Lepelletier AEL

I would be very grateful for any information regarding a sports / race car that I’ve purchased. It is a two seater body of aluminium, this is attached to an aluminium frame and chassis.

The mechanics are Citroen Traction Avant and are front wheel drive but fitted with an ERSA four speed gearbox; the engine’s capacity is about 1,500 c.c., the engine is no longer “floating”. The engine is fitted with an aluminium cylinder head with the letters DB No. 8 stamped and cast within it. The carburetters are twin downdraft Soles. Two radiators are fitted with a header tank but there are no cooling fans. The front suspension is no longer by torsion bars, at the front there are two transverse leaf springs and lever dampers both sid., at the rear is a single transverse leaf spring and hydraulic dampers. Steering is each and pinion. The brakes are hydraulic with air vents on the backplates.

The car was built in France, I believe by a Dr Lepelletier in the late 1930s, a plate on the bonnet once read AEL ST. PHALL. I also believe that two cars were built possibly for “Le Mans” — did they ever compete? Could this be one of the DB (Deutsch-Bonnet) cars entered in the 1949 Le Mans which were Citroen based? Tottenham, London ALLAN SIBLEY