Victor Bouffort: motoring’s unknown genius

Ever heard of Victor Bouffort? Unless you’re the geek to end all geeks, the answer to that question is almost certainly “no”. And that’s a shame, because Bouffort was at least one definition of a genius and a visionary whose output was as eclectic as it was prescient.

The recent Rétromobile show in Paris tried to shine on a light on Bouffort’s achievements. It was a low-wattage light in one of the smaller upstairs rooms, and many showgoers would have walked straight past it, but it was a nice gesture for the family of the publicity-shunning engineer.

By the time he was 20, in 1932, Bouffort had built his own aeroplane. As a wartime supply driver, he concealed many Jewish children in his truck and took them to safety in Switzerland.

After the war, he resolved to build his own cars. All his designs were linked by the common themes of ingenuity and affordability. In response to a commission for a lightweight all-conditions vehicle, he produced a kind of motorised wheelbarrow, the Fardier. This Citroën-powered utility vehicle predated many similar designs by many decades.

After that, Bouffort created the Chenillette, a small tracked vehicle, followed by the larger Bison. His battle to resolve urban congestion started in the 1960s. By 1968 he and his friend Henri Viard had come up with the concept for the Minima, a two-seater city car that was so small, it could park at right angles to the kerb. A working prototype was launched in 1973 but it was too far ahead of its time: there was zero interest from the industry and the project was shelved.

Present on the Rétromobile stand were a Bouffort monkey bike, a collection of miniature military vehicles, a three-wheeled racing car concept that was thought to have been lost, and a bright orange Minima that’s still owned by Bouffort’s family.

Tragically Victor Bouffort died around twenty years ago, largely unrecognised but known to those in the know as a very creative and dynamic engineer devoted to improving the lot of his fellow man.