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1920 Ballot 3LR Boattail Racer

  • Chassis Number: 1007
Gabriel Ernest Maurice Ballot started building industrial engines in Paris in 1908, and they soon began to appear in cars. Customers included the French marques Delage and Barre. World War I saw the business flourish as his company produced engines for the French government. His road and race car company reappeared in 1919. Rene Thomas drove this particular model, the Ballot 3LR race car, at the Indianapolis 500 in 1920 and finished in second place. A Ballot 3LR driven by Jules Goux won the first Italian Grand Prix in 1921 held on a road circuit near Brescia. American driver, Ralph DePalma came in second in the French Grand Prix at LeMans driving a Ballot 3LR in that same year. The Ballot 3LR has an 8-cylinder, 3-liter overhead-valve engine. Ballots were always expensive, well-made cars, but in the late 1920s, the market for such cars shrunk dramatically, and they were taken over by Hispano-Suiza in 1931.

This Ballot (chassis number 1007) was driven by Louis Wagner to a 7th-place finish at the 1921 French Grand Prix - a race that was notable because it was won by an American car with an American driver. This Ballot (then listed as car #14) was among the early leaders in the race until clutch and carburetor problems put it out of contention. Rene Thomas drove this same Ballot (then listed as #20) to 2nd place in the Indianapolis 500 in 1920. Moreover, it won the Gran Premio d'Italia at Brescia later in 1921. During a second attempt to win the Indy 500, it broke a rear axle. Thereafter, it likely stayed in the United States. It passed through the hands of such notable collectors as Charles Lytle and Briggs Cunningham before George Wingard acquired it in 1987.

No auction information available for this vehicle at this time.

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(Data based on Model Year 1920 sales)

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1920 Ballot 3LR

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