Topic: TEI #34 - Solved. Robert Doisneau's "Bolide". Modified Darmont Three-Wheeler

[Tom_I]

I have been meaning to post this in the "information requests" thread for some time, but I don't see why it shouldn't be a puzzle.

This is from last year's calendar which hung on the wall above my computer. It's by the French photographer Robert Doisneau, and is jokingly called "Bolides". Translate that as you will. "Racing cars", "speedsters", " balls of fire", or whatever.

It is known that some of Doisneau's "spontaneous" street photographs (such as “Le baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville") were carefully posed, and I suspect that this is the same.

But what is the car on the right? Perhaps I'm being stupid, but I just don't know.

The photo was taken in Paris in 1956, but the car is obviously much older. I don't know anything more than can be seen in the photo. I don't even know if it has three or four wheels.

It has independent front suspension by a sliding pillar system, and friction dampers on the front wheels. It is right-hand-drive and has an outside gear lever. Behind the grille it looks to have an air-cooled V-twin motorcycle engine, set fore-and-aft to drive the rear wheel or wheels. I'm not sure, but I don't think it even has brakes on the front wheels.

So, esteemed colleagues, any ideas? A point if you can prove your answer.

[Paul Jaray]

I'd say a Rosengart.

[Paul Jaray]

Update...it's a Darmont Etoile de France with a special front, the same of my Rosengart and this:

[Allan L]

Yes, now it's been suggested I think Darmont makes good sense.
You'll recall they built Morgan three-wheelers under licence and the combination of sliding pillar i.f.s. and aircooled twin cylinder engine. So did Sandford of course, but their four-wheeler had a (water-cooled) Ruby engine.

[nicanary]

According to one reference, it has been identified by the Darmont Register as an "Etoile de France", perhaps with a modified body. It looks like it could be an earlier 3-wheeler fitted with the radiator shell from a later 4-wheel car.

[Tom_I]

Now I've had time to look around, I am quite convinced that it is a modified Darmont. I thought of Morgan whenever I looked at that front suspension, but failed to follow it through and make the French connection. I'm not sure of the model, but it could very well be an "Etoile de France". You would really need a better view of the engine to be sure, but the cooling fins look about right. The photo below shows what it would have looked like originally, with that quite distinctive outside gear lever. So a point to PJ.

But that radiator grille has been bothering me today. I have found one other picture of a Rosengart with a similar grille to PJ's first picture, but it's obviously not a standard fitment on any Rosengart models. However, PJ's second picture gives a clue, and I'm now reasonably sure that it's an aftermarket accessory grille made by Emile Tonneline, a coachbuilder and accessory maker from Courbevoie on the outskirts of Paris.

These seem to have been made principally for the Citroën Traction Avant, but maybe they also made them to fit Rosengarts. I don't know. There seem to be several designs, but the picture below shows one on a Traction Avant which is quite similar to the one in the puzzle picture.