Nougier Motorcycles

A Brief History of the Marque

Between 1937 and 1972 the brothers Nougier of St. Andiol in Provence hand-built innovative and quite successful DOHC racing singles, twins and fours, often utilising basic components sourced from Terrot and Magnat-Debon.

Jean designed and built the machines, and his brother Henri proved their worth on the racetrack.

Nougier's 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 they built a four to challenge Gilera and MV, but lack of developmental funding was a large factor in the unsuccessful venture.

Le musée de la Motocyclette de Marseille houses a collection of Nougier motorcycles, one note stating "all motorcycles Nougier of 1936-1971". [1]

Jean's brother Henri Nougier raced a Magnat-Debon in the September 1945 GP de la Libaration in Nice, and also raced Nougier motorcycles.

Jean Nougier died in 1999 at the age of ninety.

Nougier Four Specification:

Bore and stroke 54x54mm, 496cc. Compression ratio of 10.5:1, max RPM 11,500, delivering around 47bhp. Four 28mm Dell'Orto carburettors, gear primary drive, a dry clutch, cast iron cylinders, alloy heads. Large finned sump held 1.1 litres of oil, magneto ignition. Early versions were 4 speed, later 5 speed.

Notes
1. Wikipedia and JLB Creations state that they were built from 1937 to 1972.

Sources:

Nougier 1932-1972, Le rêve français by François-Marie Dumas
Mick Walker's European Racing Motorcycles
https://www.cafe-racer.fr/nougier-une-histoire-francaise/
http://charlescamberoque.unblog.fr/2010/10/16/petite-visite-a-latelier-nougier/

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