Rolland-Pilain

France, 1906 – 1931

SA des Etablissements Rolland-Pilain, Tours

Unusual among French marques of its period, Rolland Pilain cars made their greatest impact after World War 1. Their first product was a 20hp 4-cylinder model Rolland Pilain cars with a monobloc engine, though smaller 2.2-litre shaft-driven Rolland Pilain cars were available in 1909 and a 3-speed 1½-litre Rolland Pilain 8/10CV in 1910, in which year the Rolland Pilain car company was also experimenting with ‘valveless’ engines and 4-wheel brakes. Though racing was in the doldrums, the Rolland Pilain car company went to the trouble of building a big chain-driven Rolland Pilain car for the 1911 Grand Prix de France, and a complex 1912 range started with a Rolland Pilain 9CV of 1.7-litres and went up to a chain-driven 4-cylinder 60 Rolland Pilain car of 130x270mm. The 6-cylinder Rolland Pilain 18CV had a ‘valveless’ engine, and even in 1913 chain drive was still optional on the biggest fours of 20CV and 24CV Rolland Pilain cars. Only 1.9-litre and 4-litre 4-cylinder Rolland Pilain cars with sv monobloc engines and unit gearboxes were listed in 1914.

These basic types of Rolland Pilain cars, still with pedal-operated transmission brakes, were available again after World War 1, but far more advanced was the 2.2-litre Rolland Pilain 14/16 of 1921, which boasted not only overhead valves and a detachable head, but also front-wheel brakes (hydraulic at the front and mechanical at the rear). This Rolland Pilain car was still catalogued in 1926. Even more ambitious was the 2-litre twin ohc straight-8 GP Rolland Pilain car of 1922, with desmodromic valves, ball-bearing crankshafts and 4-wheel hydraulic brakes. A victory of a Rolland Pilain car at San Sebastian in 1923 was the limit of the success of Rolland Pilain cars on the circuits, but the type found its way into the catalogue as the Type A22 Rolland Pilain car at 90.000fr, and one of the racers also ran with a 2-litre, 6-cylinder cuff-valve Schmid engine. In 1925 came a 2-litre ohv 4-cylinder Rolland Pilain car with 4-wheel mechanical brakes, selling for £725 in England, while a 1½-litre development, the Rolland Pilain D26, was introduced for 1927. In 1929 Rolland-Pilain car, along with several other French firms, tried a Franco-American theme by introducing a range of big luxury chassis with sv Continental engines. Both the 6-cylinder, 3-litre, and the 4-litre straight-8 Rolland Pilain cars had centralized chassis lubrication, though the elegant bodywork of the Rolland Pilain car was marred by the use of artillery wheels. At the 1930 Paris Salon the Rolland Pilain car company shared a stand with the BNC (also going through a Franco-American phase), but this was the end, though the Rolland Pilain car firm’s Paris depot was still advertising spare parts for Bignan as well as Rolland Pilain cars in 1934.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

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Simplex

NL, 1899 – 1914

NV Maatschappij Simplex, Amsterdam

The first Simplex car was a belt-driven vis-à-vis made on Benz-lines, but by 1902 a new model Simplex car was introduced with a vertical single-cylinder Fafnir engine mounted at the front, wheel steering and single chain drive. Shaft drive came in soon on the Simplex car afterwards, and 1907 an 8hp 2-cylinder and 14/16hp 4-cylinder Simplex car were made. The largest model Simplex car was the 35hp 4-cylinder model of 1911, still with Fafnir engine. A considerable number of the smaller Simplex cars were sent, partly knocked down, to the Nederlands East Indies, and assembled there. Production of Simplex cars ceased with World War 1, and although a prototype 3-wheeler Simplex car with 10hp V-twin engine was shown in 1919, this Simplex car never went into production.

US, 1907 – 1917

Simplex Automobile Co Inc, New Brunswick, N.J.

After the 1907 bankruptcy of Smith & Mabley, the firm was taken over by Herman Broesel, who formed the Simplex Automobile Company. The best-known model of the new Simplex car company was the 50hp Simplex car, a massive chain-driven car of high quality whose 4-cylinder T-head engine had a capacity of 10 litres. The chassis price of the Simplex car was $4.500 and bodies were made for Simplex under contract by such firms as Quimby, Demarest, Holbrook and Brewster. In 1908 a stripped down version Simplex car won the 24 hour race at Brighton Beach, and famous drivers who drove for Simplex cars included George Robertson, Al Poole and Joe Tracy. The Simplex cars were designed by Edward Franquist who introduced a 38hp 7.8-litre shaft-drive model in 1911, and a 75hp 10-litre chain-drive roadster in 1912. By 1914 this Simplex car was the only chain-driven model in the range, and this Simplex car was said to be the last chain-driven American car. Some of these Simplex cars had a sharply-pointed V-radiator, although most Simplex cars used a flat, Mercedes-type radiator.

The 1914 Simplex car range consisted of the 38hp, 50hp and 75hp fours, and a 50hp six, but towards the end of that year a new Simplex car appeared with heralded a complete change in the Simplex car company. This was the 46hp L-head Simplex Crane Model 5, designed by Henry M. Crane who had replaced Franquist as chief designer of the Simplex cars after a company reorganization. The new Simplex car was a very high quality machine and carried beautiful coachwork, mainly by Brewster, but it lacked the sporting qualities of ìt predecessor. The Simplex car was made until 1917, and bodies were still being fitted to Crane chassis in 1921. By this time the Simplex car company had been bought by Hare’s Motors, and a re-organized company, the Crane-Simplex Company of New-York, made a few cars in 1923 and 1924.

France, 1920

The French Simplex car was quite a large open tourer with a bullnose radiator, but underneath the bonnet of the Simplex car there was a horizontal single-cylinder engine of 735cc. A special balance weight coupled to the connecting rod and to an eccentric was supposed to avoid vibration. Front wheel brakes were fitted on the Simplex car.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG

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