D was for Deutsch and B for Bonnet. Charles Deutsch and Rene Bonnet were friends and very keen on motor racing. When Deutsch inherited a workshop from his father in 1932 he was, as a French civil servant, unable to be involved in business particularly as he was involved in the road building programme. He therefore sold the workshop to Bonnet who was a very good engineer. Their first venture was the D.B.1 which was based on the Citroen 11CV front wheel drive with a body styled on George Eyston's "Thunderbolt" Land Speed record car. This car, finished in 1938, was driven by Bonnet in several events events before the war and by 1939 D.B.2 had been built.
Both cars were driven in the first postwar meeting in Paris in 1945 but a further car was already nearing completion having been started, at some risk, during the German occupation.
Their formula was simply, light weight, low drag aerodynamics and a well tuned production engine. The friends built a number of single seat and sports cars using Citroen components but as they were not prepared to supply new parts and Panhard were all future cars were Panhard based.
In 1949 the business was formally incorporated as Automobiles D.B. at Champigny-sur-Marne, Seine. They tried their hands at 500cc Formula 3, Formula 2 and even Formula 1 and even as late as 1960 a Formula Junior. These were all distinctly uncompetitive whilst from 1949 they excelled in the small capacity Sports and Gran Touring classes. The first appearance at Le Mans was in 1949 and by the mid 1950's they came to dominate thee 750cc class in international events with wins at Le Mans, Sebring and the Mille Miglia. The 1954 Tourist Trophy was a handicap event and D. B won the race outright.
The Paris Salon of 1952 saw the launch of a D. B Coupe for road use. It had a box-section chassis with Dyna Panhard suspension at both ends. There was a choice of engines available ranging from the 610cc giving 30bhp up to an 850cc supercharged unit giving 55bhp introduced in 1954.
By 1955 further options were offered with engines of 1000cc and 1300cc and disc brakes. Also in 1955 the aluminium coachwork gave way to fibreglass and the Panhard gearbox was re-designed with synchromesh. The numerous options and small production numbers meant that very few D.B.coupe's, if any, were the same.
By 1961 the two friends had parted because Bonnet wanted to use Renault parts whilst Deutsch remained committed to Panhard and the business closed.
