C.1902 Darracq 9HP Two Seater Voiturette

Approximately 1,280cc, Side Valve One Cylinder Inline Engine
9hp, single (modern) carburetor
3-Speed Manual Transmission
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension
2-Wheel Contracting Band Brakes, with Additional Transmission Brake

*Handsome 'French Front' Veteran Car
*Exceedingly rare car in America
*Potentially London to Brighton eligible
*Ready for refurbishment and/or recommissioning

DARRACQ

French engineer Alexandre Darracq established the Gladiator Cycle Co. in 1891, developed it over a five year period and sold out in 1896. He retained his interests in the bicycle industry, shrewdly moving to components manufacture, but was intrigued by the new-fangled horseless carriages. The first successful car built by Société A Darracq at Suresnes was a horizontal-engined car to the design of Leon Bollée which appeared in 1898. Darracq found this machine to be inefficient and built a car to his own design which appeared in 1900. This was a vertical-engined, single-cylinder voiturette of 6½hp with a tubular steel chassis and shaft drive, a very advanced feature in its day. Interestingly enough, by 1902 Darracqs were being marketed here in the USA, The American Darracq Automobile Company advertising a very similar automobile to that offered today in The Horseless Age in May 1902, the proprietor of the venture being Chas. D. Cooke, and their showrooms on West 13th Street and Ninth Avenue in New York City offered 'immediate delivery'.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

This handsome voiturette of the mid-Veteran era has an illustrious provenance having resided in the Harrah Collection for many years. Information on file shows the car to have been in the collection since roughly the mid-1960s, which is also supported by the presence of one of their famed brass identity tags, this carrying number '114' in relative terms a modest figure when one considers that the collection would ultimately comprise some 1,000 cars. Prior to its arrival in that collection, its origination is not known, whether it was originally supplied by the French entity and later imported or arrived here as new. But it would remain there until one of the famed dispersal sales in 1986 when it was acquired by the former owner. From information provided and photos of the car at that time, its condition has been the same for at least 35 years, and notes on file confirm that it had been on the list of cars for Harrah to restore, with consideration of their doing this work themselves, or supplying outside to Dale Adams.

In any event, this work clearly did not happen, and perhaps from an originality standpoint this is a good thing as it allows us to see today that it is intrinsically a particularly authentic, honest and unrestored example. The current owner purchased the car in the last 9 years from the purchaser at the Harrah sale.

Although catalogued by Harrah's as a 6.5hp model, the general proportions and features of the car suggest that it is of the 'bigger brother' variety, the 9hp, which had a larger single cylinder power unit of approximately 1.3 litres, longitudinal chassis support and other features. It is likely that if it is the more powerful model, that it would still perform well even if a rear tonneau compartment were added in place of the current pointed rear tail. Either way, it appears to conform to Darracq's specifications from 1902, and subject to blessing from the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain, it would be eligible for the ever-popular London to Brighton in the UK and here for Horseless Carriage Club Events.