De Dion Bouton

France, 1883 – 1932

(1) De Dion Bouton et Trépardoux, Paris, 1883 – 1894

(2) De Dion Bouton et Cie, Paris, 1894 – 1897

(3) De Dion Bouton et Cie, Puteaux, Seine, 1897 – 1932

Charles Trépardoux left the company De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux he had originally launched with his brother-in-law, Georges Bouton in December 1893, entering a partnership with F. Mérelle, the distributor of De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux cars who had been largely responsible for marketing the early De Dion Bouton steam-driven tricycles and quadricycles his company had produced. From 1894, the focus of the efforts of the remaining partners, the Count de Dion and Bouton, was on the production of petrol-fuelled internal combustion engines. In fact, several years previously, in 1889, the Count had established a working partnership with an engineer named Delalande, based at 103 Rue Saint-Maurin, Paris, with the intention of developing an internal combustion engine. The result was two engines of radial design, for which patents were sought, and which looked remarkably similar to those engines used in early aircraft: the cylinders were laid out like the spokes of a wheel and rotated around a fixed crankshaft. There is no indication that these engines were progressed beyond the development stage and installed in any vehicles. Trépardoux did, however, have an influence on the first tricycles and the voiturettes in that he had conducted the early work on the front and rear axles, wheel bearings, and transmissions, which made these early De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux vehicles so distinctive and successful.  

The first De Dion Bouton tricycles were produced in 1895, equipped with engines of modest output of ½hp and with frames that were very similar to those of the conventional De Dion Bouton pedal tricycles. Between that time and early 1897, the power output on De Dion Bouton cars was considerably increased, the frame was strengthened, electric ignition replaced the original hot tube version, and a mode of transport evolved that served the racing fraternity as well as those who could afford this desirable and fashionable accessory on their De Dion Bouton. At this time, De Dion Bouton developed its approach to engine manufacture that was to be a constant for the bulk of the next decade, where it sold ‘loose’ De Dion Bouton engines to individuals and companies alike, and in so doing, gave momentum to the early motor industry. Between 1895 and 1902, it has been estimated that the De Dion Bouton company produced some 50,000 De Dion Bouton engines, for a multiple of purposes including marine use as well as for stationairy machines.  As the power output steadily increased, so the number of uses for the De Dion Bouton engines also escalated; by the turn of the last century, there were De Dion Bouton 2.75hp and 3.5hp engines available.

In the first few years of the twentieth century the level of technical progress in the construction of motor-cars was remarkable, and this is self-evident from a cursory review of the output from the Puteaux works of De Dion Bouton. In September 1899, the De Dion Bouton company produced its first rear-engined, four-wheeled, twin speed vehicle with a single cylinder engine, an unsprung back axle, no rear brakes, and very limited accommodation. Five years later, in December 1904, a De Dion Bouton four-cylinder, four forward speed vehicle, fully sprung and capable of carrying limousine coachwork and a full complement of passengers in appreciable comfort over long distances, was available. In the five years that lapsed, the constant flow of technical innovation on De Dion Bouton motorcars, and the adoption of individual new components on a continuous basis, led to the presentation of sixteen individual passenger vehicle submissions of De Dion Bouton, in single, twin and four-cylinder configuration, to the Service des Mines for approval. 

The initial production voiturette was a 3.5hp rear-engined model, known as the De Dion Bouton Type ‘D’, which was replaced in 1900 by an upgraded De Dion Bouton Type ‘E’ version, albeit with the same engine.  In November 1900, the De Dion Bouton Type ‘G1’ appeared with a 4.5hp engine, followed in 1901 by a variant known as the De Dion Bouton Type ‘G2’.  The last rear-engined model was the De Dion Bouton Type ‘L’, which had an identical chassis to the De Dion Bouton Type ‘G’ Type, but was equipped with the more powerful 6hp De Dion Bouton engine that the company had initially installed in its front-engined models from November 1901.

The De Dion Bouton voiturette provided comfort in convivial style for two or more passengers that a tricycle or a quadricycle could not, and it was perfectly capable of long journeys by night or day, added to which it also offered advantages in cost, operation and maintenance for owner/drivers that vehicles produced by other manufacturers than De Dion Bouton did not. The presence of a light, high-speed petrol engine in a relatively lightweight body influenced many other manufacturers who adopted similar designs for their own vehicles.

By mid-1903 the De Dion Bouton Company was firmly established as a manufacturer of high quality engines and motor vehicles in Europe.  The success of the motor tricycle followed by the launch of the De Dion Bouton voiturette, prepared the way for the first of the front-engined vehicles that appeared in 1901. Numerous other manufacturers, like Renault, had installed engines bought from De Dion Bouton into their own vehicles, and so De Dion Bouton had played a pivotal role in supporting the nascent car industry.  In May 1903, the single cylinder De Dion Bouton vehicles were joined by the first twin cylinder offerings. This particular development had not been without its challenges, especially in connection with ignition and engine lubrication, but when the revised De Dion Bouton twin-cylinder vehicle was launched in December 1903, it was a triumph, attracting considerable positive comment for De Dion Bouton and appreciation from the burgeoning motoring public throughout 1904.

The technical lessons learned in 1903 were to serve the De Dion Bouton company well because the range and pace of technical development was set to dramatically accelerate from the end of 1904.  In part this was due to the changing competitive environment in Europe: the days of De Dion Bouton hegemony were drawing to a close, as American manufacturers, were demonstrating both their manufacturing prowess and their ability to attract customers with keen prices.  The Americans overtook the French in the value of their automobile production in 1905 and never looked back. The scale of production in Britain was also growing. In the Europe of 1906, however, French manufacturing still dominated, with 400 French cars being sold in Britain per month, in contrast to the monthly average of two British vehicles sold in France. At the end of 1913 the annual production in Britain was 25,000 cars, whilst in France the output was 45,000 vehicles.  By this time Peugeot, Renault, Darracq and Berliet were all producing more passenger vehicles than De Dion Bouton. Many of De Dion Bouton’s innovations with engine design, ignition systems, suspension and speed change mechanisms were well established, reliable and effective, but they were no longer ‘cutting edge’, and the De Dion Bouton company was acutely aware of the need to demonstrate a willingness to change, difficult, expensive, and perhaps sometime unnecessary, as that might be. The De Dion Bouton customer base was changing too; the well-heeled clientele was still a substantial component of the demand, but many municipal authorities were interested in petrol driven vehicles, including the omnibus, and businessmen of all persuasions were keen to capitalize on the commercial opportunities and increased productivity through the usage of motorised trucks.

There were additional challenges facing De Dion Bouton, and every other vehicle manufacturer in France, at the end of 1904; should the focus be on petrol, steam, or electric vehicles, and which option would be best suited to each customer segment? The bulk of the factory’s output comprised of petrol engines, but electric vehicles had been offered since 1900, and by 1903 both the motors and the batteries were being manufactured in Puteaux, whilst steam was the favoured power source for the early trucks.  The Marquis de Dion (following the death of his father in 1901) had finely tuned instincts for new opportunities in the marketplace but each one required investment in factory accommodation, people, expertise, machinery, raw materials and time. 

Concerns around the logistic elements of De Dion Bouton car production and supplier management led De Dion Bouton towards self-sufficiency.  The De Dion Bouton company employed 3,000 staff in 1903, and this number had grown to 4,500 by 1909 as De Dion Bouton continued to expand the range of components it made in-house. In addition to the De Dion Bouton engines, De Dion Bouton gearboxes, De Dion Bouton chassis and suspension, it made its own De Dion Bouton magnetos, wheels and bodies, and a workforce of 100 women was employed in making De Dion Bouton spark plugs. Apart from the usual design and construction facilities, the De Dion Bouton factory had its own chemical laboratory, microscope test-room, tensile and hardness-testing machinery, wood mills, paint shops, trimming department, and foundries.

The De Dion Bouton enterprise in Puteaux was vast, complex and extraordinarily expensive to maintain.  Whilst the Marquis de Dion was convinced in 1904 that the future prosperity of De Dion Bouton lay in small vehicles and trucks, it did not prevent the De Dion Bouton company from launching a range of motor buses that became familiar on the streets of Paris, London and New York from 1906; De Dion Bouton taxicabs were produced from 1908, and 1909 witnessed the launch of a range of De Dion Bouton bicycles and the large De Dion Bouton V8 engine, along with 11 other passenger models.

The health of the De Dion Bouton Company was never as robust after the conflict of 1914-1918 as it had been in the years before hostilities commenced. The impact of those four years was catastrophic for many manufacturing businesses like De Dion Bouton, especially in France, and they never recovered.  There can be little doubt that in the years leading up to 1914, development and construction of De Dion Bouton in Puteaux were taking place at a feverish pace, not just on passenger vehicles, but on trucks, buses, marine and standing engines. The De Dion Bouton management team was required to have a critical awareness of the diverse geographical markets they served, understand the competitive environment, deliver products to market, maintain the local technical infrastructure and secure the various resources necessary, demonstrate good judgement on De Dion Bouton product development, strengthen the De Dion Bouton brand and, critically, ensure the capital was in place to fund growth. For any company with an autocratic leader the potential for a poor decision was always high, as was its likely impact. The achievements of the De Dion Bouton Company in this period were considerable, and whilst market share in France, a maturing market, inevitably declined, its overall output, global presence and reputation, were significantly enhanced, underscoring the performance, resilience and fortitude of the Marquis de Dion and Georges Bouton.

The decline in the De Dion Bouton company’s fortunes were connected to decisions taken many years previously. Some writers have raised the decision to launch a De Dion Bouton V-8 engine, an initiative that no other European manufacturer emulated at the time, as a major distraction. This was obviously an expensive undertaking for De Dion Bouton but there were synergistic benefits in connection with aircraft engine production, and very few De Dion Bouton v-8s vehicles were actually made.  Perhaps the more significant question to be raised is that connected with the decision to reduce the focus on the smaller De Dion Bouton engined (single and twin cylinder) car production, initially by suspending twin cylinder De Dion Bouton production in 1908, and then by terminating single cylinder De Dion Bouton car production entirely in 1912, at a time when their key competitors, Renault in particular, were redoubling their efforts with twin cylinder vehicles for passenger, commercial, and especially taxi usage. 

The departure of De Dion Bouton from single cylinder cars certainly removed the De Dion Bouton Company from the competitive melee of that particular sector, but by 1911/12 the four-cylinder market had its own pressures. American manufacturers typically produced vehicles that provided high torque at low speed, good acceleration and hill-climbing ability, smooth and quiet running, and general docility in traffic.  Further, they sold ready-to-drive cars complete with coachwork, tyres, hood, windscreen and lamps, and their scale of production along with their European distribution network,  ensured that pricing was always aggressive.

In short, De Dion Bouton had exited a market sector it knew well, where it had an enviable international reputation for its De Dion Bouton products, and where its competitors were of comparable size, and it chose to focus on the De Dion Bouton four-cylinder market where others had the advantages of economies of scale, deep pockets, increasing technical proficiency, sophisticated production methods, and global reach. Coupled to this, the combination of an accident-prone twin bearing crankshaft, poor power output and expensive coachwork, encouraged De Dion Bouton customers to look elsewhere from 1912. From 1915 the resources of De Dion Bouton were focused on the war effort, and the French (like the British) government took steps to ensure that American motor car manufacturers did not seize the opportunity to flood the market with their products and disadvantage the long-term position of local producers. From the very start of hostilities in the Autumn of 1914 the De Dion Bouton Puteaux works and its resources were substantially dedicated to the French Artillery Construction Department and its role in supporting the war effort, although permission was granted for the De Dion Bouton company to supply a limited number of De Dion Bouton vehicles to the public. In December 1914, the De Dion Bouton company released an information sheet with details of the revised production schedule. They were to be five four-cylinder De Dion Bouton models with live back axles and three De Dion Bouton V-8s with cardan shafts. Only small variations were proposed on the 1914 De Dion Bouton designs, although Warland dual rims were to be adopted for all De Dion Bouton models. The De Dion Bouton company expected to be able to launch a new 12hp De Dion Bouton model early in 1915 and a De Dion Bouton 20hp special speed model for light two-seater and four-seater bodies. The intention was to fit the 10hp De Dion Bouton model with a revised, pointed radiator and upgrade the rear suspension, but all other De Dion Bouton Types were to remain substantially the same.

During the course of 1915, the French government rescinded this permission, and the De Dion Bouton factory was entirely devoted to the production of war material. It is no coincidence that for the first eighteen months of the war, significant numbers of completed De Dion Bouton vehicles were shipped to both the United States of America and Australia in order to maintain some commercial momentum. The management of De Dion Bouton in Puteaux had a clear perspective on the differing requirements of these two geographical regions: the number of extant four cylinder De Dion Bouton vehicles in Australia attests to the scale of export to that region, whilst the De Dion Bouton brochures produced for the US market are overwhelmingly dedicated to the eight cylinder De Dion Bouton vehicles, with power outputs ranging from 20hp to 100hp. 

When the French War Ministry returned the production facilities in Puteaux to De Dion Bouton in 1919, the two stalwarts who had dedicated so much of their lives to the launch of the popular motor car and the establishment of the industry in France, must have realised that their historic achievements would count for little as they confronted the challenges of the new competitive landscape. Early in 1919, the De Dion Bouton factory was ready to resume vehicle production and a card was sent to faithful customers, suppliers and sales agents, informing them that four new De Dion Bouton types would be available, two with four cylinder De Dion Bouton engines, and two with eight-cylinder De Dion Bouton power units; each engine was a new bore and stroke configuration. There was stubborn resistance to reviving any of the smaller-engined pre-war vehicles, and only one Type, the De Dion Bouton IC, had an engine of less than three litres capacity. The De Dion Bouton company had been buoyed by the success of its eight-cylinder engines during the conflict, when they had performed admirably as staff cars and for the basis of armoured vehicles.

The De Dion Bouton company struggled during the 1920’s to maintain a strong foothold in any sector of the French market, as potential purchasers had the option to buy any number of ‘built to a price’ models or, at the other extreme, lavish concoctions from various carrossiers. De Dion Bouton models were well built and relatively expensive, especially when compared with American imports, buth they did not have the cache of the prominent manufacturers either. Production on any scale in Puteaux of De Dion Bouton had ceased by the end of 1931.

Source: De Dion Bouton club UK 

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Duesenberg

US, 1920 – 1937, 1966

(1) Duesenberg Motor Co, Indianapolis, Ind., 1920 – 1937

(2) Duesenberg Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind., 1966

Fred Duesenberg began by making bicycles and designed his first Duesenberg car, the Mason, in 1904. He and his brother August made engines with horizontal overhead valves for the 1912 Mason racing cars, and founded Duesenberg Motors in the following year in order to produce marine engines and complete racing cars bearing the Duesenberg name. The most famous of the latter appeared in 1920: a 3-litre Bugatti-inspired Duesenberg straight-8 with single overhead camshaft and three (vertical) valves per cylinder. This Duesenberg won the 1921 French Grand Grand Prix. In the 1920s the Duesenberg racing cars were the great rivals of the Millers at Indianapolis, and victory was assured in 1924 by the adoption of a centrifugal blower on Duesenberg cars. Though a two-stroke 1½-litre 8-cylinder racing engine capable of 7.000rpm was made in 1926, this was not proceeded with. The horizontal-valve Duesenberg engine was taken over in 1920 by the Rochester Motor Manufacturing Co Inc and was used in various sporting and luxury cars.

Meanwhile, at the end of 1920, the first Duesenberg production car made its debut. This Duesenberg Model A was an extremely expensive, if very advanced, luxury car, embodying an 8-cylinder in-line engine – the first to be seen in an American production car – of 4.2 litres, basically similar to the Duesenberg racing unit, but with only two valves per cylinder and developing about 100bhp. There were also hydraulically-operated front wheel brakes – another ‘first’ as far as America was concerned. The Model A was current until 1926. A handful of its little-altered successor, the Duesenberg Model X, was made in 1926-1927, but in the former year E.L. Cord of Auburn acquired control of the Duesenberg company. He stipulated that Fred Duesenberg’s next car should be completely new, and a quite exceptional machine. In fact, the Duesenberg Model J, which made its bow at the end of 1928, was the most remarkable automobile in America: bigger, faster, more elaborate and more expensive than any other, yet also superior to them in refinement and good looks. Its 6.9-litre, 8-cylinder engine, made by Lycoming (a firm which Cord had also bought), had two chain-driven overhead camshafts operating four valves per cylinder; a layout of racing type unique among American cars at the time and said to develop 265bhp at 4250rpm – more than double the output of any rival. Although the complete Duesenberg car weighed more than 4980lb, it was claimed to be capable of 116mph in top gear and 89mph in second. Only Duesenberg Model J chassis were made for which $8500 was asked in 1929. Immensely long and strong and lowbuilt, Duesenberg cars were very popular with all the leading coachbuilders. The Duesenberg company preferred to sell cars complete with bodies designed by them but made by approved builders, such as Murphy, Bohman & Schwarts, Judkins, Derham and Le Baron. In this form, catalogued Duesenberg models cost up to $17.950. The transmission – apart form the double dry-plate clutch – was conventional, as was the suspension by half-elliptic springs and hydraulic shock absorbers. The brakes, of course, were hydraulic, with vacuum servo assistance from late 1929.

In 1932 a supercharged version of the Model J, the Duesenberg SJ, was added. To cope with the 320bhp now alleged to be available, bearings, reciprocating parts and valve springs were strengthened. Usually, the shortest Duesenberg J chassis was used, with the highest axle ratio and stronger front springs. A maximum speed of 129mph was attributed to the Duesenberg SJ, with an acceleration figure of 0-100mph in 17 seconds.

Duesenberg survived the Depression, but died in the collapse of the Cord Corporation in 1937. Attempts to revive the Duesenberg name were made in 1947 and in 1966. The first Duesenberg was unsuccessful, and in 1966 only one Duesenberg car was actually made, powered by a 7-litre V8 Chrysler engine with push-rod overhead valves, developing 431bhp at 5.000rpm. Transmission was automatic, front suspension was independent, and there were disc brakes. Body styling was by Ghia. This Duesenberg venture, too, collapsed.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN 

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com