Ratier

Ratier-Figeac is an aircraft components manufacturer in Figeac, France.

From 1926 until 1930 it also built a car with a 746 cc overhead camshaft engine.

From 1959 until 1962 Ratier made motorcycles, having taken over the motorcycle business of the Centre d'Études de Moteurs à Explosion et à Combustion (CEMEC). The engines were flat-twins derived from Second World War BMW designs.

Ratier was originally a joinery firm at the beginning of the century. By the outbreak of the first world-war, the company specialized in propeller blades for the aircraft of the French Air Force. Afterwards it produced for the French mail service Aéropostale all the way through its heyday of the 1930s when the service broke many flight-records. The factory was originally in Malakoff and then transferred to Montrouge. Much of its workload consisted of the contract work it received from Citroën to produce the Citroenette, a child's pedal-car. Paulin Ratier fabricated a prototype propellor-car which never made it into production.

The company produced a rally-car which went on to win many races, such as the Bol d'or race, during a time when it was raced by cars and motorcycles. The factory at Figeac produced bicycles during World War II.

After World War II, the company was renamed CEMEC. As a victory spoil, it was the recipient of many motorcycle parts from the German company BMW and the company was able to construct its own motorcycles, sharing many common features with the BMW brand. General Charles de Gaulle, outfitted his presidential escort with Ratier motorcycles. There were only 1,200 motorcycles produced after the government failed to renew its contract with the company.

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Wikipedia