Delage

France, 1905 – 1954

(1) Automobiles Delage, Courbevoie, Seine, 1905 – 1935

(2) Automobiles Delage, Paris, 1935 – 1954

Louis Delage, a former employee of Turgan-Foy and Peugeot, started modestly with a conventional shaft-driven single-cylinder 6½hp runabout with a De Dion Bouton engine which was marketed in England as the Baby Friswell. As early as 1906 Delage showed an interest in racing, and the Delage make’s second place in that year’s Coupe des Voiturettes was followed in 1908 with an outright win on a Delage single powered by a Causan-Designed engine. Meanwhile touring Delage cars continued to use De Dion power units, and later 4-cylinder engines of modest capacity built by Ballot, though single-cylinder cars rated at 6, 8 and 9hp were still catalogued by Delage for sale as late as 1910. The 1.4-litre ’Delage 12’ of 1909 was a neat little machine with monobloc cylinders, 3-speed gearbox and fuel tank streamlined into the dashboard, which sold for £230 and was progressively developed up to 1914. This Delage car had a pressure-fed crankshaft in 1910 and was joined in 1911 by a 2.5-litre 30bhp six on similar lines: the footbrake, unusually, worked on the rear wheels. This Delage model had acquired a 4-speed gearbox and electrics by 1914, a version with 11ft wheelbase being listed for town-carriage work.

Delage also pursued his racing career to good purpose, winning the 1911 Coupe de l’Auto with a horizontal-valve 3-litre 4-cylinder Delage which had a 5-speed gearbox with overdrive top. These features were also found on the 6.3-litre Delage cars which won both the 1913 GP du Mans and the 1914 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, while for the 1914 Grand Prix his 4½-litre Delage cars had twin ohc, desmodromic valves and 4-wheel brakes (but no handbrake). While producing munitions in World War 1, Delage found time to develop a new long-stroke 4½-litre sv 6-cylinder (Delage Type CO), which went into production in 1919 with 4-wheel brakes, but still with a fixed cylinder head. There was also a companion 3-litre 4-cylinder, and by 1921 the Delage CO had developed into the Delage CO2 with ohv, twin-plug head, dual magneto ignition and 88bhp. The 1920s saw a line of excellent fast Delage tourers, while from 1922 to 1927 a costly but very successful Delage racing programme was pursued. Starting with the 6-cylinder Delage I and Delage II sprint cars, the Delage company progressed to an ohv V12 of 10.7 litres’ capacity in 1923, with which René Thomas annexed the World’s Land Speed Record at Arpajon in the following year with a speed of 143,31mph. The Delage car subsequently had a long and distinguished racing career in England. For the 2-litre GP Formula in 1924 Planchon designed a four ohc V12 Delage of great complexity – in twin-supercharged 1925 form it gave 190bhp and won the French and Spanish Grand Prix. Equally costly were the Lory-designed 1½-litre twin-cam Delage straight-8s of 1926 – 1927, with 5-speed overdrive gearboxes and various types of supercharging. In their early days these Delage cars had a bad name for overheating but they were unbeatable in 1927, with five major Grands Prix to their credit. There was also R.J.B. Seaman’s triumphal 1936 voiturette season, when the nine-year-old Delage trounced the ERA and Maseati opposition.

Mainstay of the Delage touring-car programme from 1924 onwards was the classic 2.1-litre 4-cylinder Delage DI for sale, with ohv, 4-wheel brakes, magneto ignition (coil on later cars), 4-speed gearbox and single-plate clutch. For sale at £475 in England it was excellent value and sports versions with aluminium pistons were quite fast. At the same time the Delage company offered the vast 6-litre Delage Type-GL as competition for the Hispano-Suiza: unusual features of this ohc 6-cylinder were the clutched fan, twin oil pumps, X-braced frame and hydraulic servo brakes – it could be bought in England for £1650 in 1925. It was only produced up to 1927. The Delage DI had gone a year later, Delage turning to 6-cylinder cars of more modest capacity: the 3.2-litre ohv Delage DM followed by a less successful sv Delage DR, made in 2.2-litre and 2.5-litre forms. The 1929 Paris Salon saw the first of the big ohv long-stroke straight-8s Delage cars for sale, all with coil ignition, pump and fan cooling, and 4-speed gearboxes. Valve bounce was countered by making the springs operate separate rocker arms. It came in several wheelbase lengths from 10ft 10in to 11ft 11in, and carried superbly elegant if not always practical bodywork. In 1931 it was joined by a 3-litre Delage D6 which was the same car with two less cylinders.

A super-sports Delage D8 was available in 1932: though often overbodied it took its International class 12-hour record at 112mph. The Delage range was further complicated in 1932 by the advent of a new series of short-stroke models, the first of which, the Delage D6-11, had an almost square 2.1-litre 6-cylinder unit, with the Delage D8’s valve gear, independent transverse front suspension and a silent-third gearbox. Inexpensive pressed-steel saloon bodywork was used and the Delage car sold for £595. By 1934 there was not only a companion straight-8 (the Delage D8-15) of 2.7-litres, but also a 1½-litre 4-cylinder version. The big Delage D8s were still listed. 1935 Delages featured synchromesh and hydraulic brakes and slightly undersquare 6- and 8-cylinder engines were used: all Delage cars now had ifs. Louis Delage was, however, forced to sell out to Delahaye and thereafter the Delage cars slowly evolved into more florid versions of that make, built in the same factory. The 4-cylinder cars died out with the obscure 2.2-litre mechanically-braked Delage DI-12 of 1936, a badge-engineered Delahaye. There was an abortive plan to make Delage cars in England in 1937. Up to World War 2 the Delage company’s offerings were the 2.7-litre Delage D6-70 and the 4.3-litre 8-cylinder Delage D8-100 and Delage D8-120. All had hydraulic brakes, Cotal gearboxes and ifs, and the Delage D6-70 could be bought in England for £695. This Delage was raced to some purpose, winning the 1938 TT and taking second place at Le Mans in 1939, in which year capacities of both engines were increased. The 3-litre 6-cylinder car appeared after the war, but only a few were made, and Louveau’s and Jover’s second place at Le Mans in 1949 was almost the last that was heard of Delage. Along with Delahaye, Delage was aborbed by Hotchkiss in 1954.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Hotchkiss

France, 1903 – 1955

(1) Hotchkiss et Cie, St. Denis, Seine, 1903 – 1936

(2) Automobiles Hotchkiss, St. Denis, Seine, 1936 – 1955

The American Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss set up his ordnance Horchkiss car factory at St. Denis in 1867; the Hotchkiss cars were the result of an arm slump. The work of Terrasse, these first Hotchkiss cars were T-headed fours with pair-cast cylinders, 5-ball-bearing crankshafts, low-tension magneto ignition, round honeycomb radiators, 4-speed gearboxes, and the famous Hotchkiss drive by live axle and open propeller shaft. Initially cylinder capacities of Hotchkiss cars were 4.6-litres and 7.4-litres, but the Hotchkiss car company’s first racers of 1904 were 17.8-litre monsters notable for their aiv and chain drive. Though their 1905 successors conformed once more to touring-car practice, they were even bigger Hotchkiss cars, with 18.815cc and an alleged 130bhp. Hotchkiss’s last racing season was 1906 with their Grand Prix Hotchkiss cars had 16.3-litre L-head units and quick-detachable wire wheels. Though these Hotchkiss cars were unsuccessful, Hotchkiss sold 167 cars that year, with gate change standardized, and a choice of five Hotchkiss car models: a short-lived 4.2-litre petrol brougham, fours of 18, 30 and 42hp, and their first six. The last-mentioned Hotckiss car was the large V-type that evolved into a 9½-litre machine and was still being offered in 1912 as a Hotckiss car. Chassis price was £1.000 and it was capable of 60mph.

The slump following the Agadir crisis led to the abandonment of ball-bearing crankshafts on Hotchkiss cars; at the same time there was a move towards smaller Hotchkiss cars with the 3.1-litre T-type, with side valves in an L-head and high-tension magneto ignition. Two years later came something even smaller and more modern, the 12/16hp Hotchkiss X-type with 2-bearing crankshaft and three forward speeds at £390. Soon monobloc engines spread up the range to the 3.7-litre Hotckiss AB of 1912. From 1911 there were some smaller L-head sixes, the 4.678cc Hotchkiss X6 and the 5½-litre Hotchkiss AC6; 1912 sales were a record 598 Hotchkiss cars. Electric lighting was available from 1913, and all the 1914 Hotchkiss car models – the 2.6-litre Hotchkiss AG, the 4-litre Hotchkiss AF, the 5.7-litre Hotchkiss AC, and the 6-cylinder Hotchkiss AC6 – had semi-elliptic suspension all round.

The wartime demand for Hotchkiss machine guns led to the establishment of a branch factory under the Englishman Harry Ainsworth, this subsequently making engines for W.R. Morris until it was absorbed by him in 1923. At home Hotchkiss sold off their surplus works capacity at Lyons and concentrated on a revised Hotchkiss car again, the AF with full electrics and a horseshoe-shaped radiator in place of the traditional round one. Its successor, the Hotchkiss AH of 1921, had cantilever rear springs and torque tube drive, and a year later came the Hotchkiss AL with ohv, and a detachable head; front-wheel brakes were added for 1923. There was also a prototype luxury Hotchkiss car at the 1921 Paris Salon; this Hotchkiss AK had a 6.6-litre 6-cylinder ohc engine, dual ignition, 4-speed unit gearbox, servo-assisted 4-wheel brakes, and a cruciform-braced frame, but it never went into production.

The return of Ainsworth to St. Denis in 1923, coincided with the construction of a new Hotchkiss car factory and a more realistic type of car, the 2.4-litre 12CV Hotchkiss AM, with 4-cylinder sv engine, 4-speed unit box, four-wheel brakes, wire hwwls, and Hotchkiss drive once more. Between 1924 and 1928 it was the Hotchkiss car company’s staple product, selling at the rate of over a thousand a year and offering a 70mph performance at a modest outlay. It persisted until 1932, acquiring ohv in 1926 and rod-operated brakes in 1928, and its engine was used in some Morris-Léon Bollées. Even better was the Hotchkiss AM80 of 1929, largely the work of Bertarione. This was a short-stroke (80x100mm), 7-bearing ohv 3-litre six that owed a good deal to the AM2, though early cars featured torque tube drive; it was to be the basis from which all subsequent Hotchkisses were evolved. A silent 3rd gearbox featured on 1931 Hotchkiss car models, Hotchkiss drive reappeared in 1932, and 1933 improvements included Bendix brakes, cruciform-braked frames, down-draught carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps. Hotchkiss AM80 engines were also fitted to Sizaire Frères and Tracta cars.

The 1933 Hotchkiss car range was expanded both up and down, with new Hotchkiss 12CV (2-litre) and 13CV (1.3-litre) fours for the economy market, and an 85mph fast tourer, the 100bhp 3½-litre Hotckiss AM80S, for the enthusiast. This Hotchkiss car was based on the car with which Vasselle won the 1932 Monte Carlo Rally. Hotchkiss cars repeated this success in 1933 and 1934: in the latter year the Hotchkiss cars collected two Glazier Cups in the Alpine Trial. There were further wins in the Monte Carlo in 1938 and 1939; on the latter occasion a Grand Sport Hotchkiss car tied with a 3½-litre Delahaye. Radiators were moved forward on the 1934 Hotchkiss cars, and the 3-litre gave way to a 2.650cc 15CV that was not a success and lasted only one season. The 1935 Hotchkiss cars had synchromesh and integral boots, and at the top of the 3½-litre 20CV range was the twin-carburettor Hotckiss Paris-Nice, a 115bhp sports car capable of 95mph. Hydraulic brakes appeared in 1936 on Hotchkiss cars (to be quietly dropped halfway through 1937). The sports 20CV engine was now giving 125-130bhp and when allied to a short 9ft 2in wheelbase resulted in the Hotchkiss Grand Sport, a true 100mph saloon.

By 1938 the horseshoe radiator on the Hotchkiss car was now a wire-mesh grille, but despite the exigencies of French rearmament programmes the Hotchkiss car company managed to deliver 2.751 Hotchkiss cars that year, made up of the two fours, the reinstated 3-litre Hotchkiss 680, and the 3½-litre Hotchkiss 686 in various forms, including seven-seater limousines with the single-carburettor 100bhp engine. Hotchkiss also came to the rescue of the ailing Amilcar concern, helping to make the Grégoire-inspired 1.185cc Compound, a small fwd saloon with unitary construction in Alpax; this was sold in England, though not in France, as a Hotchkiss car. A 1.3-litre ohv development, the Hotchkiss B67, was ready for production when France collapsed in the summer of 1940.

Hotchkiss never really recovered from World War 2, though Peugeot were briefly interested in the Hotchkiss car company and Hotchkiss 686 cars won the first two post-war Monte Carlo Rallies of 1949 and 1950. The Hotchkiss 12CV and Hotchkiss 20CV were back in production, unchanged, by 1946, but the first year’s output was a miserable 117 Hotchkiss cars. Hydraulic brakes and independent front suspension did not appear until 1949 on Hotchkiss cars (though Hotchkiss had experimented with the latter in 1937), and a Cotal electric gearbox became a factory option. The 1951 Hotchkiss car models were ‘facelifted’ with V-screens, recessed headlamps and auxiliary coil rear suspension, but in the meantime there had been an expensive mistake: the acquisition by Hotchkiss of the rights to the Grégoire flat-4. This ingenious device was a development of the 1938 Amilcar theme featuring all-round independent suspension and a 4-speed overdrive gearbox, as well as front wheel drive. Production Hotchkiss car models with 2.2-litre engines were said to achieve 95mph and 30mpg, but the teething troubles were endless, and Hotchkiss only managed to make 250 Hotchkiss cars in the end. There was a shutdown in 1952 and the price of recovery was a merger with Delahaye that led inevitably to concentration on commercial vehicles. The old Hotchkiss cars 13CV and 20CV received another facelift in time for the 1954 Paris Salon, but his was their swansong, though medium-powered trucks continued to be made until 1970, along with a version of the American Jeep built under licence.

GB, 1920

Hotchkiss et Cie, Coventry, Warwickshire

Hotchkiss of Coventry, a British offshoot of the famous French Hotchkiss car firm, was set up during World War 1 to make engines in Britain. Their units became best known as the motive power for Morris and BSA light cars, but before they were taken over by William Morris, Hotchkiss experimented with a small car of their own. The Hotchkiss car consisted of their 1.080cc air-cooled V-twin ohv engine installed with a 3-speed gearbox in a pre-war Morris Oxford chassis. It never went into production.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS, TRN

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com