As established, the company manufactured luxury-sized cars at Courbevoie on the north side of Paris. The business was financed in England, however, and it was also in England that most of the cars were united with their bodies and found their customers.
For several years during the early 1920s, Sizaire-Berwick cars were also manufactured in England.
Background
The brothers Maurice (1877–1970) and Georges Sizaire (1880–1924) founded the Sizaire-Naudin company in 1903.[4] In 1912 the Sizaire brothers left the Sizaire-Naudin company, however, following disagreement with an investor.
History of the business
Share of the Sizaire-Berwick Ltd, issued 29 September 1922
Nevertheless, the Sizaire brothers' participation in the automotive business was far from over and, in 1913, with the help of Frederick William Berwick, the London-based UK importer of Corre La Licorne cars, they obtained finance in London for the launch of a new automobile manufacturing company called Sizaire-Berwick.[4][5] The new company produced large luxury cars. The pre-cars were produced at the brothers' homebase in Courbevoie, on the northern edge of Paris, but 80% of the production was shipped to England, where they received their bodies, mostly fitted by Berwick's own coachbuilder located at Highgate, on the north side of London.[2]Jack Warner, the actor who later portrayed British icon Dixon of Dock Green worked at the repair facilities in Balham,[6] where he had started by sweeping the floors for 2d per hour.[7] In August 1913 he was sent to work as a mechanic in Paris and to drive completed chassis to the coast.[8] By the time war broke out in 1914, 139 cars had been produced.
In 1915, Berwick built a new factory at Park Royal, a London suburb used initially for the production of aeroplanes.[2] Following the outbreak of peace, Berwick founded, in 1919, the company F. W. Berwick & Co Ltd and in 1920 he started production of British-built Sizaire-Berwicks. These continued to be produced until 1925.[2]
In 1919, the French end of the business was acquired by an American named Burke. He started out by importing cars from Berwick's factory in England, but very soon after this the company was again producing cars at Courbevoie. In 1923, Austin gained a controlling share in the British end of the business.[2]
By the end of 1922, none of the firm's founders was active in the company. The Sizaire brothers were busy with the new Sizaire Frères business while Berwick was involved with another Luxury automaker called Windsor. Sizaire-Berwicks continued to emerge, albeit in small numbers, from the Courbevoie factory until 1927. At least four French produced Sizaire-Berwicks were believed to have survived in 2010.[9]
The cars
The first Sizaire-Berwick came with 3014cm3 engine supplied by Decolange. This was quickly replaced with a 4-litre (20 CV) monobloc unit.[2] The radiator grill on the early cars very closely resembled that of a Rolls-Royce, but, with litigation looming, the flat fronted grill on the Sizaire-Berfwick was replaced with one that featured a shallow V-shaped profile.[2]
At the Paris Motor Show in October 1919 Sizaire-Berwick took a stand and exhibited a "torpedo" bodied car powered by a 4-cylinder engine of 4523cm3.[4] Four cylinder engines of this size were by now unusual, but this one was described as a "very smooth-running" unit.[2] Maximum power was listed at 60hp, achieved at just 2000 rpm.[2] With a 3,430mm (135.0in) wheelbase, the car continued Sizaire-Berwick's large car tradition established in 1913.
Five years later, at the Paris Motor Show in October 1924 Sizaire-Berwick were still taking a stand and exhibiting a car with the same 4523cm3 engine as before, but with the wheelbase now extended to 3,680mm (144.9in). In 1925, the manufacture entered one of their 4+1⁄2-litre engine cars in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, but the car completed only 23 laps and was not classified.[10]
Two years after that, Sizaire-Berwick appeared at the Paris Motor Show for the last time, displaying a large luxury car, now with a 6-cylinder engine from Lycoming of Pennsylvania.[2]
After 1923, with Austin having taken a controlling share, the British end of the Sizaire Berwick business offered two models with Austin 1861cm3 and 3610cm3 four cylinder engines, as well as a 3397cm3 six cylinder unit.[2] The last British Sizaire-Berwicks were produced in 1925.[2]
Related Research Articles
Sizaire et Naudin was a French automobile manufacturer located on the northern side of central Paris, at 52 rue Victor-Hugo in Courbevoie, between 1903 and 1921.
Tracfort was a short lived French automobile manufacturing venture that lasted from 1933 till late in 1934.
Donnet was a French manufacturing company of the early twentieth century. Founded as Société des Établissements Donnet-Denhaut by Jérôme Donnet and François Denhaut at Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1914, the firm manufactured a highly successful line of patrol flying boats for the French Navy. The company became known simply as Donnet after designer Denhaut left it in 1919, but did not continue to build aircraft for long afterwards.
Buchet was a French motorcycle and automobile manufacturer between 1911 and 1930.
Charron was a French automobile manufacturer, based in the Paris conurbation, and active between 1906 and 1930.
Société des Automobiles Bellanger Frères was a French automobile manufacturer between 1912 and 1925. The cars were the brainchild of Robert Bellinger (1884-1966), who had previously sold Delaunay-Belleville vehicles.
The Bignan was a French automobile manufactured between 1918 and 1931 on the north side of central Paris, in Courbevoie. The business was created, and till the mid 1920s-headed up, by Jacques Bignan.
Automobiles Stabilia was an automobile manufacturer based on the north side of Paris between 1906 and 1930. Although the name of the company changed a couple of times, the cars were branded with the Stabilia name throughout this period. The company specialised in lowered cars featuring a special patented type of suspension.
Société des Automobiles Pilain (SAP) was an automobile manufacturer based in Lyon between 1902 and 1920.
Ryjan was a make of French automobile produced by the Grillet company between 1920 and 1926. The factory was established in what was then a small town, a short distance to the west of Paris, called Chatou. In 1925 production was relocated to Nanterre in the west of the country.
Sizaire Frères was a French automobile manufacturer established by the brothers Maurice (1877–1970) and Georges Sizaire (1880–1924) in 1920, and producing cars between 1923 and 1929.
Sénéchal was a French automobile manufacturer between 1921 and 1929.
Sima Violet was a French manufacturer of cyclecars between 1924 and 1929.
Établissements V. Vermorel was a French engineering business that existed between 1850 and 1965: for more than a century, until the death in 1957 of Édouard Vermorel, it was a family-run business.
Vinot-Deguingand was a French automobile producer.
Société des Nouveaux Ateliers A. Deguingand was a short-lived French automobile manufacturer.
Majola was a French producer of engines and automobiles, established in 1908 and producing automobiles from 1911 till 1928.
Messier was a French automobile manufacturer, based at Montrouge, on the southern edge of Paris, from 1925 till 1931.
Octo was a French automobile manufactured at Courbevoie by Louis Vienne between 1921 and 1928.
Automobiles Oméga-Six was a French automobile manufactured in the Paris region by Gabriel Daubeck between 1922 and 1930.
References
↑ Linz, Schrader: Die Internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie.
↑ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1925 (salon [Oct] 1924). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 72s: 79. 2005.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
