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

Hudson

US, 1901 – 1902

Beau-Chamberlain Manufacturing Co, Hudson, Mich.

The first car to bear the name Hudson was a light steamer with a vertical 2-cylinder engine, single chain drive and tiller steering. This Hudson car bore no relationship to the later Hudson car.

US, 1909 – 1957

(1) Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich., 1909 – 1954

(2) American Motors Corp., Kenosha, Wisc., 1954 – 1957

The Hudson car was created by Roy D. Chapin, and financed by J.L. Hudson, head of Detroit’s famous department store of that name. The first product was a 20hp 4-cylinder Hudson car of conventional design, capable of 50mph, of which 4.000 Hudson cars were sold in its first season. These fours, one of which was entered in the 1914 Tourist Trophy were first supplemented and then supplanted by a 6-cylinder line. The first of these Hudson cars was the heavy (3.696lb) and fairly expensive $2.350) Hudson Model 54 with a 4-speed overdrive gearbox, but the 4½-litre Hudson Super Six of 1916, with its high-compression sv engine, really made the Hudson company’s name, and marked the first of a line of engines of this type which lasted almost to the end of Hudson car production, giving generous outputs while still burning commercial-grade petrol. A Hudson Super Six made the first two-way transcontinental trip – New York to San Fransisco and back – in 1916; Ira Vail took 9th place with a Hudson car in the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 1919, and this Hudson car formed the backbone of New Zealand’s ‘service car’ network in the 1920s.

Though Hudson’s booming sales in the 1920s were largely due to the inexpensive companion make the Essex, the Hudson car company also pioneered modestly-priced closed Hudson cars, and in 1922 their ‘coach’ (a 2-door saloon) sold for only $100 more than a tourer. Until 1929, the Hudson Super Six remained the staple Hudson car model, and during its last three years of production the Hudson car was powered by a 4.7-litre ioe unit derived from the original Essex Four of 1918. In 1930 this Hudson car was replaced by a 3½-litre straight-8, later increased to 4.168cc in 1932 – this tough and well-liked unit remained in production until 1952, and powered such Anglo-Americans as the Railton and Brough Superior. These firms also used Hudson’s 3½-litre six.

The 1930s were less facrouable to Hudson cars, except in Britain, where the breed’s popularity warranted the manufacture of a small-bore 2.7-litre ‘export’ six rated at only 16.9hp, which was still being made for Hudson cars in 1940. The regular Hudson Six was a bigger machine of 3.455cc and was offered with independent front suspension in 1934 and 1935; in the latter year Electric Hand gear change became available on Hudson cars. Fencer’s mask radiator grilles followed in 1936, and steering-column change in 1939. The first post-war Hudson cars were a continuation of the 1942 models, but 1948 brought the revolutionary Hudson Step-Down series with the Hudson car company’s high-compression sv in-line engines. These low-built Hudson cars had unitary construction of chassis and body, rear wheels mounted inside the chassis frame, and coil-spring independent front suspension. The 5-litre 145bhp 6-cylinder Hudson Hornet engine introduced for 1951, proved a great success in stock-car events, but before this the Hudson car company had reached its post-war sales peak, with nearly 145.000 Hudson cars delivered in 1950. Competition in the medium-price bracket was too strong, and Hudson’s venture in the compact car market in 1953, with the 3.3-litre 6-cylinder Hudson Jet at $1.833 (this was also the first Hudson to abandon the wet-plate clutch) was not successful.

In 1954 Hudson amalgamated with Nash to form the American Motors Corporation. Though all production was transferred from Detroit to Kenosha, and the Hudson car range now shared its utinized hulls with the bigger Nash models, sales did not prosper. These last Hudson cars had initially the old sv 6-cylinder units or Packard-built V8s, while both Nash’s Rambler and the Austin-built Metropolitan were sold by Hudson agents. The Hudson car name was dropped at the end of the 1957 season.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG, MCS

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