Charles Deutsch and Rene Bonnet were friends from 1932, Deutsch was a Civil Servant and landlord to Bonnet, and together they built some racing specials for their own use in the 1930s. After WWII D-B was formed, and cars were produced with the help of Panhard et Levassor who let their engines be used in return for testing and development. Fibreglass bodies were produced by a company who wanted experience of building such bodies. Around 500 cars were made. The car was highly competitive and won around 1200 Index of Performance trophies. Charles Deutsch disagreed with Renee Bonnet's plan to swap to Renault engines, and also disagreed on going to rear wheel drive from front wheel drive and so the partnership ended with the HBR5.