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

Lancia

Italy, 1906 to date

Fabbrica Automobili Lancia e Cia, Turin, 1906 to date

Vincenzo Lancia, the son of a wealthy soup manufacturer, was apprenticed to Ceirano in 1898 and went on to FIAT as chief inspector when that company took over the Ceirano factory in 1899. In July 1900 Lancia drove in his first race at Padua. Thereafter Lancia was a member of the FIAT team until 1908, making the running in the 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup and taking 2nd place in the 1906 Vanderbil Cup and the 1907 Targa Florio; but in 1906 he formed his own Lancia car company. Production of the first Lancia cars was halted by fire at the Lancia car factory in February 1907, but during the year the Alfa appeared as a 2½-litre 4-cylinder shaft-driven car with side valves in an L-head, a 4-speed gearbox and three-quarter elliptic rear suspension. A Lancia car chassis cost £400 in England. In 1908 there was a companion 3.8-litre 6-cylinder, the Di-Alfa, of which only 23 were made: Lancia was not to produce another Lancia car with a six for 42 years. Suprisingly enough, he did not race his Lancia cars, though Hilliard’s Lancia car won the 1908 Savannah race in America and two years later Billy Knipper won the Tiedeman Trophy on the same circuit with a Lancia car. These circumstances led to the introduction of a near-Lancia car, the SGV, to the American market in 1911: this Lancia car was sponsored by CV Tangeman, the former FIAT concessionaire in New York. Monobloc-engined Lancia cars made their début in 1909 with the 3.1-litre Lancia Beta, while capacity increased to 3.5-litres with the Lancia Gamma of 1910 and to 4.1-litres with the Lancia Delta of 1911, which had its waterpump mounted in one of the engine brackets. There was also a 2.6-litre 15hp Lancia car with a 4-speed rear-axle-mounted gearbox. Electric lighting was available on the 4.1-litre Lancia Eta at £757 in 1913. A year later full electrics (Lancia car company claimed to be the first standardized installation by a European manufacturer) came on the 4.9-litre Lancia Theta: the use of foot operation for the starter together with a cut-out gave the Lancia car five pedals, but in other respects it followed regular Lancia car practice with its 4 forward speeds and a dry multi-disc clutch. From 1911 the Lancia cars had 4-spoke steering wheels, and also the symbolic emblem of a lance, designed by Count Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia for the Lancia car. During the World War 1 years, Lancia Theta derivatives served the Allied armed forces.

After the war the first Lancia car to came was the Lancia Kappa, an improved 90bhp development of the Lancia Theta with detachable head, but the shape of things to come was visible in an abortive 12-cylinder ohc 6-litre Lancia car which appeared at the 1919 Shows, though this Lancia car proved uneconomic to produce. The use of a very narrow-angle V of 22 degrees made a monobloc casting possible for Lancia cars. Though the Lancia Kappa gave place to the ohv Lancia Dikappa and to a 4.6-litre ohc V8, the Lancia Trikappa with conventional chassis, Vincenzo Lancia’s revolutionary Lancia Lambda was running in 1921, on show in 1922 and the Lancia Lambda was in full production by 1923. This Lancia car used once again a very narrow-angle V-type engine and overhead camshaft (though this time with only 4 cylinders, Lancia cars with the V4) which gave plenty of room for bodywork. Unitary construction was used for the standard torpedo body style of the Lancia car, this being available with a detachable hard top. The Lancia cars had independent front suspension of vertical-coil type, found on all Lancia cars until 1956 and persisting in the Lancia car range until 1963. Alloy blocks, pump cooling, full-pressure lubcrication, vacuum feed and 4-wheel brakes were also featured. 13.000 of these Lancia Lambda, in nine series, were sold up to 1931. Capacity of the Lancia Lambda went up to 2.4-litres in 1926 with the Lambda Seventh Series and again to 2.6-litres and 69bhp with the Lancia Lambda Eighth in 1928/ 1929. 4-speed gearboxes were standardized on the Lancia Lambda 5th series (1925). Separate chassis became an option with the Lancia Lambda 7th Series, being standardized on the Lancia Lambda 8th series and Lancia Lambda 9thseries; this last Lancia car series had coil ignition. Separate chassis have always been available as an option on subsequent chassisless Lancia cars. Though looked upon as a sports car in export markets by virtue of its superior handling, the Lambda Lambda car was never intended as such, and the later ‘long’ Lancia Lambda cars (11ft 2 7/8in wheelbase) made excellent taxicabs.

From 1929 Lancia marketed a series of ohc Lancia cars with separate chassis and hypoid final drive, of which the first was the Lancia Dilambda with a narrow-angle ohc V8 engine, electrically-welded frame, centralized chassis lubrication, fuel feed by twin electric pumps and (on later Lancia cars) servo brakes. Nearly 1.700 Lancia cars were made up to 1932. An 11ft 5in wheelbase was available for formal coachwork and a saloon Lancia car cost £1.295 in England.

To replace the Lancia Lambda in 1931 came two variations on this theme, the modest 1.9-litre 54bhp Lancia Artena, and the Lancia Astura, a small, 2.6-litre 73bhp V8 with silent 3rd gearbox, which had grown up by 1934 to 3 litres with servo brakes. By 1939 the Lancia car had acquired hydraulic actuation for these, had attracted some very elegant bodies from specialist coachbuilders and was the recognized transport for dignitaries of Mussolini’s Italy. A return to unit construction came with the little 1.2-litre Lancia Augusta late in 1932: this Lancia car was the usual ohc V4 with hypoid rear axle, but hydraulic brakes were standard on Lancia cars and its roadholding abilities compensated for a 65mph top speed and un-inspired looks. From 1933 to 1937 the Lancia Augusta was made in a French factory at Bonneuil, under the name Lancia Belna. Bodies were by French coach builders including Paul Née and Pourtout. In 1937 came Vincenzo Lancia’s last creation (he died that year), the 1.352cc Lancia Aprilia, which carried the Augusta formula of Lancia cars one step further, with independent torsion-bar rear suspension, a well-streamlined saloon body on the Lancia car, low weight (1.804lb) and engine output increased from 35 to 47bhp. No synchromesh was provided, but with a top speed of over 80mph and a fuel consumption of 30mpg this Lancia car became the exemplar of European light-car design. Capacity of the Lancia car went up to 1½-litres in 1939. The last Lancia Aprilia was made ten years later. Just before World War 2 came the 903cc Lancia Ardea, a miniature 29bhp version of the Lancia Aprilia with semi-elliptic rear suspension. Ten years later this Lancia car was given a 5-speed gearbox.

The first entirely new Lancia car since the founder’s death appeared in 1950. The Lancia Aurelia, the work of Vittorio Jano (late of Alfa-Romeo) and Gianni Lancia, retrained the hull, suspension and basic styling of earlier Lancia cars, but overhead camshafts had given way to a 1.754cc 56bhp push-rod V6, and the top 3 ratios of the back-axle gearbox were synchronized. 1951 Lancia cars were available with an optional 70bhp 2-litre engine and that year the first of the classic short-chassis Lancia GT coupé versions also appeared, with 2-litres and 80bhp. This Lancia car collected both 2nd place in the Mille Miglia and a class win at Le Mans. A 3rd in the Mille Miglia and a 1-2-3 victory in the Targa Florio followed in 1953. Rally wins recorde by later Lancia GT Aurelias included the Liège-Rome-Liège (1953), the Monte Carlo (1954) and the Acropolis as late as 1958. In 1953 Lancia car touring versions were available with 90bhp engines and there was also a seven-seater saloon Lancia car, the Lancia B15, on a 10ft 8in wheelbase, not to mention a 2½-litre 118bhp Lancia GT, which had acquired a De Dion rear axle by the end of the year. Steering-column change was standard on all coupés to the end of production in 1959, only the open Lancia Spyders coming with factory-fitted floor change. Meanwhile in 1953 the Lancia Ardea had given place to the 1.100cc Lancia Appia, a scaled-down Lancia Aurelia with a 38bhp engine. The cylinder block of the Lancia car was only 9½in long, a 2-bearing crankshaft being unusual with a 4-cylinder unit by this time. Though the Lancia Appia could exceed 75mph, the Lancia car was hardly competitive (at the equivalent of £780) with FIAT’s equally new 1.100-103 at £572. Encouraged by the success of the GT Lancia Aurelias, Lancia built some ohc sports-racing Lancia carversion which evolved into the 3.3-litre Lancia D24. Results were encouraging, a failure at Le Mans being balanced by a 3rd in the Targa Florio and a 1-2-3 victory in the Carrera Panamericanan (1953), and wins of Lancia cars in both the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia in 1954. Less successful were the Jano-designed 2.5-litre Lancia D50s for Formula 1. These Lancia cars had 4-ohc oversquare V8 engines, space frames, double wishbone independent front suspension and 5-speed gearboxes mounted at the side of the differentials; their best performance was a 2nd place at Pau in 1955 and after Alberto Ascari was killed the whole Lancia car operation was disposed of to Ferrari. At the same time the Lancia family lost control of the Lancia car company.

Good seller though the Lancia Aurelia was, Lancia cars were no longer competitive with Fiat or the state-subsidized Alfa Romeo factory, and their 1958 sales were 8.794 Lancia cars to Fiat’s 169.532. 1956 had brought a revolution in the form of the Lancia Flaminia, still a 2.5-litre V6 with rear-axle gearbox and hypoid final drive, but incorporating not only a revised form of unitary construction but also coil-and-wishbone independent front suspension. The 6-light saloon bodywork of the Lancia car derived from the Lancia Aurelia-based Florda exhibited by Pininfarina at Turin in 1955. Standard engines in the Lancia car gave 98bhp, but by 1958 there were short-chassis GT versions with 125bhp and disc brakes were fitted on all Lancia Flaminia cars. Capacity of the Lancia car again went up to 2.8-litres in 1964, when the 3C sports coupé had 152bhp. Even more revolutionary was the Lancia Flavia of 1961, which Lancia car was the work of Dr. Fessia, designer both of the pre-war Fiat Topolino and of the CEMSA-Caproni, from which both its front wheel drive layout and ohv flat-4 engine were derived. Disc brakes, a 4-speed all-synchromesh gearbox and semi-elliptic rear suspension also featured in the specification of this Lancia car, and a 92bhp GT coupé model was available in 1962. 1.700cc bored-out versions of the Lancia car were already being offered by Nardi and in 1963 Lancia themselves offered an alternative 1.8-litre unit in their Lancia car. In 1964 the long-established Lancia Appia gave way to the Lancia Fulvia, which had much in common with the Lancia Flavia, though there was a reversion to an 1.100cc Lancia V4 engine. Sports Lancia car versions developed 71bhp and 106mph was claimed from the Lancia Fulvia GT. The 1967 Lancia Car Programme included standard and sporting models of the Lancia Fulvia. Flavia and Flaminia, with Kügelfischer fuel injection available on the Flavia. There was continuing support for GT racing and rally Lancia cars, the works team’s record in the latter field including two successive wins for Källström and Häggbom with Lancia cars (1969 and 1970) in the RAC Rally, and victories in the 1972 Monte Carlo and Moroccan events. A Lancia car specially designed for rallies was the Lancia Stratos HF coupé, powered by a mid-mounted Fiat 132 or Dino engine. A small production run of these Lancia cars was built in 1973. The Lancia Flaminia was not offered after 1970, but 1969 brought a 1.991cc version of the Lancia Flavia coupé with 131bhp and dual-circuit servo-assisted disc brakes. This Lancia car was followed by a 5-speed saloon model using a miniature replica of the old Lancia car grille. The 2-litre engine was standardized in all 1972 Lancia Flavias. Fulvias were available with 1.3-litre and 1.6-litre units, outputs of the Lancia car ranging from 85 to 114bhp.

Lancia – a firm which has the reputation of never having made a bad Lancia car- made a remarkable recovery in the early 1960s, and built 40.000 Lancia cars in 1966, but mounting debts forced them to sell out to Fiat in November 1969.

The first signs of integration of Lancia cars appeared in the new Lancia Beta model at the end of 1972. This fwd saloon was available with dohc 4-cylinder Fiat engines of 1.4, 1.6 or 1.8 litres, and LX versions of the Lancia car had automatic headlamp beam levellings.

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