Charles Deutsch-René Bonnet first worked together in 1939 building various Citroën based cars for smaller French races. Following the war it was 1954 before they worked together again producing a number of sports cars and single-seaters again based on Citroën running gear. The Panhard-engined DBs made their mark at Le Mans winning the Index of Performance in 1954-55-56-59-60-61 as well as taking class victories at Sebring and the Mille Miglia. In 1955 DB entered F1 with a supercharged 750cc engine fitted in a very light chassis, two cars were entered in the Pau GP but were completely outclassed.
In the early 1950s DB built a 500cc F3 car using a Panhard engine and gearbox which drove the front wheels. Front suspension was via Panhard dual transverse springs whilst at the rear two telescopic dampers acting on a solid axle. Occasionally the cars were competitive but the advent of Coopers and similar more advanced machinery soon saw the demise of the DBs. When F Junior began in 1959 the F3 cars were wheeled out again and for the first year they were reasonably competitive in French races but then history repeated itself and the Coopers and Lotuses saw the DBs vanish very quickly.
April 1964 saw the entry of a DB-Panhard at Pau, fortunately for all concerned it did not arrive.