A large French aircraft engine manufacturer Lorraine-Dietrich, for few years diverted by venturing in to making automobiles. One of the cars that their engineer Marius Barbarou developed in 1926 was a model called B3-6 that had a 6-cylinder inline engine. Because of the engine's quiet performance this car was nicknamed “Silken Six”.

Lorraine-Dietrich participated in the Le Mans race of 1926 with three B3-6 cars. The race was won by André Rossignol and France Robert Bloch and his compatriots took the other two positions i.e. 2nd and 3rd in the same year.