Bollee
Léon Bollée Automobiles was a French company founded by Léon Bollée in Le Mans to build a first vehicle called "Voiturette".
1899 The next vehicle appeared in 1899. It was a four-wheel car with independent suspension, whose engine attracted the attention in 1900 of Darracq, which used it in its own models.
1903 A new factory was built in Le Mans and here Léon Bollée Automobiles built two four-cylinder models: one of 28 HP and 4.6 litres, and another of 45 HP and eight litres. These cars were equipped in 1907 with a six-cylinder motor and in 1909 with a four-cylinder of 10/14 HP.
The series of 1910 included nine models of which two were of more than 10 litres. By 1911 they were making 600 cars a year.
1913 Léon Bollée died in 1913 but the company continued operations being run by his widow and during World War I, as well as a few cars, made ammunition and machine guns. Car production returned fully in 1919 with the 2612 cc Type H followed in 1922 by a 3918 cc six.
1924 Morris, after failing to introduce its cars into France, made a second attempt by buying the factory at Le Mans to make cars with four-cylinder engines very similar to those of the Morris Cowley and Morris Oxford. The new company was called "Morris-Léon Bollée".
The company was reorganized by directors sent from the Morris factory in Cowley, and the production of Morris-Léon Bollée cars began at the end of 1925.
The first car, the Type MLB had a Hotchkiss 12 HP, 2.5 litre engine. In 1928 an 18 HP model appeared equipped with a straight-eight, 3-litre engine but only six were made.
In spite of difficulties in obtaining components, production reached 150 cars per week. However, the French market did not readily take to buying cars made by a foreign company and as sales did not meet expectations production stopped in 1928.
Morris was unable to make the French company profitable and finally, in 1931, Morris closed the company and sold the stock to a partnership which handled the sale of the last cars produced.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia