Bignan 11CV History

Introduced in 1922, the 11CV used a 2-litre four-cylinder engine producing 50 bhp in road-going form. It came with a four-speed gearbox and servo-assisted brakes — advanced features for the era. A higher-output competition version, developed with desmodromic valve gear engineered by racing driver Albert Guyot and engineer Némorin Causan, pushed output to 70 bhp.

The 11CV's finest hour came at the inaugural 1923 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the Bignan 11HP Desmo Sport driven by Baron Raymond de Tornaco (Belgium) and Paul Gros (France) finished third overall, comfortably winning the 2-litre class by eight laps from the sister car. Bignan also won the 1924 Monte Carlo Rally with driver Jacques Édouard Ledure at the wheel of an 11CV.

For 1926 the 11CV received a significant update: a new eight-valve engine with twin oil pumps lifted standard output to 60 bhp. Production continued under revised ownership after the mid-1920s departure of Jacques Bignan himself, with the model remaining the commercial backbone of the range until the firm closed in 1931.