1960 DB HBR5

1960 DB HBR5, Antoine Laureau and Antoine Moreau, 2017 Tour Auto Optic 2000

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DB, Champigny sur Marne, France.  Founded by Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet, this small French manufacturer produced small racing cars and sports cars from 1947 to 1961.  One of their most successful model in terms of sales was the HBR5 which was sold between 1955 and 1961. As with many of their cars it featured a two cylinder Panhard engine.  The one pictured above has a 851cc engine but others had 748cc engines or 954cc engines and some were supercharged.  It had a fibre glass coupé body, was front engined and front wheel drive.  They were entered in many long distance events such as Le Mans 24 hours and the Tour de France Automobile having sucess in the Index of Performance competition.  The car was sometimes called the DB Coach and smaller engined versions were designated HBR4.

DB Panhard Monomill 850

DB Panhard Monomill 850, Montée Historique de Beaune-St Romain 2016

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Automobiles DB, Champigny sur Marnes, France.  Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet formed Automobiles DB in the late 40s.  They mainly used engine and suspension parts from Panhard cars.  After achieving some success with sports cars at Le Mans in the early fifties they produced some F3, F2 and F1 single seater cars using Panhard components.  They were front engined and front wheel drive.  They used 500cc, 750cc and 850cc engines.  Some were supercharged.  The cars were very light and had some wins but couldn't compete with the best competition of the time.  In 1954 a French Championship for DB Panhard Monomill 850s was held.  The first race was held at Montlhery in April 1954 for drivers such as Pierre Levegh, Harry Schell and Alphonse de Portago.   The race was won by a young Jo Schlesser and the series by Paul Armagnac (who had the Nogaro circuit named after him).  In 1955 the cars were sold to a new racing school at Montlhery.