De Dion Bouton

Georges Bouton and his brother in law Charles Trepardoux had a shop in Paris manufacturing scientific instruments and toys. The Marquis De Dion purchased one of their steam engined toys, and this eventually led to a partnership between them all in 1883. The new venture called De Dion, Bouton Et Trepardoux was to build full size steam vehicles, with finance coming from De Dion. A number of vehicles were produced before De Dion came to the realisation that the future of transportation lay with the internal combustion engine rather than steam, which resulted in one of the partners Trepardoux resigning. With the new De Dion-Bouton concern, Bouton designed and perfected his single cylinder engine which had an automatic inlet valve, initially 137cc and later on 185cc (1 1/4hp) in their first tricycle of 1896. The power was increased to 1 3/4hp for 1897 and had been improved to 2 3/4 hp by the time that production of their tricycle ceased. 1900 was the year that the first De Dion-Bouton car was made, the vis a vis Model D, developed over time into the models E, G, I, J and K models with larger engines. By 1903 the engines were put in front of the chassis with 6 and 8CV models, along with the 2 cylinder 12CV twin, and a 4 cylinder. By 1904 De Dion-Bouton became the worlds largest vehicle manufacturer, as can be guessed at these days from the London to Brighton Run where such a large proportion of the cars running are De Dion-Bouton! In addition, the De Dion-Bouton factory provided their engines for the bulk of the other vehicle manufacturers at the time. For example companies such as Renault and Delage started with De Dion power plants, as well as the hundreds of brands we no longer think of. De Dion-Bouton car production ceased in 1932, after which the company specialised in trucks. Georges Bouton died in 1938, and the Marquis DeDion in 1946. As a point of interest, the DeDion rear suspension design used on those earlier cars, which is how so many have heard of the DeDion name, was designed by the earlier partner Charles Trepardeux in 1893.

Some typical Tyre sizes for DeDion-Bouton vehicles:

26x3 (700x80) used on many Voiturette DeDion-Bouton models.

760x90 tyre size for the DeDion-Bouton Type ID , IS , IT , IV , IW

815x105 tyre size for DeDion-Bouton  type IB , IL , IM , JZ

880x120 tyre size for DeDion-Bouton Type HG , HF , IF ,    IN , IR ,  JD  

895x135  tyre size for DeDion-Bouton type   JD1 ,  JE , JH , JK , KF 

Blockley produce all these beaded edge type tyre sizes, plus bespoke (ie one tube per tyre) thick correctly sized butyl inner tubes. There were plenty of brands of beaded edge tyres being sold when we made our Blockley tyres, and we made the Blockley beaded edge tyre range because many customers as well ourselves were unimpressed with what was on offer, with the incorrect dimensions, construction, reliabbility and so on - hence the superb tyres and inner tubes to suit that we have made. Why anyone would want to buy anthing else is a mystery to us, especially as our low prices are possible because we sell direct.

Blockley Products for De Dion Bouton

760x90

Blockley Beaded Edge

£199.00 (£238.80 inc. VAT)

815x105

Blockley Beaded Edge

£229.00 (£274.80 inc. VAT)

880x120

Blockley Beaded Edge

£269.00 (£322.80 inc. VAT)

895x135

Blockley Beaded Edge

£319.00 (£382.80 inc. VAT)

815x105 Inner Tube

Blockley Inner Tube

£55.00 (£66.00 inc. VAT)

880x120 Inner Tube

Blockley Inner Tube

£67.00 (£80.40 inc. VAT)

895x135 Inner Tube

Blockley Inner Tube

£68.00 (£81.60 inc. VAT)

760x90 Inner Tube

Blockley Inner Tube

£39.00 (£46.80 inc. VAT)

26x3 (700x80)

Blockley Beaded Edge

£125.00 (£150.00 inc. VAT)

26 x 2.5 / 3 inner tube


£14.00 (£16.80 inc. VAT)