Delaunay-Belleville
Automobiles Delaunay-Belleville ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) was a French luxury automobile manufacturer at Saint-Denis, France, north of Paris. At the beginning of the 20th century they were among the most prestigious cars produced in the world, and perhaps the most desirable French marque.Template:Citation needed
HistoryEdit
Julien Belleville had been a maker of marine boilers from around 1850. Louis Delaunay joined the firm in 1867 and married Belleville's daughter. He changed his name to Delaunay-Belleville and succeeded his father-in-law in charge of the company.<ref name=Automobile>Template:Cite journal</ref>
S.A. des Automobiles Delaunay-Belleville was formed in 1903 by Louis Delaunay and Template:Interlanguage link. Barbarou's family owned the boiler making company Belleville in Saint-Denis, with boiler design influences inspired by the company. Barbarou, then 28,<ref>Wise, David Burgess. "Delaunay-Belleville: The Car Magnificent", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 5, p.525.</ref> had experience working for Clément, Lorraine-Dietrich and Benz and was responsible for design and styling, including the trademark round grille shell.<ref>Wise, p.525 caption.</ref> The first car was exhibited at the 1904 Paris Salon, and it received enormous acclaim.<ref>Wise, p.525.</ref>
The company started with three models, all four-cylinders:<ref>Wise, p.525 and p.526.</ref> a live axled 16 hp and a 24 hp and 40 hp model, both chain-driven.<ref>Wise, p.525 and 526.</ref> These were likely the first automobiles to have pressure-lubricated camshafts.<ref name="Wise, p.526">Wise, p.526.</ref> The bodies were attached with just four bolts, and the brakes were water-cooled, from a Template:Convert reservoir.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/>
Delaunay-Belleville were a prestige marque, and one of the world's leaders, from the outset, and by 1906, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia had purchased a 40.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> Other royal owners included King George I of Greece and King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
The first French car maker to offer a six-cylinder engine, Delaunay-Belleville's 70 hp became available only in 1909, and then only in small numbers, remaining in limited production until 1912.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> This model came to be known as the Type SMT, or Sa Majesté le Tsar, because Nicholas purchased one of the last 70s built.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> He also ordered another in 1909; the demand for a silent starter, operable from the driving seat, became known as a Barbey starter, and was made standard at the end of 1910.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/>
Like most prestige marques, the cars were sold as bare chassis and bodies were coachbuilt for them. Between 1906 and 1914, British imports were mainly bodied by Shinnie Brothers, a Burlington Coachbuilders<ref>Burlington Delaunay-Belleville www.coachbuild.com/forum, accessed 20 April 2022</ref> subsidiary, in Aberdeen, then shipped to London for sale.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/>
During the First World War, the Delaunay-Belleville armoured car was a British armoured car built on the chassis of the luxury French Delaunay-Belleville tourer. It saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service in the early years of the war.
Postwar, Continental bodies gained popularity, at least in Britain, as Belgium's D'Ieteren Frères became most associated with the company: their landaulette, on a 26 hp chassis, was priced in Britain at £900, pitting them between Napier and Rolls-Royce.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/>
In 1919, the company offered the P4, a 2 litre sidevalve 10 hp four-cylinder, undoubtedly the most expensive voiturette on the market, as well as a 2.6 litre OHC 15.9 hp four, the P4B, in 1922.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/>
After Barbarou resigned, Delaunay-Belleville quality began to slip.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> New four-cylinder pushrod overhead valve 14/40 and 16/60 models appeared in 1926, and the pre-war 20 hp and 10 hp six-cylinder models continued to be produced until 1927.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> The last gasps were the Template:Convert 21 hp six of 1928 and the Template:Convert 21/75 OHV six of 1930. In 1931, Continental engines, imported from the US, were offered, being quieter and cheaper.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/>
By the late 1920s, Delaunay-Belleville had lost its prestige, and converted to truck and military vehicle production. In 1936 the previously separate car company was merged with the Delaunay-Belleville parent. Production of the Delaunay-Belleville RI-6 continued through the late 1930s and was revived after the Second World War. This was a six-cylinder-engined car strongly resembling<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> the Mercedes-Benz 230, featuring independent suspension all-round; revived postwar, it featured Cotal preselector gearbox<ref name="Wise, p.526"/> and a front grille design apparently copied from the 1939 Buick.<ref name=Automobilia1948/> However, the business was in decline: anyone buying a RI-6 in the 1940s would have done so in the knowledge after-sales service might disappear soon.<ref name=Automobilia1948/> Six cars were completed in 1947 and only four during the first part of 1948.<ref name=Automobilia1948/>
The company continued to advertise new cars for sale until 1950, but the factory was sold to Robert de Rovin in 1948 and thereafter used to make cyclecars.<ref name="Wise, p.526"/><ref name=Automobilia1948>Template:Cite journal</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Wise, David Burgess. "Delahaye: Famous on Road and Race Track", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. World of Automobiles, Volume 5, pp. 525–526. London: Orbis, 1974, Template:ISBN.
- La Delaunay-Belleville (1904-1947), un fleuron de l'automobile, Pierre-Henri, Philippe et François Richer, Les Editions Page de Garde, 2002, Elbeuf.