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Renault AG1s

To get from Paris to Cherbourg-Octeville, the Laroche family hired two Renault AG1s that started with crank handles. The AG1 (Taxi de la Marne) was the first car produced after Marcel Renault’s death in 1903. It used a taximeter, a relatively new invention that automatically calculated how much the passenger had to pay. According to the Renaud Classic website, “Taxi service provided valuable exposure for the Renault name and brought it recognition beyond France. In 1907, Renault sold 1,100 units in London.” The name Taxi de la Marne was not used until the outbreak of World War I, when 1,300 taxis were requisitioned by the French Army to transport 6,000 soldiers from Paris to the First Battle of the Marne in early September 1914.