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

Voisin

France, 1919 – 1939

SA des Aéroplanes G. Voisin, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Seine

Gabriel Voisin was first famous for his aircraft. Voisin was one of the earliest and most important pioneers, claiming to have developed a practical aeroplane before the Wright brothers; the controversy still rages. Voisin was always a spectacular character, and so were his Voisin cars. However, like his aircraft, the Voisin cars were efficient machines as well. With the post-World War 1 depression in the aircraft industry, Voisin cars entered motor manufacture by acquiring the rights in a Citroën model which was never made as such. This Voisin car was the Voisin 18CV of 1918, which Voisin car used a Knight double-sleeve engine. Sold as the Type C1 Voisin, this Voisin car had 4-cylinders and a capacity of 4-litres. The Voisin car was a fine car, and henceforth Voisin cars used only sleeve-valve engines, developed by himself to a high degree. The 4-litre Voisin car had aluminium pistons, to permit higher engine speeds, and was eventually capable of 80mph. In spite of an excellent performance, the 4-litre was an immensely strong, refined and silent motor car – all characteristics of Voisin cars in general. A sports version Voisin carwas also offered, with 90bhp. The 4-litre was made until 1926. Alongside this Voisin car, from 1921, was the smaller Voisin C4, an 8CV of 1¼-litres that was later enlarged to 10CV and 1½-litres. In its final form, the 10CV engine of the Voisin car produced 44bhp at 4.000rpm – so much for the opponents of sleeve valves, who claimed that high revolutions could not be combined with reliability – and the Voisin car was capable of 70mph. The Voisin car had Dewandre vacuum servo brakes, as had all Voisin cars from late 1925. The 10CV Voisin car, too, survived in basic form until 1928. All the same, Voisin cars had to follow fashion in one respect, and introduced three 6-cylinder Voisin cars for 1927. The best-known Voisin car was the 13CV, providing 2.3-litres, the first Knight-engined six to be sold in France. Even in normal form, this was a 66bhp, 75mph vehicle, but a sports model Voisin car was also available. From 1928, this six, known as the Voisin Charmant, had alternative final-drive ratio for fast cruising.

Apart from sleeve valves, to which a number of famous manufacturers were wedded at the time, Voisin cars had three other enthusiasms that were considerably less common. One was truly easy gear-changing, which many makers sought, but few actually incorporated in their production cars. The Sensaud de Lavaud system of infinitely variable gears was applied on Voisin cars in 1929, first to the 10CV which, in the following year, had been superseded by a Cotal electric epicyclic gearbox. To this interest was related Voisin cars fondness for multi-cylinder engines, which aimed at giving the utmost flexibility, thereby avoiding gear-changing altogether. Voisin made a V-twelve luxury car as early as 1921. The layout of this Voisin car was revived in 1930 for the Voisin Type C18 Diane. This Voisin car was a 4.8-litre car with a 115bhp engine that needed only 3 forward speeds. The Voisin Simoun and Voisin Sirocco were two low chassis models Voisin cars with striking razor edge saloon and coupé bodies which were made in very small numbers in 1930. Identical except for their engines, the Voisin Simoun used a 5.8-litre six, and the Sirocco the V12. The Voisin Diane was still listed for 1938. The other Voisin cars of the 1930s were sixes, the Voisin Charmant continuing to 1934.

Voisin cars had a reputation for putting into practice ideas which remained ideals for most manufacturers. For example, he was dedicated to weight reduction, and to this end produced notably light patent bodies whose only drawback was their extreme ugliness. Of wood and aluminium, they were entirely practical, being cheap to make, compact, and strong, as well as light. A 2-door, four-seater saloon body on the 10CV Voisin car chassis weighed only 1.060lb, keeping the weight of the whole Voisin car down to 22cwt. The most unprepossessing were the convertible Voisin cars and those with detachable hard tops. Because of their looks, the Voisin cars, with their maker’s patent bodies, never sold well – a deplorable waste of well-directed ingenuity. However, fabric Weymann-type and other normal bodies were also supplied on the Voisin car. From 1931 to 1934, some Imperia cars from Belgium were made under licence. In 1936 a most unusual Voisin car was made in the shape of the straight-12; this Voisin car had two 3-litre, 6-cylinder engines in line, the rear part of the hindmost engine projecting into the driving compartment. 180bhp and 125mph were claimed, but the Voisin car was not put in production. The last Voisin cars, introduced in 1937, used the 6-cylinder 3½-litre Graham engine, though without the supercharger. These Voisin cars were not the work of Gabriel Voisin, but were made by a syndicate that had acquired the Voisin car name. After World War 2, Voisin designed a car which was as complete a contrast to his former work as can be imagined – the Spanish-built Biscuter.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN    

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