Pre-war Grand Prix cars that never raced (work in progress)
Author
- Roger Valentine
With thanks to
- Richard Armstrong, David Beard, François-Luc Beaudoin, Ray Bell, Tom Berge, Leo Breevoort, Barry Boor, Allen Brown, Roger Clark, Pedro Dupont, 'Ensign14', Pete Fenelon, Michael Ferner, Chris Hall, Carlos Jalife, Frank de Jong, Enoch Law, Jamie McGregor, Rainer Nyberg, Doug Nye, Jimmy Piget, Marco Rooney, Stu Schaller, Roger Valentine, Frank Verplanken, Pieter de Vos.
Revision date
- March 21, 2003
Eligible cars/entries: All Grand Prix cars that were intended to appear in any of the major or minor GPs on this list but never showed up or made it past the (pre)qualifying hurdle in their then-present guise, i.e. the Apollon qualifies although it did race as a Williams, but the McGuire doesn't as it raced - and with sad, colossal effects - in the 1977 Shellsport series.
Mainly based on information dug up through the collective efforts of the AtlasF1 Nostalgia Forum and the Foro Historia TheF1.com. Additional sources: Hodges, A-Z of Formula Racing Cars 1945-1990; Lawrence, Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965; Norman Smith, Case History. Alan Henry, The 4-Wheel Drives. Any help on extending this list and adding to the comments is appreciated.
| Year | Car | Comment |
| 1900 | Nesselsdorf | Early reports of a 'large racing car' from the forerunners of the Tatra company. |
| 1900 | Daimler | An unfinished chassis was exhibited at the National Exhibition in November. An 'unspecified member' of the ACGBI was reported to have placed an order. |
| 1900 | Peugeot 100 hp | Car with 4 (or 8?) cylinders was commissioned by Lamaitre. |
| 1900 | Canstatt-Daimler 24hp | 5-litre car for Jellinek. |
| 1900 | Benz 15hp | Almost a starter. Eugen Benz arrived at start, but declined to participate due to insufficient preparation time. |
| 1900 | Mors | Started (and finished) unofficially. |
| 1900-'01 | Snoeck-Bolide | Jenatzy said that the car he started in the race was not the one he intended to run. |
| 1901 | Benz 50hp | |
| 1901 | Darracq | |
| 1901 | Peugeot | |
| 1901 | Panhard | |
| 1901 | FN | |
| 1901 | Napier 50hp | Started in Paris-Bordeaux instead. |
| 1901 | Wolseley | A drawing appeared in 1901 catalogue. |
| 1901 | MMC | Motor Manufacturing Company of Coventry built a Panhard-like car for Henry Farman for 1901 Gordon Bennett race. Withdrawn due to lack of testing. |
| 1901 | Canello-Dunkopp | |
| 1901 | Mercedes | |
| 1902 | Auto-Mixte | |
| 1902 | Wolseley 45hp | |
| 1903 | Harkness | Completed in time for second of two Long Island tests, but did not arrive due to split water tank. |
| 1903 | Mathesson | 4 cyl 8"x10" |
| 1903 | Peerless | Although a Peerless did compete, Lord Montague refers to two cars at the second Long Island test - a 'smaller' and 'larger' model. |
| 1903 | Dennis | The Guildford firm listed a 'Gordon Bennett type' in their 1903 catalogue. |
| 1903 | Wolseley 30hp | Improved version of 1902 car - not allowed to compete in qualifying trials due to late entry. |
| 1903 | Star | dnq |
| 1904 | Renault | |
| 1904 | Spyker | First 4WD car. |
| 1904 | Benz | One car for Madame du Gast. |
| 1904 | Durkopp | |
| 1904 | Protos | |
| 1904 | De Dietrich | One car for Ettore Bugatti. |
| 1904 | Metallurgique | One of five Belgian firms reported in October 1903 to be possible contestents. |
| 1904 | Harkness 107hp | |
| 1904 | Whipples Giant Car | A 'crypto-Peerless' from Baltimore. |
| 1904 | Buffum | A low-slung flat-8. |
| 1904 | Cooper-Hewitt | |
| 1904 | Moyea | |
| 1904 | Smith & Mabley Simplex | |
| 1904 | Packard Grey Wolf | |
| 1904 | Christie | |
| 1904 | Peerless | Rebuilt 1903 car - took part in Long Island trials. |
| 1904 | Winton | 1903 car for Oldfield - took part in Long Island trials. |
| 1904 | Weller 80hp | Ordered by Ernest Owers in summer 1903. Probably existed only on paper. |
| 1904 | Hutton 150hp | |
| 1904 | Serpollet | DNQ |
| 1904 | Panhard 70 | DNQ |
| 1904 | Clement-Bayard | DNQ |
| 1904 | de Dietrich 24/28 | DNQ |
| 1904 | Hotchkiss HH | DNQ |
| 1904 | Darracq | DNQ |
| 1904 | Gobron-Brillié | DNQ |
| 1905 | Pipe (B) | Entry withdrawn due to wrangling within the ACF. |
| 1905 | Rapida | |
| 1905 | Itala | |
| 1905 | Hermes (Mathis) Bugatti | 90 hp |
| 1905 | Dufaux 26 ltr (SW) | Withdrawn due to dispute. |
| 1905 | Star | DNQ |
| 1905 | Wier | DNQ |
| 1905 | Siddeley | DNQ |
| 1905 | Darracq | DNQ |
| 1905 | Renault AK | DNQ |
| 1905 | Panhard 70 | DNQ |
| 1905 | Hotchkiss HH | DNQ |
| 1905 | Clement-Bayard | DNQ |
| 1905 | CGV | DNQ |
| 1905 | Automoto | DNQ |
| 1906 | Vulpes | DNS - 1906 ACF GP. |
| 1907 | Aquila | A single car entered in 1907 ACF GP. DNS - car damaged in transit. |
| 1908 | Napier 11371cc | ACF GP - not allowed to start (detachable wire wheels). |
| 1909 | Cottin-Desgouttes | Entered for 1909 ACF GP (cancelled). |
| 1909 | Le Gui | Entered for 1909 ACF GP (cancelled). |
| 1909 | Mors | Entered for 1909 ACF GP (cancelled). |
| 1909 | Rolland-Pilain | Entered for 1909 ACF GP (cancelled). |
| 1910 | American | DNS - 1910 American Grand Prize. |
| 1910 | National | DNS - 1910 American Grand Prize. |
| 1910 | Roebling-Planche | DNS - 1910 American Grand Prize. |
| 1910 | Sharp-Arrow | DNS - 1910 American Grand Prize (driver WH Sharpe killed in practice). |
| 1910 | Stoddard-Dayton | DNS - 1910 American Grand Prize. |
| 1910 | Simplex | DNS - 1910 American Grand Prize. |
| 1912 | Darracq | DNS - 1912 ACF GP. Car not ready. |
| 1912 | Sigma | DNS - 1912 ACF GP. Car not ready. |
| 1912 | Hispano-Suiza voiturette | DNS - 1912 ACF GP. Car not ready. |
| 1912 | Koechlin voiturette | DNS - 1912 ACF GP. Car not ready. |
| 1912 | Ford voiturette | DNS - 1912 ACF GP. Car not ready? (Other explanations also seen.) |
| 1912 | Knox | DNS - 1912 American Grand Prize. |
| 1914 | Alfa GP | Car not ready for 1914 ACF GP. |
| 1914 | Caesar Scacchi | DNS - 1914 ACF GP. |
| 1922 | Austro-Daimler | Entry withdrawn - 1922 ACF GP, following the death in practice of driver Gregor Kuhn. |
| 1922 | Bianchi 18 | DNS - 1922 ACF GP. |
| 1922 | Delage | DNA - 1922 ACF GP. |
| 1922 | Mathis | DNA - 1922 ACF GP. |
| 1922 | SLIM-Pilain | DNA - 1922 ACF GP. SLIM stood for Société Lyonnaise de l’Industrie Mécanique. |
| 1922 | Mercedes | DNA - 1922 Italian GP. |
| 1922 | Talbot-Darracq | DNA - 1922 Italian GP. |
| 1923 | Alfa Romeo P1 | Withdrawn from 1923 Italian GP following death in practice of Ugo Sivocci. |
| 1925 | Mathis | DNA - 1925 Belgian GP. |
| 1926 | Alvis | Not ready for the British GP, ran in the 200 race. |
| 1926 | Fiat 451 | Never raced. "The most curious device of the decade" (Court, Power & Glory). |
| 1926 | K&M | DNQ - 1926 Indianapolis 500. |
| 1926 | Shambaugh | DNQ - 1926 Indianapolis 500. |
| 1926 | Sievers Jr | DNQ - 1926 Indianapolis 500. |
| 1926 | Thomas Special "Flat-iron" | DNA - 1926 British GP (but seen frequently at other British races). |
| 1926 | Sima-Violet | DNA - 1926 ACF GP. The two-stroke Sima-Violet was theoretically designed as a GP car but was 200 kilos underweight, so it ran ballasted. It never raced in a GP but was an unsuccessful Voiturette (both categories were 1500cc s/c at the time). It ran unballasted in hillclimbs though, still unsuccessfully. |
| 1926 | Maserati 26 (8C-1500) | Reserve - 1926 Italian GP. |
| 1926 | Guyot Spéciale | A Rolland Pilain chassis, built by Albert Guyot. DNA - 1926 San Sebastian GP. |
| 1926 | Jean Graf CIME | DNA - 1926 San Sebastian GP. |
| 1927 | Green | DNQ - 1927 Indianapolis 500. |
| 1927 | Rausie | DNQ - 1927 Indianapolis 500. |
| 1929 | Alphi | DNA - 1929 ACF GP. |
| 1929 | Vernandi CIME | DNA - 1929 ACF GP. |
| 1931-32 | Maserati 8C/2500 Trazione Anteriore | Project not completed. |
| 1932 | Bugatti T53 4WD | Used in practice only for 1932 Monaco GP. |
| 1934 | Mercedes Benz W25 record breaker | Not intended for GP racing. |
| 1935 | Trossi Monaco | Ran at 1935 Italian GP (practice only). |
| 1938 | Mercedes Benz T90 | Six-wheeled prototype. |
| 1938 | ERA GP prototype | Tested at Donington, July 1938. This car later developed into GP1. |