We’re going small for this one but over on the auction site we have something I’ve never heard of before…which means I want to share it with you! Meet the Elvish Fontan, which utilizes the 48cc engine out of Ducati’s first ever motorcycle – the Cucciolo (“little puppy” in Italian).
Here’s the story from the seller:
“The history behind this very rare model is quite something – Victor Fontan (born Pau, France, 18 June 1892, died Saint-Vincent 2 January 1982) was a French cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France but dropped out when his bike was broken beyond repair in a bad crash. In with a real chance of winning the event and having worn the leader’s Yellow Jersey, Victor spent the night knocking at doors in nearby homes to ask for another bicycle to ride. Sadly, he couldn’t locate one and his plight led to a permanent change of Tour De France rules to prevent it happening again by allowing spares and spare bicycles to be provided to riders in the event of a crash or equipment failure. He was also one of three riders who all wore the yellow jersey of leadership on the same day, the only time it has ever happened in the history of the event.
The Elvish bicycle company started out in England, with the company closing in WW1 and resuming in France after the war under different ownership. They joined champion cyclist Victor Fontan to create the team ‘Elvish Fontan’ and they took part as an official team in the Tour de France in 1928 and 1929 where Victor’s retirement led to the rule change. Later the team became Elvish-Fontan-Wolber, with racing successes in 1948, 1949, and 1950.
Victor continued his association with the Elvish company from the late ‘20s well into the 1950s. Elvish branched out into high end autocycles & cyclemotors after WWII in response to the demand for convenient two wheeled transport, and to celebrate the career of the great cyclist, they produced a limited run of Elvish Fontan autocycles in 1953 running a two speed hand change Ducati Cucciolo engine and flamboyant art deco style designed components. This was in contrast to the (relatively) cheaper Elvish autocycles that ran a variety of small French engines, particularly those of Le Poulain. Elvish became renowned for building the best of the best in terms of quality, equipment design and styling.
With an enviable reputation for reliability, manufacturers in various countries bought in Italian Cucciolo engines to power their mopeds. As the engine was a top-of-the-range 4-stroke unit, it was reserved for upmarket machines, and many French cycle shops created special frames to house the Cucciolo engine. The Elvish Fontan Rocher Cucciolo was the most glamorous of all of them.
Rocher didn’t just buy in Ducati Cucciolo engines, they added their own touches like Rocher engine numbers, a series of Rocher marked flywheels, of which this sports the extremely rare Mark VI version, where only a handful are known to exist, plus, Rocher re-created some parts like the head in high quality aluminium instead of the high silicon content alloy of the original Cucciolo, meaning that in the event of a maintenance, welding is possible, where it isn’t on the Ducati Cucciolo head. Despite these trademarked touches, the engines are operationally the same and so spares can easily be had by seeking out the Ducati equivalent.
The Elvish Fontan is the perfect example of a ‘rich person’s moped’ and rightly deserves comparisons as ‘the Bentley of Autocycles’. Not only is the engine top of the range, but little expense has been spared in the design and manufacture of the machine. The handlebars in particular are a work of art.”
This example (VIN: 51666) has been a restoration project for the seller – surprisingly (at least to me) he has not ridden it. “At the point of restoration, the bike was running nicely. The engine was prepared for dry storage while the restoration was done and hasn’t been tinkered with so will need filling with oil again before running.”
Find this Elvish for sale in Sandbach, Cheshire, England with bidding up to $1,100 and the reserve not yet met here on Iconic Motorbike Auctions.
Disclosure: Bike-urious is a partner in Iconic Motorbike Auctions.