Brief History of the Marque: Nougier
Between 1937 and 1972 Jean Nougier of St. Andiol in Provence hand-built
innovative and quite succesful DOHC racing singles, twins and fours, often
utilising basic components sourced from Terrot and Magnat-Debon.
His rather beautiful Tournevis OHC models used hairpin valve springs
and a slotted camshaft drive coupling (tournevis=screwdriver), a three
bearing crank and a modified separate Terrot gearbox. In 1953 he built
a four to challenge Gilera and MV, but lack of developmental funding was
a large factor in the unsuccessful venture.
The Marseilles Motorcycle museum houses a collection of Nougier motorcycles,
one blurb stating "all motorcycles Nougier of 1936-1971".
Jean's brother Henri Nougier raced a Magnat-Debon in the September 1945
GP de la Libération in Nice, and also road Nougier racing bikes.
Jean Nougier died in 1999 at the age of ninety.
If you have a query about Nougier Motorcycles, or wish to share some
information about these classic French machines, please contact
us!
