Charlon

Société des Automobiles Charlon manufactured passenger automobiles and commercial vehicles at Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise, only in 1905–06. Accessible encyclopedic accounts agree on the two-year life but conflict in compressed technical detail. The most detailed Georgano-derived description establishes five chassis families. The smallest, normally called 6 CV, used a Mahout-licensed single-cylinder engine and belt drive; an English encyclopedia instead calls it a 9 hp voiturette and says the licence was only possible, so the catalog preserves 6/9 hp uncertainty rather than splitting one car. A 12 CV twin-cylinder model followed with shaft drive. Above it were three four-cylinder chassis ranging from 16/20 CV to 40/50 CV. The lowest endpoint is securely named 16/20 CV and the largest 40/50 CV. The designation and rating of the middle four-cylinder are missing from surviving summaries; a transparent 'Intermediate Four-Cylinder' row accounts for the explicitly counted chassis without inventing a number. The midrange cars used shaft drive, while the largest 40/50 CV alone is specifically described with final chain drive. A shorter English summary instead says three larger 12–40 hp four-cylinder cars all used chains, but that collapses the twin and contradicts the more granular account; the discrepancy is disclosed rather than blended. No source preserves engine displacements, bore/stroke, outputs beyond nominal ratings, transmissions, dimensions, wheelbases, body catalogs, prices, production counts, founders, competition results or a successor company. Because Charlon is explicitly described as making both automobiles and commercial vehicles, the rows note commercial chassis/body availability but do not fabricate truck model names or duplicate body variants. Five rows account for every defensible power/chassis family. Charlon is distinct from Charron/CGV, Chanon motorcycles, people surnamed Charlon and unrelated later firms.

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