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

Peerless

US, 1901 – 1931

(1) Peerless Mfg Co, Cleveland, Ohio, 1900 – 1905

(2) Peerless Motor Car Co, Cleveland, Ohio, 1905 – 1931

The Peerless car was known in its heyday as ‘One of the three P’s’ (Packard, Peerless and Pierce-Arrow), the great trio of American motoring. The Peerless car first appeared in 1900, the product of a concern which had built clothes wringers and bicycles since 1869. Its début was not auspicious, the 1900 prototype Peerless car being a typical horseless carriage with bicycle wheels and a single-cylinder De Dion Bouton engine. This Peerless car was followed in 1901 by the Peerless Type C Motorette, with a 3½hp single-cylinder water-cooled engine, this Peerless car was priced at $1.300. This was augmented later in the year by the Peerless Type B, similar but smaller and cheaper. 

Louis P. Mooers came to Peerless cars as chief engineer in 1901 and it was he who shaped the policy of the Peerless car company during its first formative years. He designed the 1902 range of Peerless cars. These Peerless cars were shaft-driven and the engine was mounted vertically at the front of the car in what was to be the conventional arrangement in most cars, but was an innovation at the time. Selective sliding-gear transmission was used on Peerless cars and side-entrance tonneaus were included in the range, possibly the first cars of this type. The prototypes of the 1902 Peerless car line were equipped with a single-cylinder Mooers-designed engine, although the production Peerless cars had 2-cylinder power plants. The 1903 Peerless car series were based on 1902 Peerless racing cars (also designed by Mooers). Two Peerless cars were available, a 24 and a 35hp, both with 4-cylinder T-head engines of Mooers design. The year 1903 was notable for the appearance of the Peerless limousine, probably America’s first closed car that was not custom-built.

In 1904, Mooers designed the famous Peerless Green Dragon racing car, a behemoth with a 6x6in bore and stroke. Driven from track to track by Barney Oldfield, ‘The Boy in Green’ test driver for the Peerless car company’s racing cars, the Green Dragon brought Peerless cars an enviable reputation as Oldfield continued to break records – frequently his own. He crashed the Green Dragon Peerless car in 1905, but a new Peerless Green Dragon car was built and continued the record set by its earlier namesake.

By this time, the Peerless car company was rapidly expanding and production of Peerless cars was increased. The Peerless cars was regarded as one of the prestige cars of America and was priced accordingly. In 1907, the first 6-cylinder Peerless car was introduced although the fours continued for many years. Changes on Peerless cars were largely limited to perfection of details. In 1912, prices ranged from $4.200 to $7.200. By 1913, Peerless cars were equipped with self-starters of the Peerless car firm’s own design.

An important development in Peerless design was the introduction of a V8 Peerless car, a year after the rival Cadillac concern. This Peerless V8 appeared late in 1915 and was reasonably priced in comparison with the expensive six-cylinder Peerless cars which were discontinued at this time. With 80bhp at 2.700rpm, low speeds as well as high were possible in top gear. In appearance the V8 closely, resembled the Cadillac. The 1915 model Peerless car continued without basic change until 1922, by which time its appearance had become outmoded. For 1923, bodies of the Peerless car were lowered and rounded and the rear platform spring given up. Strangely enough, the newer design of the Peerless car also closely resembled the contemporary Cadillac. 

By 1923, business was good with some 5.000 Peerless cars being sold. A year later, a six was introduced as a companion car to the larger eight, now termed the ‘Peerless Equipoised Eight’. In 1925, for the first time, an outside engine was utilized in a six by Peerless cars. This was a Continental and was used on the Peerless 6-80 chassis. Prices of Peerless cars ranged from $1.400 for the cheapest six to more than $4.100 for the most expensive eight. Between 1926 and 1929, Peerless cars continued to market two lines of sixes and one of eights at prices from $1.895 to $3.795. But despite a wide price range, sales of Peerless cars were falling steadily, possibly because of generally uninspired and rather unattractive bodies. In 1929, the Peerless car range was redesigned, the new Peerless car models resembling the Marmon or Stutz to a considerable degree. A Continental straight-8 replaced the old V8 engine. The two sizes Peerless cars were continued and towards the end of 1929, with sales increasing, the outlook seemed brighter. Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky was hired to design the 1930 Peerless car line. Thsese Peerless cars were the sleekest and best-looking the Peerless car company had ever produced. Three sixes and one eight were offered by Peerless cars with prices ranging from $995 to $2.195. The eight was dropped shortly after its introduction.

Then came the Depression and this finished the Peerless car. The Peerless car make had slipped from 25th to 28th place among American car manufacturers from 1928 to 1929 and to 30th place in 1930.

It was early in 1931 that the Peerless car company decided to attempt to recapture its former position by introducing a new prestige Peerless car which would compare with the Cadillac-V16 and the Marmon Sixteen. This Peerless car was the Peerless V16; only one prototype Peerless car was built and this still survives today. Built in 1931, the Peerless car was to have been produced as a 1933 or possibly even a 1932 model. This Peerless car was almost entirely built of aluminium. With a 42lb frame, an aluminium engine of 7.6-litres and 173bhp at 3.300rpm the Peerless car was one of the handsomest cars ever made in the United States then or at any other time. Its custom sedan body was built by Murphy.

Actual production of Peerless cars ended on 30th June 1931. The Peerless car plant remained idle for more than two years then, prohibition having been repealed, the Peerless Motor Car Company became the Peerless Corporation, brewers of Carling’s Ale and as such, it survives to this day.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; KM

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