A Donnet abroad: the trials of French car ownership in a foreign land

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Unless you live in France, the chances of encountering a Donnet or Donnet-Zédel are pretty slim. Even in France, they're hardly ten a penny. The products of S.A. des Automobiles Donnet were only produced for a short time, from 1924 to 1933, and most survivors, we should think, are distributed somewhat sparsely round France. One very fine 1927 Donnet Type G2 torpédo luxe is to be found in England, however, with Stephen Sage in south Gloucestershire.

The Donnet company arose from the decline and merger of two previous businesses, Zédel and Vinot et Deguingand, and its early models were marketed as Donnet-Zédels, though the Zédel name was dropped in 1926. The mainstay of its early production was the Type G, a side-valve, four-cylinder light car with a four-speed gearbox. Naturally, the G2 was a successor to the Type G, which had run from chassis number 10001 in early 1924 to 14600 in October, 1926. The G2 picked up from from 14601 to 19999, then continued from 50000 to around 58000, so that roughly 13,400 G2s had been made when production stopped in 1928. Both Type G and G2 had a 1,098 c.c. engine (62 by 91 m.m.), which rated them at 9½ horsepower by the R.A.C. formula or 7CV by the French formula.

Stephen's car is chassis 52001. With this information, the late Eric Lepicard, nephew of Donnet's chief engineer Étienne Lepicard, dated its manufacture to late 1927, but we understand no more precise information can be obtained. Stephen, however, travelled to Avignon, following a lead provided by the dash plaque, which connected the Donnet with a garage called Le Sud-Automobile on Boulevard Saint-Roch, to piece together as much history as he could. He found in the local archive a registration document for his car dated February 29th, 1928. It was registered 5742-M12 and belonged to Georges Sorient, who was described as an entrepreneur living in Vedène, a north-eastern suburb of Avignon. On March 29th, 1929, the car was still near Avignon but was registered 3238 ZA and belonged to a farmer, François Michel, of Althen-des-Paluds. By 1955, it had been reregistered 961 BP 84 but was still with the same owner in the Vaucluse department. The next we hear of the car, it is 1981 and it is being shipped to England, still with its 1955 registration. Interestingly, when the car was imported, it had been fitted with a side-hinged rear door in the style of a torpédo commerciale, but M. Lepicard advised it must have been a modification, probably made by the farmer.

A real rarity

The Donnet's first 15 years in England were pretty sedentary. It ended up back on the road in 1996, although during restoration the rear door was filled back in. Stephen entered the frame in 2013, when he saw the car advertised in The Automobile. His rationale for buying it was simple—he had never come across a Donnet before, and it intrigued him. Thus would his troubles begin—not that the Donnet has been unduly troublesome, but even the best cars fall sick from time to time, and repairing them isn't a straightforward business when parts are nearly unobtainable and you can't garner much advice in the English-speaking world. Stephen reckons the British Donnet Type G Owners' Club would have a grand total of three members; besides his car, the only torpédo luxe in the country, there's a Bournemouth-registered survivor and a G2 fabric saloon which was imported from France several years ago.

Stephen outlines the trials and tribulations of Donnet ownership: "The first experience was when the car suddenly cut out and refused to start several miles from home, which required it to be taken home on a breakdown truck. It was soon established that the magneto had failed and needed to be completely overhauled, which was done by a local establishment in Stroud. Since this, I have acquired a further three spare magnetos from France, one attached to a spare engine complete with gearbox, which Eric Lepicard bought for me and I collected from the vendor. Currently, two of the magnetos require full refurbishment.

One thing after another

"The second and rather more serious situation arose when it became increasingly obvious that the engine was consuming more oil than it should, but with no obvious leakage or smoking. This led to removing the cylinder head, and there were the worst carbon deposits I have ever encountered. The prognosis was that the cylinder bores were worn and a rebore was required, but no spare pistons could be located. After some research, it was discovered that standard Triumph Herald pistons would fit with a plus-0.030 in. rebore, but the small ends would have to be bushed to accept the small Herald gudgeon pins. All this was passed to Purley Road Garage in Cirencester, and the head was skimmed and new valve guides fitted. Since this work, the engine has been entirely satisfactory.

"The other major problem was that the gearbox was very noisy, so it was decided to strip it down, and Purley Road Garage deemed the state of the gears none too good. After much agonising it was decided that one gear assembly had to be replaced, so a new one had to be manufactured. This was undertaken by Llewellin's Machine Company in Bristol. The gearbox was reassembled and tried out, but it was still very noisy. I thought perhaps another gearbox could be located with gears in better condition. As luck would have, it I located a spare gearbox with Depanoto in France. They kindly took it to the 2019 Rétromobile for inspection and I purchased it. To cut a long story short, I stripped the gearbox and had it rebuilt using the best parts from the two gearboxes, and at the same time had the clutch plate refurbished by Friction Services, near Keynsham. Since this last rebuild, the gearbox has operated satisfactorily. I am using SAE 250 oil which has helped a bit, but it's not as viscous as the oil recommended by Donnet, a form of semi-fluid grease which, according to their instructions, had to be heated up before being poured into the gearbox.

Some luck here, some head-scratching there

"Another stroke of luck concerning spares occurred when I saw a photograph from Mike Worthington-Williams in The Automobile showing some Donnet-Zédel wheel nuts. The nuts were on a complete Donnet front axle including wheels, brakes, &c., which had previously been used for a trailer. The assembly was located in Fife and I duly went up there to collect it. All the owner wanted in payment was a couple of bags of coal for his steam engine. The brake drums have been refurbished and new brake shoes fitted, again by Friction Services. Other spares which have been located are a spare starter motor picked up from the Beaulieu Autojumble, which has been refurbished locally, and a dynamo from Depanoto, so I have reasonable amount of spares at present." [We also have Donnet spares on PreWarCar.com from time to time—Ed.]

Beaulieu is always full of surprises. Stephen even found a painted Donnet servicing sign there which was originally affixed to a garage in Marseilles. It now takes pride of place on the wall of his garage at home.

"The latest issue this year has been a lack of charge indicated on the ammeter. This has been a challenge to sort out. Originally thought to be a dynamo problem, attention then turned to the voltage regulator, which was a more modern Bosch unit fitted when the car was restored. Thus the dynamo and regulator were removed and taken to Robson & Francis Rewinds in south-west London, and the units were tested as an assembly. It was found that the regulator was defective, so it was off to source a replacement from Auto Electric Supplies in Tenbury Wells. The replacement unit was an electronic one rather than the earlier mechanical unit and the whole assembly then refitted. Still no charge registered on the ammeter! Further head-scratching and investigation by a fellow V.S.C.C. member who was good at electrical problems identified the issue to be with the ignition and lighting switch, which had to have a wiring modification carried out. Since then all has been well and the car is serviceable—although the question is for how long..."

Stephen's efforts just go to show that a bit of perseverance pays off, along with a vigilant eye for spares and a dose of good fortune. In between its little rest periods, the Donnet has been enjoyed extensively at local car rallies as well as with the V.S.C.C. events. Its most ambitious outing was a trip to Rouen, so that M. Lepicard would have an opportunity to inspect it, but even in France Donnets are not without difficulties, as the G2 suffered a puncture and Stephen was unable to find a garage which knew how to mount a tyre on the Michelin Bibendum rim. C'est la vie, as they say in France. Stephen has continued undaunted despite much greater difficulties than that, and the smart appearance of the Donnet today is a credit to him.

Words: Zack Stiling
Photographs: Stephen Sage

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