Alexandre Darracq

Born Pierre Alexandre Darracq in Bordeaux, France, of Basque parents, he trained as a draftsman at the Arsenal in Tarbes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées département.

He sold his very successful company in 1896 for a substantial amount[1] and for a short time went into the business of manufacturing electric cars as well as acquiring an interest in rotary engined Millet motorcycles.

[1] He established Automobiles Darracq France in Suresnes, near Paris where he pioneered the making of the chassis from pressed steel and the use of production machinery in place of hand labor.

[2] Darracq raised substantial capital through share issues with Cavaliere Ugo Stella, managing director of S.A.I.D and subsequently A.L.F.A., with Adam Opel in Germany and in Vitoria in the Basque region of Spain.

After World War I, he retired to the French Riviera where he joined with Belgian investors that took over the troubled luxury Hotel Negresco in Nice.

He died in 1931 at his home in Monte Carlo and was interred next to his wife Louise (1850–1920) in the family mausoleum in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.