Léon Bollee

France, 1895 – 1933

(1) Automobiles Léon Bollée, Le Mans, 1895 – 1924

(2) Morris Motors Ltd, Usines Léon Bollée, Le Mans, 1925 – 1931

(3) Sté Nouvelle Léon Bollée, Le Mans, 1931 – 1933

Leon Bollee was a son of Amédée Bolllée père, the most important pioneer of steam road vehicles in France. Leon Bollee, however, turned to really small petrol Leon Bollee cars. He was the first to do so, and therefore had to invent a new name for his Leon Bollee car of 1895 – he called it a Leon Bollee voiturette. This Leon Bollee car was a tandem two-seater 3-wheeler that was faster than any other petrol-engined vehicle on the road when the Leon Bollee car was working, thanks to a powerful 3hp engine and light weight, but the power unit was unreliable on the Leon Bollee car. The Leon Bollee car had a single air-cooled cylinder of 650cc and used hot-tube ignition. There were 3 forward speeds on the Leon Bollee car, with belt final drive. The frame was tubular. Four years after the Leon Bollee voiturette appeared, Leon Bollee superseded it with a 4-wheeler with independent front suspension by double transverse leaf springs. This Leon Bollee car had a single-cylinder, water-cooled engine. Unlike the Leon Bollee voiturette, this Leon Bollee car made no mark. The design rights were sold to Darracq, and around 1901 the name of Leon Bollee cars vanished. Meanwhile, the term voiturette had been taken up by the trade and public in general as the name for a small light car.

The Leon Bollee car reappeared in 1903 as an entirely normal, full-sized car in the more expensive class, backed by Vanderbilt money and designed for the American market. This Leon Bollee car was made in 28hp (4.6-litres) and 45hp (8-litres) versions, with four cylinders and chain drive, and led on to a 11.9-litre six Leon Bollee car in 1907, in which year the first shaft driven Leon Bollee car appeared. From 1909 there was also a small modern four, the Leon Bollee 10/14hp. The 1910 range embraced 9 Leon Bollee cars, including 2 of over 10-litres capacity. Electric lighting became available on Leon Bollee cars in 1913, but the Leon Bollee grew increasingly old-fashioned after World War 1 despite the introduction of ohv in 1922 on Leon Bollee cars and front wheel brakes in 1923. Late in 1924 Sir William Morris bought the Le Mans Leon Bollee car factory. From making a wide range of conservative French Leon Bollee fours, it turned to thinly-disguised products of Cowley, Oxford, the idea being to breach the French tariff walls from the inside. The first Morris- Leon Bollee had a 12CV 2½-litre 4-cylinder unit-construction engine made by Hotchkiss, the engine manufacturers controlled by Morris, but it had push-rod overhead valves and bore little evidence of its parentage. Not so the 18CV Morris- Leon Bollee car of 1928. This was a 3-litre straight-8 with single overhead camshaft that reflected Morris’ takeover of Wolseley two years earlier. Morris’ own new six of 1928 was mirrored in the 15CV 2.6-litre Le Mans product of 1929. The bodies for the Morris- Leon Bollee car were all made in France and were usually considerably more dashing and attractive than their British counterparts. Chassis of this Morris- Leon Bollee car were made in France, and all cars had a 4-speed gearbox. At one time, 50 12CV Morris- Leon Bollee cars were being turned out each week. However, Morris’ enterprise was not a success, and he discontinued it in the hard times of the Depression. A new syndicate was formed in September 1931 to sell the same range of cars under the name of Leon Bollee cars. This lasted for less than two years and few Leon Bollee cars were made.

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

Premier

US, 1903 – 1925

(1) Premier Motor Mfg Co, Indianapolis, Ind.

(2) Premier Motor Corp, Indianapolis, Ind.

The Premier car started life as a conventional machine made on modern lines, with a pressed-steel frame, mechanically-operated inlet valves, and shaft drive. A four-cylinder air-cooled Premier car was made in 1905. The designer of the Premier car was G.A. Weidely, who made his name with proprietary engines. A line of conventional water-cooled big fours and six-cylinder Premier cars followed, starting with a 24/28hp Premier car in 1907. From 1913, sixes alone were built, the ‘Premier 48’ at $3.250 having a capacity of over 8 litres. The special racing Premier cars of 1916 had a twin ohc, 4-cylinder, 16-valve engine reminiscent of the Peugeot. The touring Premier car of 1919 – 1920 was notable mainly for its use of the Cutler-Hammer Magnetic Gear Shift, an electric transmission system controlled by a lever mounted on the steering wheel. The ohv 4.8-litre engine of the Premier car was an unusually advanced six, with aluminium block, crankcase and pistons, and iron liners.

GB, 1906 – 1907; 1912 – 1913

Premier Motor Co Ltd, Birmingham

The Premier car company were concessionaires for the Italian Marchand car, and the 1906 4-cylinder Premier car was, in fact, a Marchand. Towards the end of 1906 Premier cars launced a short-lived two-seater of their own design powered by a 10/12hp Aster engine, but no further Premier cars appeared until the cyclecar boom of 1912. This brought two distinct designs of Premier cars: the PMC Motorette 3-wheeler with a rear-mounted 6hp single-cylinder engine driving the rear wheel by chains; and the more conventional Premier car, a 4-wheeler using an 8hp 2-cylinder engine, and chain drive.

D, 1913 – 1914

Justus Christian Braun Premier – Werke AG, Nuremberg

After producing the Kaiser cars this firm offered a new model in 1913 under the name of Premier. This Premier car was a two-seater sports car with a 1.030cc 4/12PS engine. This Premier car was also built in the company’s Austrian factory at Eger and was marketed as the Omega.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN, GNG, HON

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