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 

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

Singer

GB, 1905 – 1970

(1) Singer & Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1905 – 1936; Birmingham, 1927 – 1936

(2) Singer Motors Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1936 – 1956; Birmingham, 1936 – 1956

(3) Singer Motors Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1956 – 1970

The Singer cycle firm acquired the manufacturing rights of the Perks and Birch motor wheel in 1901, and made front-wheel drive Singer tricycles as well as motor bicycles. These gave way to a line of conventional Singer tricars, which were still available as late as 1907 with water-cooling, wheel-steering and 6hp and 9hp engines. Car production started in 1905 with a 15hp 3-cylinder Singer car designed by Alex Craig, and made under licence from Lea-Francis. This Singer car had horizontal cylinders with overhead camshafts and 30in connecting-rods, and final drive was by chain. 2-cylinder versions Singer cars were also made, but the beginning of a new line Singer cars came with a conventional 2.4-litre 4-cylinder in 1906: an experimental 6-cylinder engine was exhibited in a Singer car, but not offered for sale. Only orthodox Singer cars with front vertical engines were listed in 1907, the smaller ones (a short-stroke 900cc twin Singer car, a 1.4-litre 3-cylinder, and a 1.8-litre 4-cylinder) having T-head White and Poppe power units, the larger fours Singer cars of 2.4-litres and 3.7-litres using Aster engines. Thereafter White and Poppe engines were standardized in Singer cars, and in 1909, when the Singer car company was reorganized, there was a 2.5-litre Singer sixteen with 3-speed gearbox and all brakes on the rear wheels, this Singer car selling for £380. L-head fours of 2.6-litres and 3.3-litres were introduced on Singer cars for 1911, in which year the biggest Singer car had worm drive, Sankey steel detachable wheels were featured, and the circular motif in the radiator core was discarded. The White and Poppe-powered Singer cars had quite a brisk performance, G.O. Herbert’s ‘Bunny Junior’ being capable of 3.000rpm, and wresting the Brooklands 16hp class records from Coatalen’s Sunbeam, while a modified 15hp Singer car with lengthened stroke and overhead inlet valves ran in the 1912 Coupe de l’Auto. This year saw the introduction of Singer cars first best-seller, the 1.100cc L-head Singer Ten with pair-cast cylinders and 3-speed gearbox in unit with the back axle. Though qualifying as a cyclecar in terms of weight, the Singer car was in fact one of the first modern baby cars, and sold for £185: Haywood’s tuned Singer car put 72 miles into the hour at Brooklands, and the fortunes of the Rootes brothers’ motor business were founded on the sale of this Singer car. The following year Singer cars own engines spread up the range with a new monobloc 2.4-litre fourteen, this Singer car was available with electric lighting, and fitted with Singer-made shock absorbers. By the outbreak of World War 1 only the big 20hp Singer cars retained the White and Poppe unit, and very few of these Singer cars were made. Singer motorcycle manufacture ceased in 1915, and the few Singer Tens being made to civilian account had a new rounded radiator and electric lighting. Singer Tens were also supplied to the Armed Forces during the war.

The first post-war 1 years saw for Singer cars a concentration on the 10hp model, now with full electrics, but otherwise little changed. A 60mph sports version Singer car cost £500 in 1920, and 33bhp was claimed from a racing Singer car which ran in the 1921 200 Mile Race. In 1922 the gearbox was placed amidships, and by 1923 the Singer car had been completely redesigned with an ohv monobloc engine and unit box. For one reason only (1923) a cheapened Singer car was offered under the Coventry-Premier name, this being a motorcycle and cyclecar concern which the Singer car company had acquired in 1921.

It was in 1921 that a trend towards a complicated Singer car range began which was to bring about the Singer car firm’s subsequent financial difficulties, though in 1928 Singer cars ranked third behind Morris and Austin among all-British private-car manufacturers. Their first production six Singer car was available in 1922, this Singer car being a long-stroke 2-litre with side valves, thermos-syphon cooling, magneto ignition, 3-forward speeds, spiral bevel final drive, and disc wheels, selling for £675. 4-wheel brakes were optional on this Singer car model in 1924, and had spread to the Singer Ten two years later, and a smaller 1.8-litre ohv power unit was introduced in a Singer car in 1927. Also in 1924 fabric bodies were listed for Singer cars, though curiously enough Singer cars avoided these during the late 1920s when fabric was fashionable. By 1927 also the Singer Ten had grown up into a 1.3-litre Subger Senior with plate clutch, and a new and very successful baby Singer car had come on the scene in the shape of the 848cc ohc Singer Junior, initially this Singer car was with 3-speed gearbox and brakes on the rear wheels only. The Singer car was a roomy four-seater with 4 doors, a 7ft 6in wheelbase, and a price of only £418.10s., and this Singer car was made until 1932, as well as being the ancestor of all Singer car models up to the Rootes takeover in 1956. 1928 brought the abandonement of cone clutches in Singer cars, the provision of 4-wheel brakes on the Singer Junior, and the introduction of an improved 42bhp 1.9-litre ohv six with a 7-bearing crankshaft. There was also a short vogue for fully convertible saloon Singer cars with wind-down roofs. 1930 Singer cars had wire wheels and coil ignition, but things became impossibly complicated for Singer cars in the 1931-1933 period, when the Singer car marque went in for ribbon radiator shells, not to mention the ‘Kaye Don’ six with waterfall-style radiator grille and twin carburetors, selling for £480. Eight models Singer cars were listed in 1932: the Singer Junior with 4 speeds and rear tank, a 972cc Singer Junior Special version destined to grow up into the Singer Nine, both Singer cars with overhead camshafts, a sv 1.3-litre 4-cylinder Singer Ten, and four 6-cylinder Singer cars ranging from a short-lived 1½-litre sv 12/6 at £235 up to the big ohv push-rod Singer Kaye Don. Hydraulic brakes were standardized on all Singer cars but the biggest six in 1933, when the first 972cc sports Singer Nine was introduced; these Singer cars challenged MG and did very well in reliability trials, which suited their rather low gearing. In standard form the Singer car offered 70mph and 5.300rpm for £185, though even the 4th place (and best-placed British car) by a Singer car in the 1937 TT failed to make up for the catastrophe of the 1935 race, when the whole Singer car team was eliminated by spectacular steering failures. This unfortunate affair also sounded the death-knell of an excellent 4-bearing 1½-litre sporting six Singer car introduced during 1933.

The permutations went on. Singer cars own ‘perm-mesh’ clutchless change came in 1934, in which year there was also a 1½-litre ohc Singer Eleven with independent front suspension and fluiddrive transmission at £245. This Singer car could be bought with a fullwidth aerodynamic saloon body known as the Airstream. All 1935 Singer cars had ohc engines, fluidrive and independent front suspension being applied also to the de luxe 9hp saloon Singer car and the 2-litre 6-cylinder Singer car model  at the top of the range. In 1936 there were six modelsof Singer cars, cheapest of which was the 9hp Bantam Singer car with 3-speed gearbox, electric pump feed and 12-volt electrics, looking very like the Morris 8, and competitively priced at £120 for open models. Enevitably another reorganization of the Singer car company followed, and more models. A 42bhp Singer Twelve with an engine of just over 1½-litres’ capacity sold for £225, this Singer car had an X-frame, and market a reversion to the beam front axle, but a similarly-powered sports model Singer car was almost stillborn, and after 1937 there were no more true sports Singer cars or 6-cylinder models. Instead, a 1.2-litre Singer Ten with the option 3 or 4 forward speeds was listed for 1938 at prices from £168.10s. up, and the Singer car company’s confidence in its ohc power units was reflected in the issue of a bore guarantee with the 1939 Singer cars. The Singer Nine (now of 1.074cc) reverted to mechanical brakes, and a semi-sports roadster style was offered as an alternative to the saloon Singer car on this chassis. 1.100cc and 1½-litre engines were supplied to HRG, who continued to use Singer car power units for the rest of their series-production career.

After World War 2 Singer car production was concentrated at the Birmingham works (opened in 1927), and Singer re-introduced their pre-war types. In 1948, however, the saloon Singer cars were replaced by a full-width, slab-sided 1½-litre model, the Singer SM 1500. This Singer car retained a separate chassis, and featured column change, hypoid final drive, and coil-spring independent front suspension. At £799 the Singer car was more expensive than its rivals, and sales of Singer cars slumped once the era of the seller’s market came to an end. Neither this nor the improved 1951 1½-litre roadster Singer car, also with independent front suspension, could compete against the big manufacturers. None of the Singer car company’s subsequent innovations – the option of twin-carburettor power units in 1953, experiments with a fiberglass-bodied roadster in 1954, or the Singer Hunter saloon of 1955 with conventional radiator grille, fiberglass bonnet to and (on paper, at any rate) a rather expensive twin-ohc engine as an alternative – could save the day for Singer cars. Early in 1956 Rootes Motors purchased Singer car company, and by the end of the year the Hunter had been replaced by a Hillman Minx-based Gazelle retaining Singer’s 52bhp ohc engine. Even this last vestige of the old days had been phased out of production by the end of 1958, and since then the name of Singer cars had been carried by de luxe variants of the basic Hillman types, acquiring such Hillman improvements as optional automatic transmission in 1960 and hypoid final drive in 1961.

At the beginning of 1970 the Singer car range consisted of the rear-engined ohc Chamois (Imp), and the 1.469cc Gazelle and 1.725cc Vogue, both members of the Arrow family corresponding to Hillman’s Minx and Hunter. All these disappeared soon afterwards as part of the rationalization the Chrysler Corporation imposed on the old Rootes Group.

US, 1915 – 1920

Singer Motor Co Inc, Mount Vernon, N. Y.

The Singer car was the successor to the Palmer-Singer car, which had been produced since 1906, and was one of the finest and most expensive luxury cars manufactured in America in its few years of existence. Distinguished by a sharply pointed radiator and a wide choice of custom bodies from leading coachbuilders, the Singer cars produced between 1915 and 1919 were powered by a Herschell-Spillman 6-cylinder engine. In 1920, the series HEH20 line of Singer cars was introduced. This series Singer cars, which proved to be the last, had a 12-cylinder Weidely engine. Prices on the last Singer cars were as high as $9.000. Wire wheel were standard on Singer cars.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, KM

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