ROBERT BREESE Voiture

Je recherche des infos sur cette marque que je découvre à travers la vente Bonhams le 7 ovtobre 2018 à Philadelphie.
D'après eux Robert Breese était un Américain vivant à Paris et qui a construit quelques voitures. 2 ont survécu et sont en vente. Selon eux elles datent de 1911.
Pourquoi je cherche des infos ? tout simplement parce qu'il y en a une qui a un moteur SCAP type Y et un châssis Malicet & Blain comme une autre voiture existant en France mais qui est équipée d'un radiateur SCAP (voir le sujet "voiturette SCAP" ou évidemment mon site Automobiles SCAP).
Il est évident que cette Breese ne peut pas être de 1911 mais plus probablement de 1922 ou 1923. Voici quelques photos de cette voiture. La carrosserie est très môche contrairement à l'autre modèle équipé d'un moteur à soupapes latérales.




Sur la dernière photo, on reconnait bien les mains arrière du châssis Malicet & Blain
Dans Gallica, je n'ai trouvé qu'une photo de M. Robert Breese au volant de "la plus petite voiture du monde"


Didier

The 1911 Breese Racer

http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/tuesday_july_7_2009_the_1911_breese_racer



Sunday's post featured a film of the 1946 "Race of Racers" where Old 16 driven by Joe Tracy just beat out the 1911 "Breese of Paris" Racer driven by Bobby Breese. Walter McCarthy has provided this photo of Bobby Breese and his car.

Coachbuilt.com provides the following information on Bobby Breese and the Breese automobile:

   Robert P. Breese (b.1887-d.1958) was a Harvard-educated American engineer who relocated to France where he served as Assistant Engineer of the Peugeot Freres Sigma Auto Company of Paris from 1909-1911. He then introduced his own limited-production Breese automobile which was a light speedster powered by four-cylinder Ballot and Fivet engines. Approximately 65 Breese roadsters were produced during 1911-1912, and one is known to exist today.

   At the start of the war Breese joined the American Ambulance Corps after which he became attached to the US Aviation Service attaining the rank of Lieutenant. At the end of 1916 he returned to the United States and became the Manhattan distributor of the Philadelphia-built Biddle Automobile. His partner in Breese-Montant Motors was a French automobile importer named Louis Montant and the pair displayed a number of custom-bodied Biddles at the January 1917 New York Automobile Show.

   It was later that year that Breese announced he intended to manufacture the Breese Speedster. Production on the second automobile to bear his name did not ensue, although two years later he introduced another Breese automobile to the automotive press.

   Powered by a 20 hp Harley-Davidson engine, the Lilliputian Breese racecar was built using surplus aircraft parts and looked very much like the midget racers that would become popular after the Second World War. Unfortunately no backers were forthcoming and Breese spent the rest of his professional career as an engineer for Bendix Aviation and the General Bronze Corp.

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/walton/walton.htm

A Robert Breese-designed speedster appeared in 1917 on a stretched Hudson Series J chassis. Although it differed in some respects to the Walton, the basic body lines were the same and it’s likely that the New York-based Breese used a Walton body instead of creating an identical version from scratch. The Breese speedster utilized brass and brass plated accessories and featured Isotta-style leather hood straps and radiator to disguise its humbler origins.

Robert P. Breese (b.1887-d.1958) was a Harvard-educated American engineer who relocated to France where he served as Assistant Engineer of the Peugeot Freres Sigma Auto Company of Paris from 1909-1911. He then introduced his own limited-production Breese automobile which was a light speedster powered by four-cylinder Ballot and Fivet engines. Approximately 65 Breese roadsters were produced during 1911-1912, and one is known to exist today.

At the start of the war Breese joined the American Ambulance Corps after which he became attached to the US Aviation Service attaining the rank of Lieutenant. At the end of 1916 he returned to the United States and became the Manhattan distributor of the Philadelphia-built Biddle Automobile. His partner in Breese-Montant Motors was a French automobile importer named Louis Montant and the pair displayed a number of custom-bodied Biddles at the January 1917 New York Automobile Show.

It was later that year that Breese announced he intended to manufacture the Breese Speedster. Production on the second automobile to bear his name did not ensue, although two years later he introduced another Breese automobile to the automotive press.

Powered by a 20 hp Harley-Davidson engine, the Lilliputian Breese racecar was built using surplus aircraft parts and looked very much like the midget racers that would become popular after the Second World War. Unfortunately no backers were forthcoming and Breese spent the rest of his professional career as an engineer for Bendix Aviation and the General Bronze Corp.

BULB HORN Robert P Breese W O Bentley C S Rolls 3-4 1964

https://www.amazon.com/BULB-Robert-Breese-Bentley-Rolls/dp/B077NJT38F

1911 Breese Paris

https://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z12786/breese-paris.aspx

Bonhams Simeone Foundation Museum Sale: 1911 Breese Paris Teardrop Roadster

https://www.prewarcar.com/277385-bonhams-simeone-foundation-museum-sale-1911-breese-paris-teardrop-roadster

Bonhams Simeone Foundation Museum Sale: 1911 Breese Paris Teardrop Roadster
1911 Breese Paris Teardrop Roadster
Engine no. 2783E

Fivet Flathead Inline 4-Cylinder Engine
Signal Zenith Updraft Carburator
7½hp at 2500 RPM
4-Speed Manual Transmission
Solid Axle Front and Rear Suspension
2-Wheel Rear Drum Brakes

*Advanced design brass era sports car
*In current family ownership since 1961
*Original coachwork
*Believed one of two survivors.
*Exquisite French craftsmanship

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

After traveling to Paris in 1910 and having gained experience working at Peugeot Dress, DeDion-Bouton, and Renault, inventor and engineer Robert Breese decided to design and build his own automobile. The plan was to return to New York with the three prototypes and begin production. The exact number of cars that were eventually built remains a mystery, but it seems that only 2 of the three known examples exist today. This particularly dashing teardrop roadster is supposedly the first produced.

This particular car was built to very high standard. The teardrop bodywork was fashioned out of aluminum and fitted to a well designed ladder chassis. The engine was sourced from Fevit, and mated to a four-speed transmission- quite advanced for its day.

The marque's production numbers remain a lingering question of the company's history. Robert Breese himself did not need to produce cars to make a living so the whole enterprise may have been viewed as little more than a hobby. What is clear is that the Breese Paris cars were built to a very high standard and way ahead of their time. Most sports cars of the brass era achieved speed by having huge displacement engines. Breese appears to have taken a much more modern and sophisticated approach. The whole car is built with lightness and maneuverability in mind, only weighing in at a lithe 1550lbs. Even with the small Fevit engine, speeds upwards of 70mph were possible.

The earliest known owner of this car is a Mr. Albert Blecher of New York City. In 1927 he sold this car to Mr. Don Romeo, a well known jazz band tenor banjo player. Mr. Romeo was a very enthusiastic owner of the car and used it extensively around NYC for ten years. Unfortunately, Mr. Romeo was not very mechanically inclined and did not see the warning signs of the back wheels failing. After exhausting his search for replacement wheels, the car was disassembled and laid up in his garage. The car would remain in Don garage for the next 24 years, till a NYC fire Marshall determined it was a fire hazard and demanded he clear it.

A fellow vintage car enthusiast tipped off the new owner, Mr. Emanuel Speraza, about the car. Initially not having an interest, Emanuel offered the car to other club members. As fate would have it, a fellow vintage car enthusiast by name of Leo Peters, who introduced him to Mrs. Breese, Robert Breese's widow in a local park. When informed that it was probably the missing first car, Mr. Sperraza developed an interest, and purchase the car from Mr. Romeo.

Emanuel spent two weeks searching Romeo's house for all the parts, loaded the car components into the back of his station wagon, strapped the alloy bodywork to the roof, and then drove home with the whole lot. Over the next few years he spent many hours putting the car back together. This task made more complicated by the fact that no two breeze automobiles were the same. Many small parts he had to manufacture himself, but at the end of 2 years, the car was finished and back on the road. It was first displayed at the Antique Car Rally on Staten Island in 1963, where it won 1st place.

The car eventually passed to Emanuel's son in 1990, an ardent vintage car enthusiast and now retired NYPD police officer. The car has since been displayed at numerous events and shows. These included, The Greenwich Concours de Elegance, Medowbrook Hall, and the car won a Palmetto award at Hilton Head in 2006.

Even though the car was last restored in the 1960's, the cars condition today is very good, a testament to the Sperrazza family's careful care and diligent maintenance. It was recently inspected by a Bonhams Specialist and appears to be in very good order.

In the world of collector cars, there are few rarer than a Breese. The vehicle is surely eligible for any number of Concours events, or a slew of Brass era tours.
FOOTNOTES

   Please note, this vehicle is titled under Engine No. G2783E.

Pour cette 2ème voiture, la date de 1911 parait plus plausible.

https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A226803

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/history/long-island-forties-1.15263344

didierd a écrit:

Pour cette 2ème voiture, la date de 1911 parait plus plausible.

Effectivement, l'autre semble bien plus tardive et à suivi des modif si l'on se réfère aux images ci dessous (radiateur, roues, capot, auvent)

S'agit-il d'une troisième voiture?

Bonjour Didier

Le numéro de septembre de l'excellente revue "The Automobile" a consacré un article sur l'histoire de cette marque et de son créateur.

http://www.theautomobile.co.uk/back-issues/

Bonne lecture

JM

Au final, celle à moteur SCAP c'est venu moins de 15000 Euros avec les frais ce qui est très raisonnable. Quelqu'un a du faire un tout sur mon site car en bas de la description il y a les informations suivantes :
SALEROOM NOTICES
Close examination of the running gear of this car leads us to believe that it consists of proprietary running gear supplied by French component manufacturers to Robert Breese, such as Malicet et Blin for the chassis frame and gearbox and S.C.A.P. for the engine which seems to be a rebadged version of their model Y overhead cam unit. In each case there is no evidence to suggest that these companies supplied such components before the 1920s and therefore it is likely that the car dates from the post teen era.

Didier

C'est comme d'hab, les pseudo "experts" ne se référent qu'à ce que le vendeur leur à communiqué et ils sont surtout experts pour ramasser la com au passage