1911 Breese Paris Roadster

1911 Breese Paris Roadster

Robert Breese had traveled to Paris in 1910 and worked with Peugeot Dress, DeDion-Bouton, and Renault. He was an inventor and engineer, and with his work experience planned to design and build his own automobile. He intended to return to New York with three prototypes which he could use to model his future vehicles. There is still mystery surrounding the exact number of cars that were eventually built, but it is believed that only 2 of the three known examples exist today.

It is believed that this example was the first one created. It has teardrop bodywork that was fashioned out of aluminum and attached to a ladder chassis. It was given an engine from Fevit, and mated to a four-speed transmission - a feature that was rather advanced for its era. It total weight of just 1,550 lbs. was rather light, giving it good maneuverability and performance. Although the flathead four-cylinder engine, with its single zenith Updraft carburetor, offered just 7.5 horsepower, it was capable of achieving speeds up to 70 mph.

This 1911 Breese Paris is one of three cars known cars produced by Robert Breese in France to sell in America. The other two were the teardrop roadster and the race car that has been lost. This car is believed to be the last of the trio and is fitted with many features not found on the earlier car. It is believed to have originally appeared with an attractive boat tail three-seater body. Under the hood of the Breese was a very advanced OHC 4-cylinder engine that shares many similarities to Bugatti engines of the period and the later 4-cylinder engine designed by W.O. Bentley- all three units share a camshaft driven via vertical shaft on timing gears.

This overhead camshaft engine had many advantages over the small flathead Fivet unit used in other cars. The biggest being that flathead engines are not as efficient on the intake stroke as overhead units. By designing an overhead camshaft unit, Robert Breese was able to drastically increase performance, while still using a relatively small 1.3-liter unit. Many HCCA members who toured with Robert in the NYC area, all said that this car was extremely fast for its age.

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