65 HP (1901)

In 1891 Alexandre Darracq started the Gladiator bicycle factory. It was very successful and in 1896 he sold it to English investers and with the proceeds he was capable to found his own motor- car factory. He started to build electric carriages and in 1900 he built his first car with internal combustion engine. These were light and cheap cars equipped with single cylinder engines of 785 cc and shaft drive (the car in the picture is one of those, Mulhouse collection).

Although he only built single cylinder cars for the public, he also built some 4 cylinder racers of 5.9 litre with which he participated with reasonable success in races like Paris-Berlin in 1901 and Paris-Vienna in 1902. In 1902 he sold rights to build his cars to Opel in Germany. In the sporting field Darracq remained active until 1908 but without many further successes.

From 1903 onwards 1, 2 and 4 cylinder cars were produced. In 1905 the company was taken over by English investors and some larger cars were produced like the 5.9 litre 28 HP and even a 70 HP car which was devellopped from a race car. 1909 saw the last of the single cylinders and 1910 the last of the 2 cylinder cars.

Type RR (1910)

1912 was financially a disastrous year after the introduction of a model that failed and Alexandre Darracq left the company. An expert was called in from the British Rover company to get things back on their feet again. That worked and 1913 saw two popular models, one with a 2.1 litre and one with a 2.9 litre engine. Next to that came in 1914 a 4 litre 20/30 HP model.

1920 saw the merger of Darracq with the British Sunbeam-Talbot (which itself came into being in 1919). Under the name of Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq some 15 hard years were to follow, which mainly saw a struggle of survival with itself. Still some fine models were developed.

But in 1935 the end was imminent and the Sresnes factory was bought by Mr. Lago. Under the name of Talbot-Lago he was to build very fine cars, but that is a story in itself.

Although the Darracq name was officially listed until 1959, no cars under that name left the factory anymore.