Darmont () was a French automobile manufacturer, based at

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Par ...

in the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

conurbation, and active between 1919 and 1939.

The business

During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Robert Darmont started his business as an importer of

Morgan Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer), ...

three-wheelers from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. When peace broke out he set up an auto-making business in partnership with his brother André, operating from a workshop at

in the western part of

. In 1921, the brothers obtained a licence to build Morgan three-wheelers in France, and a faithful replica, the Darmont-Morgan, was the result. The manufacturer remained faithful to their three-wheeler formula until 1935 when they launched the ''V-Junior''. With the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Darmont was obliged to declare itself bankrupt.

Cars

Darmont-Morgan

The Darmont-Morgan is virtually indistinguishable from the Morgan three-wheeler on which it was based. At the front, was an air-cooled V-2 cylinder 4-stroke motor tilted forward and with a capacity of 1084 cc, which was enough to power the vehicle to a top speed of about 125 km/h (78 mph). By the time of the October 1928

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

, the manufacturer was displaying a range of Morgan-based three wheelers, with a range of performance, levels, but most of them still with the 1084 cc engine of which both air-cooled and water-cooled variants were offered. The little cars had a successful career in street races and mountain races such as the

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest m ...

Rally. In 1921, Darmonts took the first three places in a road race from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Darmont Spécial

The Darmont Spécial was produced from 1926, fitted with a water-cooled version of the V-2 cylinder engine and a claimed top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). During the 1930s various more luxuriously fitted out variants of the (originally rather stripped-down) Spécial appeared. The Darmont Étoile de France produced from 1932 closely resembled the Darmont Spécial.

Darmont V Junior

The Darmont V Junior appeared in Autumn 1935. It was the first (and only) Darmont to come with four wheels. Reassuringly, however, the V-2 cylinder engine of approximately 1100 cc will have been familiar to those who knew the manufacturer's three-wheelers. It also remained faithful to some antiquated characteristics such as a hand-operated throttle mounted on the steering wheel, which closely connected the car to the by then unpopular cyclecars.

References

External links

GTÜ Gesellschaft für Technische Überwachung mbH
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202093006/https://www.gtue-oldtimerservice.de/automobil/marke/DARMONT/232/ , date=2014-02-02 (Access date 24 March 2013)

(German. Access date 8 September 2012)

(French. Access date September 2012) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France