Seen in Christchurch NZ that year. This was a French marque begun in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq. His company built electric motor carriages until 1900 when they produced their first vehicle with an internal combustion engine. The Darracq automobile company prospered and the 1904 "Flying Fifteen" was a production model of exceptional quality that helped the company capture a 10% share of the French auto market. In 1902, Alexandre Darracq had signed a contract with Adam Opel to jointly produce vehicles in the German Empire under the brand name Opel Darracq.
Darracq succcessfully competed in land speed record attempts: on 13 November 1904 Paul Baras drove a Darracq to a new Land speed record of 104.53 mph (168.22 km/h) at Ostend, Belgium. Another new world record was set by a factory built Darraq special on 30 December 1905 when Victor Hémery drove his V8 Special to a speed of 109.65 mph (176.46 km/h) at Arles, France. The V8 was shipped to Ormonde Beach, Daytona, where it was timed at 122.45 mph (197.06 km/h) in 1906 to win the title "1906 Speed King".
After WW1 Darracq took over British Talbot and Talbot models were then marketed as Talbot-Darracqs. In 1920, the operation was reorganised as part of the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq (STD) conglomerate and in 1935 the company was purchased by the Rootes Group.
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