Darracq Model History

France · founded 1896

French pioneer marque (1896–1920) from Suresnes — set the 1905 world land-speed record with a 200 hp V8, then built the Flying Fifteen that captured ten percent of the French market.

Models

Voiturette / Single-Cylinder

Darracq's breakthrough production car — a 6.5 hp single-cylinder light car designed by Paul Ribeyrolles that sold over 1,000 examples by September 1901.

Voiturette · 1900–1903
200 HP V8 Racer

The 25.4-litre V8 sprint car that set the world land-speed record in December 1905 — one of the earliest V8-engined automobiles ever built.

Racing car · 1905–1906
Flying Fifteen

Alexandre Darracq's commercial masterpiece — a perfectly balanced 3-litre four-cylinder tourer on the first all-pressed-steel chassis, capturing roughly ten percent of the French automobile market.

Touring car · 1904–1907
14–16 HP

Darracq's mid-range four-cylinder tourer — best known as the platform for mass taxi service, including one-third of New York's cab fleet by 1907.

Touring car · 1907–1912
Clegg-Darracq 12 HP / 16 HP

The Owen Clegg-designed recovery models that restored Darracq's reputation — reliable, conventional four-cylinder tourers that brought the factory to 60 cars a week by 1914.

Touring car · 1913–1914

Other makes