page_title: Automobiles Darracq France
section_title: Steam buses
hierarchical_section_title: Automobiles Darracq France / History of the business / Steam buses
caption_attribution_description: English: Airplane "Demoiselle" n° 21 from Alberto Santos-Dumont (1909), Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace Paris Le Bourget (France) 5.50 m x 6.20 meter (length) , weight&#160;: 118 kg; motor flat-twin Darracq 30 CV cooled by water Français&#160;: Airplane "Demoiselle" n° 21 de Alberto Santos-Dumont (1909), Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace Paris Le Bourget (France) 5.50 m x 6.20 m (length) , poids&#160;: 118 kg; moteur flat-twin Darracq de 30 ch refroidi par eau, on distingue le circuit de refroidissement sous les ailes
context_page_description: Automobiles Darracq France was a manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The enterprise, known at first as A Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by successful businessman Alexandre Darracq.
  In 1902 he sold his new business to a privately held English company named A Darracq and Company Limited, taking a substantial shareholding and a directorship himself. He continued to run the business from Paris but was obliged to retire to the Côte d'Azur in 1913 following years of difficulties that brought his business into very hazardous financial circumstances. He had introduced an unproven unorthodox engine in 1911 which proved a complete failure yet he neglected Suresnes' popular conventional products. France then entered the first World War.
  in 1916 ownership of the Suresnes business was transferred to Darracq S.A. In 1922 Darracq's name was dropped from its products and this business was renamed Talbot S.A. Initially its products were branded Darracq-Talbot and then just Talbot. The London parent company suffered a financial collapse during the great depression and in 1935 Talbot S.A. was acquired by investors led by managing director, Antonio Lago.
context_section_description: A joint venture into steam buses designed by Leon Serpollet was not a success. Only twenty were sold, and Darracq and Co lost money on the project. London's Darracq-Serpollet Omnibus Company incorporated in May 1906 was hampered by delays in building a new factory then by the death by cancer of 48-year old Serpollet in early 1907. The nurse of either Mr Nickols or Mr Karslake believed the steam buses would blow up and would not allow any of her charges to travel on one. The unpopular buses proved to have a brief uneconomic service life and their manufacturer was liquidated in 1912. Darracq and Co had to write off an investment of £156,000, a substantial portion of their capital.
caption: Darracq engined Demoiselle of Alberto Santos-Dumont
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