French title

Chassis n° C142138 Engine n° C142138

- Unique model, incredible engine

- Ex-André Binda and Adrien Maeght

- Discovered by Henri Malartre

- Almost entirely original

- Mechanical reliability improved by Michel Magnin

- One of the most important French veteran cars in existence

 

This exceptional machine is certainly the oldest French Grand Prix car still in existence and is, moreover, very largely original. The earliest information we have concerning it relates to the motorsport events in which Léon Molon, the Gladiator dealer in Le Havre, took part. On 29 September 1906, he won his class at the Château-Thierry hill climb and then, three weeks later, he finished first among the four-cylinder cars at the climb at Gaillon, at an average speed of 91.84kph!

 

Gladiator, it may be recalled, was established in 1891 as a manufacturer of bicycles before moving into motorcycles and cars at the start of the century, in the successive hands of such well-known figures as Alexandre Darracq, Adolphe Clément and the engineer Marius Barbarou. There followed a range of conventionally designed cars with two- or four-cylinder engines (sometimes from Aster), and Gladiator competed at the start of the century in various motorsport events, in particular in England, where the company had close ties. Gladiator also took part in the great road races of the time, such as the Paris-Berlin, Paris-Vienna or Paris-Madrid. The models concerned, however, had smaller engines than this Gladiator 9-litre, the only one known, and it is quite possible that it was developed by Molon himself. It is believed to have been built in 1904, as some sources suggest, but the first known trace of its existence dates from 1905. A period photograph of the Gladiator shows a wooden chassis without a body but with all its mechanical components, which appear to be identical in all respects to those fitted today (engine, gearbox and transmission), and driven by Molon, its likely designer, in front of the station at Château-Thierry.

 

The car in its current configuration (with its double-frame chassis and bodywork), can be seen in Gladiator’s 1907 and 1908 catalogue. An article in L’Automobiliste in 1907 claimed it was the Paris-Berlin car ... There are numerous photographs from the period showing it both in its 1905 version (with a wooden chassis) and its 1907 guise (with the double-frame chassis and bodywork), which is absolutely identical to its current specification.

 

In any event, after fading into oblivion, this exceptional car was found by Henri Malartre, one of the pioneers in the preservation of old cars in France and the founder in 1960 of the Musée de Rochetaillée-sur-Saône. It was another great pioneering collector, André Binda from Nice, who bought the car from him at the start of the 1960s. It was in poor condition and the restoration took a year, with some parts proving hard to find. The right model of drive chains were found, as were Pirelli tyres from the same period. The engine was rebuilt and Binda’s only regret, according to a feature on the car in L’Automobiliste in 1966 was that he had been unable to find a carburettor which was an exact match for the original.

Once the restoration was complete, Binda drove the car on several occasions, including the hill climbs at Saint-Paul, near Vence, and in Monaco. He then sold it to Uwe Hucke, a collector and Bugatti enthusiast (among other makes), who in turn sold it in 1985 to Adrien Maeght for his Musée de L'Automobiliste, which had opened a year earlier at Mougins, near Nice. In 1990, the impressive Gladiator was the subject of an excellent feature by Marc Gosselin in the magazine Rétroviseur, and a few years later, it won over Paul-Émile B: “It was the kind of challenge I like and as soon as I was shown the car, I decided to buy it.” It had been laid up for several years and did not run well; a first trip out for a retrospective marking the Gordon Bennett Cup ended with the car overheating.

 

Michel Magnin, Paul-Émile B’s mechanic, took care of restoring the engine and making it more reliable, to make the car easier to use. In particular, he fitted a radiator with a small air scoop beneath the car and an electric fan behind the main radiator. As starting the car with the handle was extremely laborious, he installed a starter.

The Gladiator’s engine was very unusual: rather than being made entirely from cast iron, as was generally the case, the block of this side-valve four-cylinder engine with a dual ignition system had copper cylinder liners fixed in place by dozens of small screws. “This method of construction allowed it to be relatively light in comparison with other engines from the period”, Magnin recalled. It was mated to a four-speed gearbox and a transmission ending with two chains on the rear wheels. It was strongly built, with a second, smaller chassis frame placed beneath the first one, probably to make it more rigid.

 

Supposedly developing a hundred or so horsepower, the engine took the car to over 140kph, a speed which made driving it a unique experience, perched on top of the bucket seat with your body completely exposed to the elements. The equipment was basic: a big engine, two small bucket seats, a fuel tank at the back and that was it. The dashboard had a set of lubricators as well as a dial showing the air pressure which, in the fuel tank, allowed the carburettor to be fed. There was no lighting or equipment offering any comfort or protection. Despite these amazing characteristics, everyone who has taken the wheel has praised how relatively easy it is to drive, with its engine’s staggering torque.

 

Paul-Émile B covered 15,000–20,000km at the wheel of the car, taking part in several rallies, including some long-distance events, among them from Bilbao-Caen, Paris-Vienna and Paris-Madrid, a rally which came to an end at Angoulême due to a problem with the engine. The only notable failure during all these years was a broken crankshaft, repaired in England. The car took part in the Members’ Meeting at Goodwood on three occasions, running with cars from the 1920s and finishing each race most respectably. The condition today of this unique Gladiator is that of a car driven regularly and maintained with care. With its 9-litre 4-cylinder engine and the thundering sound it makes, this historic machine, which will be welcomed at the top events, is ready to take to the road again and offer its new owner the unrivalled sensations delivered by a monster of motorsport from the start of the century.

Photos © Kevin Van Campenhout