Piccard-Pictet – R2 (1920)

The city of Geneva in the south west of Switzerland has a long and close connection with the automobile. This is not simply about the Salon d’Automobile that put the city on the map in the early days of motorised transport, Geneva also played an important role as a production location. Pic-Pic was headquartered in Geneva, the memorable soubriquet of the studios Piccard-Pictet & Cie. SA. The beginnings of the company go back to 1905 when it undertook production under licence to very high standards of quality.

After the First World War, Pic-Pic took off successfully with new, luxury automobiles but at the same time suffered from an unstable economic situation. The new R2 model failed to bring about a turnaround in 1920 despite the critical acclaim received. The technical concepts have an exciting appeal: Pic-Pic opted for high-revving, valveless engines but used the Burt-McCollum system operating with sliding sleeves that rotated rather than going with Knight’s licence. After its first career as a two-seater racing car, this Piccard-Pictet R2 was given an elegant Torpedo-Ponté body by the French coachbuilder Saoutchik. This is one of only eight surviving vehicles of the brand and since 2003 it has been under the custodianship of the Pictet family foundation.