates from the sprocket in the rear wheel.
This early VAP3 motor is mounted on a Paris-made Saving bicycle from the 1930s and the whole is in running condition. The use of an older bicycle to be equipped with a cycle motor was very common in the post-war years of material scarcity.