French Motorcycles

Today in Motorcycle History

Atlas Babycar Microcars

A Brief History of the Marque

Manufactured by Societe Industrielle de Livry (LIV).

The Atlas Babycar was built in the years 1949 to 1952.

Introduced at the Paris Show of 1949 as the Coccinelle (Ladybird), it was marketed as Atlas Babycar. The Babycar was powered by a 170cc AMC engine with a four speed gearbox, and drive was to the one rear wheel only via a secondary gearbox with reverse gear. The bodywork was by Duriez.

Very few have survived.

The same firm also built the Le Piaf and another small car, the Kover. Designed by the French engineer Alex Kover and introduced at the 1951 Paris Salon, the 235kg Kover was a four-wheeler powered by an AMC 125. Only a handful were produced in France. It was also built in Spain as the Kover-Capilla, along with a motorcycle-based cargo tricycle.

Sources: microcarmuseum.com, Autopasion18.com , et al.

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