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 Four years after the Leon Bollee voiturette appeared, Leon Bollee superseded it with a 4-wheeler with independent front suspension by double transverse leaf springs.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

Mercury

US, 1904

Mercury Machine Co, Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Mercury car was a two-seater with a 2-cylinder water-cooled engine of 7hp. A liding-gear transmission was used and the weight of the Mercury car was 1.250lb. The price of the Mercury car was $295 and a top cost $100 extra.

GB, 1905

Ivanhoe Motor Co, Cricklewood, London N.W.

The Mercury car company made a small number of 24hp 4-cylinder Mercury cars which they also called Ivanhoes. In 1906 they became agents for Weigel and planned to show these cars on their stand at Olympia, but permission was refused because they had said in their application that they would show Ivanhoes. In fact, only second-hand Mercury cars were shown on the stand, but they stressed that the Weigel could be seen at the works.

GB, 1914 – 1923

(1) Medina Engineering Co Ltd, Twickenham, Middlesex, 1914 – 1920

(2) Mercury Cars (production) Ltd., Twickenham, Middlesex, 1920 – 1923

The Mercury car was a conventional light car with a 10hp 4-cylinder monobloc engine and shaft drive. One Mercury car model only was made before the war, but in 1920 there were three Mercury cars, a 9.5, 10.2 and 11.9hp. Bodies were the usual two- and four-seaters.

US, 1914

Mercury Cyclecar Co, Detroit, Mich.

The Mercury cyclecar differed little from other of that breed, except that Mercury car had a self-supporting body which eliminated the chassis frame; in other words integral construction. The engine was a 9hp 2-cylinder air-cooled unit, and the Mercury car used friction transmission and belt final drive. Body styles were a monocarp, a tandem two-seater and a light van.

US, 1918 – 1920

Mercury Cars Inc, Hollis, N.Y.

A small, assembled car of limited production, the Mercury car used a Duesenberg or Weidely 4-cylinder engine and the Mercury car was equipped with a door in the floor to give the driver ready access to the service brake mechanism.

US, 1938 to date

Ford Motor Co, Detroit, Mich.

The Mercury car, a product of Ford’s Lincoln Division, was intended to rival GM’s Oldsmobile and Buick, and widen Ford penetration of the American market. The Mercury car was in effect an enlarged Model 91 Ford V8 with a 3.9-litre 95bhp engine. At $957 the Mercury car cost $230 more than its smaller sister, but the Mercury car was $40 less than Buick’s cheapest 4-door sedan. Hydraulic brakes were standard from the start on Mercury cars and evolution followed established Ford lines, with no drastic changes until 1949, when the new low silhouette, hypoid rear axle, and coil-spring independent front suspension were incorporated on the Mercury car. Capacity of the engine of the Mercury car went up to 4.2-litres and the front-end styling of the Mercury car emphasized the association with Lincoln. Mercury cars, like Ford, progressed to overhead valves and oversquare cylinder dimensions and in 1955 buyers of the Mercury car had a choice of two V8 engines of 188 and 198bhp. An inexpensive Mercury Medalist series was added in 1956 and in 1957 the standard power unit was a 255bhp. Mercury cars became bigger and more expensive in 1958 and 1959 to avoid clashing with the Edsel range from the same stable, and a 6.3-litre, 360bhp engine was available in Mercury cars.

In 1961 Mercury cars broke with tradition, and offered for the first time something other than a V8; not only was there the option of a 3.6-litre six in the regular Mercury car range, but there was also a semi-compact Mercury car, the 2.4-litre Mercury Comet, a Mercury car with a 9ft 6in wheelbase parallel with Ford’s Falcon. The Mercury Comet sold for $2.084 in 1962, when the largest of the standard V8s was a rather modest 4.8-litre. 1963 saw a return to bigger things on Mercury cars, with 6.4-litre and 6.8-litre engines available in the top-price Mercury Monterey models, which also included a Breezeway sedan with forward-sloped rear window as already used on Ford of Britain’s 1960 Anglia. Though the Mercury Comet was retained for 1966 with a 3.3-litre engine, the biggest Mercury cars looked like Lincoln’s Continental on a reduced scale; the wheelbase of the Mercury car is 10ft 3in, with 6.4-litre, 6.7-litre and 7-litre engines available. For the more sporting motorist there was the Mercury Comet Cyclone with compact dimensions and a 6.4-litre V8 unit. A 1967 sports coupé version, the Mercury Cougar, heralded a return to the waterfall-type radiator grille on the Mercury car so generally popular in the early 1950s.

Subsequent Mercury car developments were aimed at keeping station in the tricky medium-priced market, with the sporting element represented by the Mercury Cyclone and Mercury Cougar coupés (with V8 engines of up to 390bhp) and the luxury sector covered by the Marquis Brougham, which in 1969 form aped the Lincoln with its concealed headlamps, and came with 7-litre V8 unit and automatic as standard. Regular family Mercury cars were the Montego on a 9ft 9in wheelbase, and the stock Mercury car of 10ft 4in. In 1971 there was a Mercury edition of Ford’s Maverick compact, the Comet. Wheelbase was 8ft 7in, and engine options of the Mercury car were sixes of 2.8-litres, 3.3-litres or 4.1-litres, or a small 4.9-litre 210bhp V8. Basic price was a low $2.217, and it was continued into 1972 along with the Cougar, Montego, Monterey, Colony Park and Marquis lines, though new Federal regulations took their toll for Mercury cars, and the most powerful engine option gave only 266bhp, as against 375 in 1970. Mercury Montegos had front disc brakes as standard,  as had 1973 Mercury Cougars, which came with a traditional radiator grill in Humber-Sunbeam style. Most of the 1973 improvements on Mercury cars concerned safety (e.g. reinforced bumpers and radial-ply tyres as standard on the big sedans). Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury Division also distributed the German Ford Capri with 2-litre or 2.6-litre engine.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GMN, GNG, KM, MCS

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