Darracq, Alexandre |
| INDUSTRIALIST, INVESTOR, ENGINEER (FRANCE) |
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BORN 10 Nov 1855, Bordeaux, Gironde - DIED 2 Nov 1931, Monte Carlo, Monaco BIRTH NAME Darracq, Pierre Alexandre GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 02, avenue du Boulevard, ligne 01) |
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Alexandre Darracq was trained as a draftsman. He worked at the Hurtu factory that made sewing machines and a machine by his design won a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. In 1891 he started the Gladiator Cycle Company. It was a great success and he sold it in 1896. Next he founded Automobiles Darracq France in Suresnes near Paris. In 1904 he produced ten percent of all automobiles in France. In the same year he sold his company to British investors but he remained its manager. In 1906 he founded the company that in 1910 became Alfa Romeo. In 1912 he left the automobile business. After the First World War he lived at the French Riviera where he took over the Hotel Negresco in Nice together with Belgian investors. He died in 1931 in Monte Carlo. His wife had died in 1920 and he was buried beside her at Père Lachaise in Paris. |
| Images |
 The grave of Alexandre Darracq at Père Lachaise, Paris. Picture by Androom (02 Nov 2019) |
