Automobiles Darracq S.A. was a French motor vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq.
Using part of the substantial profit he had made from selling his Gladiator bicycle factory, Alexandre Darracq began operating
from a plant in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes. The company started by building electric
motor carriages until 1900 when they produced their first vehicle with an internal combustion engine. The Darracq automobile
company prospered and the 1904 "Flying Fifteen" was a production model of exceptional quality that helped the company capture a
ten percent share of the French auto market.
In 1902, Alexandre Darracq signed a contract with Adam Opel to jointly produce vehicles
in Germany under the brand name "Opel Darracq." Three years later, the company
expanded to England, incorporating the A. Darracq Company (1905) Limited with a
capitalization of £650,000. In 1906 the company expanded to Portello, a Milan suburb in Italy. They established Societa Italinana Automobili Darracq (SIAD) through a licensing with Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an
aristocrat from Milan. The business did not do well and Darracq shut it down in 1909 but a new partnership called Anonima
Lombardo Fabbrica Automobili (ALFA) acquired the business which a few years later Alfa-Romeo. In 1907, Darracq formed Sociedad Anonima Espanola de Automoviles Darracq in Vitoria, Spain with a capitalization of 1,000,000 pesetas.
The company began competing in auto racing as a way of gaining publicity for its products. Paul Baras drove a Darracq to a new
Land speed record of 104.53 mph at Ostend, Belgium, on November 13, 1904. Another new world record was set
by a Darraq vehicle on December 30, 1905 when Victor Héméry drove his V8 Special to a speed of 109.65 mph at Arles,
France. As seen here in the British poster, a Darracq was timed at 122.45mph (197.06 km) in 1906. Darracq vehicles won the 1905 and 1906
Vanderbilt Cup at Long Island, New York in the United States
and the Cuban race at Havana. Notable drivers who
raced Darracqs were Vincenzo
Florio, who two years later founded the Targa Florio, Louis Chevrolet, Victor Hémery and Louis Wagner.
In 1913 Alexandre Darracq sold out to British financial interests led by Owen Clegg who relocated to the Paris headquarters to
take over as the Managing Director of the company. During World War I, the
Darracq factory were converted to the production of various war materials. At war's end, in 1919, Darracq took over English
Talbot and Talbot models were then marketed as Talbot-Darracqs. In 1920, the operation
was reorganised as part of the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq
(STD) conglomerate and in 1935, the company was purchased by the Rootes
Group.
In 1953, a British film directed by Henry Cornelius and titled Genevieve, featured a 1904 Darracq as its centerpiece. The highly successful film sparked a huge
increase in vintage automobile collecting and restoration.
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