1914 Germain Torpedo

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 1, 2024

Photo – Bonhams

Germain was a Belgian automaker that existed for almost 20 years. Yet they disappeared by the start of WWI. Based in Monceau-sur-Sambre, the company was founded around 1897 and wrapped it all up by 1914.

Later cars like this one used Knight sleeve-valve engines, which in this case consists of four cylinders, cast in pairs. Taxable horsepower was 13. Bonhams guesses that this is a “Type S” model, and not many later Germains were produced.

This one is believed to have resided in Belgium since new, having been with its current owner since the 1970s. It now has an estimate of $44,000-$66,000. Click here for more info.

1898 Germain 6HP Twin-Cylinder Open Drive Limousine

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 3, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

We’ve featured an impressive amount of pre-1900 automobiles on this site and this car looks many years newer than some of them. Ateliers Germain was founded in 1897 in the Belgian town on Monceau-sur-Sambre. They specialized in building other cars under license, such as those from Renault and Panhard et Levassor.

This car is similar to a Panhard of the day, which isn’t surprising as Germain was one of a few Belgian companies who bought some early cars (among them, a Panhard) to study them in order to launch Belgium’s own automobile industry. This car was the company’s prototype and it’s powered by a six horsepower, two-cylinder engine.

They stopped building cars after WWI and turned to railcars. They merged into another company in the 1960s and ceased to exist thereafter. But until they became defunct, they managed to hang on to this car, their first. It’s first owner acquired it in 1964 and the current owner bought it about 20 years ago. Restored as needed over time, this car is a miraculous survivor. It should bring between $200,000-$290,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $295,610.