Lorraine-Dietrich was a French automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer from 1896 until 1935, created when railway locomotive manufacturer Société Lorraine des Anciens Etablissements de Dietrich et Cie de Lunéville (known as De Dietrich et Cie, founded in 1884 by Jean de Dietrich) branched into the manufacture of automobiles. The Franco-Prussian War divided the company's manufacturing capacity, one plant in Niederbronn-les-Bains, Alsace, and the other in Lunéville, Lorraine.
Beginnings
In 1896, the managing director of the Lunéville plant, Baron Adrien de Turckheim, bought the rights to a design by Amédée Bollée. This used a front-mounted horizontal twin engine with sliding clutches and belt drive. It had a folding top, three acetylene headlights, and, very unusual for the period, a plate glass windshield. While the company started out using engines from Bollée, De Dietrich eventually produced the entire vehicle themselves.
In 1898, De Dietrich debuted the Torpilleur (Torpedo) racer, which featured a four-cylinder engine and independent suspension in front, for the Paris-Amsterdam Trial; the driver, Etienne "Gaudry" Giraud, wrecked en route, but still placed third. The response was substantial, exceeding one million gold francs. The 1899 torpilleur was less successful, despite underslung chassis, a rear-mounted monobloc four, and twin carburettors; poor preparation left none of the works teams able to complete the Tour de France.
The Bollée-inspired design was supplanted by a licence-built Belgian Vivinus voiturette at Niederbronn and a Marseille-designed Turcat-Méry at Lunéville, following a 1901 deal with that cash-strapped company.[1]
In 1902, De Dietrich & Cie hired 21-year-old Ettore Bugatti
Post-World War I
After World War I, with Lorraine restored to France, the company restarted manufacture of automobiles and aero-engines. Their 12-cylinder aero-engines were used by Breguet, IAR, and Aero, among others.
In 1919, new technical director Marius Barbarou (late of Delaunay-Belleville) introduced a new model in two wheelbases, the A1-6 and B2-6, joined three years later by the B3-6, with either short or long wheelbase. All fell in the 15 CV fiscal horsepower category, sharing the 3445 cc six cylinder engine, which had overhead valves, hemispherical head, aluminium pistons, and four-bearing crankshaft.
The performance was such in 1923, three tourers "put up a passable showing" at the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, leading to the creation for 1924 of the 15 Sport, with twin carburetion, larger valves, and Dewandre-Reprusseau servo-assisted four-wheel brakes (at a time when four-wheel brakes of any kind were a rarity); they ran second and third, and were comparable to the 3 litre Bentleys. The 15 CV Sport did better in 1925, winning Le Mans, followed home by a sister in third, while in 1926, Bloch and Rossignol won at an average 106 km/h (66 mph), leading a 1-2-3 sweep by Lorraines. Lorraine-Dietrich thus became the first marque to win Le Mans twice and the first to win in two consecutive years.
Name change
The De Dietrich family sold its share in the company, which became simply known as Lorraine from 1928 on.
End of automobile production
The 15 CV was supplanted by the 20 CV, which had a 4086 cc engine, of which just a few hundred were made. Automobile production eventually became unprofitable and, after the failure of their 20 CV model, the concern ceased production of automobiles in 1935.
In 1930, De Dietrich Argenteuil plant was absorbed by Société Générale Aéronautique, and was converted to making aircraft engines and six-wheel trucks licensed from Tatra. By 1935, Lorraine-Dietrich had disappeared from the automobile industry. Until World War II, Lorraine concentrated on the military market, manufacturing vehicles such as the Lorraine 37L armoured carrier.
The Lunéville plant returned to rail locomotives. In 1950s it was acquired by the US company General Trailers and as Trailor (Trailmobile Lorraine) manufactured trucks.[4]
Aircraft engines
- Lorraine 5P – 5 cyl radial
- Lorraine 6A – (AM) 110 hp
- Lorraine 7M Mizar – 7 cyl radial
- Lorraine 8A – V-8
- Lorraine 8B – V-8
- Lorraine 9N Algol – 9 cyl radial
- Lorraine Dietrich 12Cc ? Dc in error?
- – V-12
- Lorraine 12E Courlis – W-12 450 hp
- Lorraine 12F Courlis – W-12 600 hp
- Lorraine 12H Pétrel – V-12
- Lorraine 12Q Eider
- Lorraine 12R Sterna – V-12 700 hp
- Lorraine 12Rcr Radium – inverted V-12 with turbochargers 2,000 hp
See also
- De Dietrich Ferroviaire
- List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners
External links
References
- , in caption Burgess-Wise. 1974^
- BUGATTI, THE PRESTIGIOUS FRENCH BRAND, September 19, 2019^
- , under "Believe it, or not." Burgess-Wise. 1974^