No, it is not a ...., and it is not a .... either!

At first,Alain CERF the automobile museum in Florida (USA) presents a FWD DERBY L8 car(not IS ,as writen by mistake),manufactured in 1933,fully designed (and patented) by my uncle Ing Etienne LERICARD;This roadster was actually engaged in the 1934 MONTECARLO Rallye(do read my FANATIQUE DE L'AUTOMOBILE article about this:sorry ,it was written in French!)
Considering the above mentionned rwd 1930/1931 DERBY model (FWD DERBY cars only appeared in october 1931),......
remember that Mr MONTET ,the previous DERBY Cy owner, died in May 1929 (not 1928);His wife continued to manage the DERBY Cy till March 1930;Douglass HAWKES then bought the DERBY Cy,but kept its technical manager ,ONE year:Mr GOETT,who designed all 1931 rwd models (including the above DERBY SIX);
The real HAWKES influence started in March 1931,when a new technical manager (Ing Etienne LEPICARD),my uncle, was taken on (coming from the DONNET concern) with his new FWD patent;
One of the factory driver (André ROUGEYRON) actually continued to use such a rwd DERBY cruiser racing version,in 1931 races,but not always with the genuine 6 cyl sidevalves CIME engine;The above mentionned car is not the only one left of that kind;"Pre war car "already talked about another one,very similar; (Remember your QUIZZ about DERBY shoes!)
That L1 K4 came from the Serge POZZOLI collection and was later sold and restored;
Their is another similar car in Switzerland and may be others....but ,as a whole,...very few;
Regards
Eric LEPICARD ,President of the Derby Club,FRANCE

Yes,I know all about the limits of this car's engine.It does NOT,however, prevent me from enjoying seeing it!

What about the Derby in Mister Alain Cerf's museum ?
it is not a Derby six but a Derby IS
http://www.tbauto.org/cars/derby.htm.

He told me it has has a Monte carlo rally history .

I even drove with my brother in a fast Audi TT to the south of France to find another CGSs engine to discover that it was cracked too, the owner 'forgot' to tell me that. Oh man what a horror.
But at least we enjoyed the trip, carpe diem!

Not a Derby engine as such, but a proprietary CIME engine. There are about five six cylinder rwd Derbys in existence, rather more of the various types of slightly earlier four cylinder cars most of which were ohv and even supercharged. Later cars of course were front wheel drive and either had the V8 engine (with patents for the chassis and engine held by Etienne Lepicard) or a Meadows engine. I could go on, but that is probably enough!!!!

Yes I forgot the Amilcar C6, you are correct. A personal trauma these cast-iron CGS sidevalve engines with cold-stitching cracks in the block all over the place! Maybe that's why I now love to drive a classic car working without valves whatsoever :-)

editor: you were unlucky to have a poor engine. there are many good ones around.

Sadly it's a Derby sidevalve engine....why did these french voiturette builders used sidevalve engines instead of OHC or OHV? It could have been much more exiting engine technique!

editor: Joop, you as ex-amilcarist, should know better. Amilcar, Salmson and many more did exactly what you are asking for. Possibly the Derby engineers were aiming for ease of maintenance, reliability and longevity.

According to the "Ritzsite"
http://www.ritzsite.nl/Archive/1102.htm
there are about 10 Derbys around, but type unspecified.
1928 saw the lowered ("surbaissé") chassis become available to which could be fitted 6-cylinder engines by CIME and established itself in the Voiturette class. Unfortunately with the sudden death of Bertrant Montet during surgery in 1928, his place was taken by Georges Goëtt and he steered the marque through the difficult years of the economic depression by concentrating on car repair- and maintenance while developing and introducing new models like the type L and L1, attractive cars with 4-cylinder Ruby and 6-cylinder CIME engines up to 1847 cc displacement. Also Derby's involvement in competition continued, crowned by 7 victories and numerous podium finishes in 1929 scored by factory driver Rougeyron.
Stuart