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

Oldsmobile

US, 1896 to date

(1) Olds Motor Works, Lansing, Mich., 1896 – 1943

(2) Oldsmobile Division of General Motors Corp, Lansing, Mich., 1943 to date

Ransom Eli Olds built an experimental three-wheeled steam Oldsmobile car in 1891, following this six years later with a single-cylinder petrol-engined vehicle of dogcart type. He then made a small number of electric Oldsmobile cars, before producing his famous Oldsmobile Curved Dash Runabout, the world’s first mass-production automobile. This Oldsmobile car consisted of a very short and simple buggy-type chassis with two long springs serving as auxiliary side-members, on which was mounted a single-cylinder moiv engine of 1.6-litres’ capacity, with trembler coil ignition, a 2-speed epicyclic transmission, and central chain drive. The engine on the Oldsmobile car possessed an immense silencer and turned at 500rpm – ‘one chug per telegraph pole’. Despite a fire at the Oldsmobile carfactory in March 1901, which destroyed everything except a single prototype, the little Oldsmobile car was an instant success, 2.100 being sold in 1902 and 5.000 Oldsmobile cars in 1904. Though at its best as a town runabout, the Oldsmobile car made a number of epic runs, notably Whitman’s and Hammond’s drive from San Francisco to New-York in 1903. This type of Oldsmobile car was made under licence in Germany as the Polymobil, and Ultramobil.

By 1904 Ransom Olds had left the Oldsmobile car company to found the REO company and the Oldsmobile car started to grow up. Dummy-bonnetted versions of Oldsmobile cars were available in 1905. These were followed by a twin-cylinder 2-stroke Oldsmobile car with frontal engine and a conventional gearbox selling for $1.250, and by the Oldsmobile Palace touring car, a four of square cylinder dimensions which combined pressure lubcrication and automatic inlet valves. Oldsmobile cars grew bigger and bigger; by 1908 the smallest Oldsmobile car was a 3½-litre four and the largest a six of over 8 litres’ capacity, and this trend was not reversed when General Motors took over the Oldsmobile car company in 1909. Compressed-air starters were available on Oldsmobile cars in 1911 and the 1912 line of Oldsmobile cars was obviously designed for the carriage trade, being headed by the immense Oldsmobile Limited, with a 6-cylinder 11½-litre engine, a wheelbase of 11ft 6in, wooden wheels of 43in diameter and a top speed of over 70mph, all for $5.000. Even the baby of the Oldsmobile car-family, the 4-cylinder Oldsmobile Defender had a capacity of 5-litres and cost $3.000, while all the Oldsmobile car range boasted 4-speed gearboxes. Oldsmobile cars were a little smaller at 7-litres in 1914 and had acquired Delco electric lighting and starting, though right hand drive was retained on Oldsmobile cars.

The Oldsmobile car company did not return to prosperity until the following year, when a modestly-priced sv 4-cylinder Oldsmobile 42 with streamlined dash was marketed and over 7.500 Oldsmobile cars were sold. This was followed in 1916 by an sv V8 Oldsmobile car with a Fiat-like radiator selling at about $1.500, which Oldsmobile continued to offer until 1923. They also listed both a 2.8-litre six and an ohv Northway-engined four Oldsmobile car in the early 1920s. In 1924 only the six-cylinder Oldsmobile car was available, and a wide range of ‘sport equipment’ (such as trunk bars and step plates) was advertised. Over 44.000 Oldsmobile cars were sold, and tourers were listed at $785. Mechanical pump feed and front-wheel brakes followed in 1927 and bodies of the Oldsmobile cars were restyled in 1928.

Sales climbed to over 100.000 Oldsmobile cars in 1929, in which year Oldsmobile launched the abortive 8-cylinder Oldsmobile Viking. Synchromesh was available on these Oldsmobile cars in 1931, and a 3.9-litre straight-8 closely resembling the Bucik in outward appearance joined the Oldsmobile car range in 1932. 1934 Oldsmobile cars had independent front suspension, and turret top styling characterized the 1935 Oldsmobile car models. In 1938, when a 6-cylinder sedan could be bought for $967, Oldsmobile cars became the first of the GM group to offer the option of an automatic gearbox, evolved by 1914 into the famous Hydramatic. 273.000 Oldsmobile cars were sold in 1941.

Oldsmobile cars became GM’s technical leader after World War 2; Hydramatic was optional on all Oldsmobile carmodels in 1946 and in 1948 the Oldsmobile car company’s official half-centenary was made the occasion to give the Oldsmobile cars ‘Futuramic’ styling, a preview of what GM’s other cars were to look like in 1949. Oldsmobile’s 1949 4.9-litre ohv oversquare Rocket V8 was the first of its kind to appear, and by 1951 the old sixes Oldsmobile cars had been dropped altogether. The Oldsmobile Rocket was giving 202bhp in 1955 and air-suspension was optional, the Oldsmobile cars came in two wheelbase lengths and manual transmission was available only on the cheaper models.

Oldsmobile car companys compact, the Oldsmobile F85 of 1961, was an interesting car with unitary construction, coil springing all round, a 9ft 4in wheelbase and an aluminium V8 of only 3½-litres’ capacity, developing 155bhp. Fastest of the full-size V8 Oldsmobile cars was the Oldsmobile Starfire convertible with 330bhp, while a sporting version of the F85 came out the following year in the shape of the Oldsmobile Cutlass. In 1963 there was a companion Oldsmobile Jetfire model, capable of 110mph, and listed at $3.633 with turbo-supercharger. The aluminium V8 was replaced on 1964 Oldsmobile carmodel F85s by Buick’s V6, and a Jetstar line of economy Oldsmobile cars was evolved by fitting a modestly-rated 8-cylinder engine in the regular chassis. 1966 Oldsmobile cars covered a wide range from the small six up to V8s of 383bhp, but the Oldsmobile car Division achieved a real technical breakthrough once more with the big Oldsmobile Toronado coupé. This Oldsmobile car had front wheel drive and Hydramatic transmission, and was powered by the most potent version of Oldsmobile’s 7-litre engine. The 1968 Oldsmobile car models were made in various capacities up to 7½-litres. The largest Oldsmobile cars had automatic transmission and power steering as standard, and the Oldsmobile 442 with 360bhp 6.555cc V8 engine and 4-speed manual gearbox represented the fashionable sporting image. By 1971 the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, 88, 98 and Cruiser station wagons had acquired front disc brakes, but a year later even the Oldsmobile Toronado boasted no more than 265bhp. The same basic range was still available on Oldsmobile cars in 1973, with single headlamps and front disc brakes standardized on the Oldsmobile Cutlass along with the new GM energy-absorbing front bumper. New to Oldsmobile car range was a compact, the Oldsmobile Omega with 3-speed manual box and drum brakes. Engine options for this Oldsmobile car were a 4.097cc six or a 5.735cc V8.

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