"This car is the small version of our light cars, of graceful appearance, it can render the greatest services to people who do not want to exceed a certain purchase price".

- Clément catalogue, 1902.

Already a successful maker of bicycles and pneumatic tyres – he owned the Dunlop patents in France - Adolphe Clément diversified into automobile manufacture, taking an interest in the existing Gladiator concern.

Rear-engined tricycles and quadricycles were made at the Gladiator works in Levallois-sur-Seine before Clément began building a conventional front-engined light car around 1901.

Clément's early vehicles were powered by Aster, Panhard and De Dion engines, all three makes being at the forefront of automobile development.

With its water-cooled single-cylinder engine, two-speed Cardan shaft transmission, and Dunlop clincher tyres, the Clément was one of the more advanced designs of its day.

There is nothing known of the history of this lot, and it does not appear to be VCC dated....