Quick Contest – Disc Brakes # Answer

Trivia question answer:

Short answer is:
Citroen DS 1955

Citroen DS had the first volume production of cars with caliper/disc brakes in 1955. Although production was on the light side that
year but picked up in 1956.

What wasn’t 100% correct and why:

–  1949 Crosley – yes it had attempted to use disc brakes on all four wheels.  They used Goodyear/Hawley and used aircraft calipers.
These were not designed for the stop and go traffic.  After 6 months all the Goodyear/Hawley brakes were removed and replaced with the standard drum brakes.  Although they are often considered the first American car to sport disc brakes even if the production run only lasted a few months.

– Some might say that the 1902 Lanchester in England was the first, however the disc was thin copper and didn’t fare well.

– The 1949 Chrysler Imperial had a disc brake option, but it did not function like a disc brake system with a pair of disc pressing against in the inside of a drum.

–  There were a couple more manufacturers in the mix

Jensen (often considered the first) used four wheel disc brakes on there 1956 Deluxe, but not until Oct of that year and
production was only 50 some cars.

Austin-Healey used Dunlap disc brake on it’s 100 but it was a limited production race care where as Jensen was a street car.

Jaguar equipped their Le Mans winner in 1953, but again not a production car.

Triumph use Girling and Dunlop disc brake set ups in 1955, but mainly as tests (during the same Le Mans  where Jaguar won).  Girling impressed them the most, but it wasn’t until late 1956 that they began producing road cars with disc brakes.

So there you have the answer.

Thanks for reading.

Tim