Close-up of the 2 cylinder, 10HP engine of a 1903, De Dion Buton, in the Concours d'Elegance, in Regents Street Motor Show 2016
De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1932. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux. The company was formed after de Dion in 1881 saw a toy locomotive in a store window and asked the toymakers to build another. Engineers Bouton and Trépardoux had been making a starvation living on scientific toys at a shop in the Passage de Léon, close to the "rue de la Chapelle" in Paris. Trépardoux had long dreamed of building a steam car, but neither could afford it. De Dion, already inspired by steam (though in the form of rail locomotives) and with plenty of money, agreed, and De Dion, Bouton et Trépardoux was formed in Paris in 1883. This became the De Dion-Bouton automobile company, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time, becoming well known for their quality, reliability, and durability. The engine moved to the front in 1903 in the Populaire with 700 or 942 cc ( or cu in) engines, the latter being powerful enough to allow trucks to be added to cars, and by the end of the year reverse gear had also appeared. It was joined by the 6 CV (4 kW) 864 cc ( in3) Types N and Q (the latter a low-priced K), the 8 CV (6 kW) R, and their first multi-cylinder model, the two-cylinder 1728 cc (105 in3) 12 CV (8 kW) S, followed in 1904 by the four-cylinder 2,545 cc ( cu in) 15 CV (11 kW) Type AD and 24 CV (18 kW) AI. The cars were also getting more and more conventional in styling, with the radiator moving in front of the engine and the clutch changing from hand lever to pedal. A pair of works 10 CV ( kW) De Dion-Boutons, in the hands of Cormier and Collignon, ran in the 1907 Peking to Paris rally, without success. Bouvier St. Chaffray did no better in the New York to Paris in 1908. That year, De Dion-Bouton peaked as a manufacturer.
Size: 4850px × 3744px
Location: Regents Street, London, England,UK.
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 10hp, 2, 1903, 2016, automobile, bouton, brougham, buton, car, charles, close-, concours, cylinder, cylinders, de, delegance, detachable, dion, driver, engine, french, georges, harold, jules-albert, manufacturer, marquis, motor, pritchard, regents, show, street, top, trépardoux, veteran
