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Thursday, 11 May 2006 |
From John Sutton
 Ets Ballot S.A, Paris, France 1921 to 1932
The marine engine manufacturer Ernest Ballot founded a company in 1906 and his reputation led to a demand for automobile and commercial vehicle engines from the rapidly expanding French motor industry. His customers included the established prestige companies Delage, La Licorne, and Mass. As the automotive side of the business became dominant the company was reformed in 1910 with two prominent members of the automobile manufacturing establishment on the Board, Adolf Clement-Bayard and Fernand Charron.
 During the First World War the company manufactured Hispano-Suiza V8 aero engines under licence and gained considerable experience at the same time.
The first cars were built in 1919 with engines designed by Ernest Henry the legendary inventor of the twin overhead camshaft four valves per cylinder layout whilst he was working for Peugeot in 1912. These straight eight Ballot racing cars were entered for Indianapolis in 1919 with 4.9 litre engines and the French Grand Prix.
The regulations for 1921 limited the engine size to 3 litres and so the capacity was reduced to comply and the car was also fitted with Hallot brakes on the front. For the same meeting they also produced a 2 litre four-cylinder racing car and this formed the basis of the first production Ballot which was designated the 2LS. With two seater or cloverleaf bodies. With its advanced engine giving 75 brake horsepower and racing pedigree it was a sensational car, but it was also very expensive at 1350 pounds in the UK and only about 100 were sold.
The concurrent 2LT model was designed by Fernand Vadier with a single overhead camshaft engine, 2 valves per cylinder and was considerably cheaper at 795 pounds, but it could still exceed 90 mph. In 1925 it acquired Dewandre vacuum servo brakes and in all about 1500 of the 2LT model were produced up to 1926. The 2LT S. announced in 1924 was a sporting version with about 60 brake horsepower from a high-performance engine and hemi-head and inclined valves and about 500 left the factory.
 By 1926 the customers for this class of car expected 6 cylinder engines and so Ballot showed the 2LT 6 at the Paris Show that year. It never went into production as they had decided to anticipate the fashion for multi-cylinder cars and launched the 2 618 cc straight eight RH. in 1928. The designer of this gear driven single overhead camshaft engine was Marzloff at Unic. He never met Vadier who designed the chassis and it was not a great success as it was underpowered. The performance was improved by increasing its capacity to 2 874cc and finally to 3 050cc when it delivered 105 brake horsepower. Now designated the RH3 it was made in two wheelbase lengths 130 or 142 inches which made it suitable for the fashionable coachbuilders such as Vanvooren and Figoni. The demand for expensive multi cylinder engined cars evaporated almost as soon as it started. As the Depression spread from America to Europe, sales never rose beyond about 580 and the company was in decline.
S.jpg "Ballot-1_)S.jpg") In 1930 Ballot was taken over by Hispano Suiza following Ernest Ballot’s dismissal by the chairman Pierre Forgeot. The RH3 had its capacity increased to 4 580 cc with a Hispano Suiza 6 cylinder engine and were sold as Ballot HS 26 (for 26 CV) until it was renamed the Hispano Suiuza Junior in late 1931. It survived until 1933, when the factory in Paris ceased car production.
All images on this page, with the exception of the monochrome photograph below, are of Humphrey Milling’s 1919 Indianapolis Ballot.
The photo below is submitted in the hope that a reader might recognise it and get in touch with us at
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 June 2006 )
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