Amilcar

Lettering

Joseph Lamy

Émile Akar

Marcel Sée

Hood ornament as used from October 1926

Amilcar was a French brand for motor vehicles . The manufacturers were successively Société Nouvelle pour l'Automobile (SNPA), Société Anonyme Française de l'Automobile (SAFA) and Société Financière Automobile or Société Financière pour l'Automobile (SOFIA). The focus was on small sporty automobiles . The brand was also successful in motorsport .

The different manufacturers

1921: Société Nouvelle pour l'Automobile

Le Zèbre played an important role . This Puteaux company had been producing small cars in large quantities since 1909 . After the founder Jules Salomon switched to Citroën , Le Zèbre lost its importance. Joseph Lamy held a managerial position there. The businessman Émile Akar held shares in Le Zèbre. The racing driver André Morel sold Le Zèbre vehicles. Edmond Moyet worked from 1919 at Salomon for Citroen and was there in the development of the Citroën Type C involved. In his spare time he designed a small vehicle. Morel connected Moyet to Lamy and Akar. They agreed.

Lamy and Akar then founded the company in Saint-Denis in mid-1921 . Émiles brother Jean Akar, Michel Calman-Lévy and others were also involved. Morel as sales manager and Moyet as designer were also part of it. Car dealerships that previously offered Le Zèbre supported the young company. Automobile production began around October 1921. The brand name was Amilcar . This made-up word was put together from the letters of the names Lamy and Akar. The name was registered on July 19, 1921. In October 1921, three vehicles were presented at the Paris Motor Show. Morel in particular pushed participation in car races. On October 23, 1921, he took part in a one-kilometer speed race near Lyon with a flying start and achieved class victory. From November 1921 there was a British sales company with WL Stewart & Co. The first customer vehicles were delivered in late 1921 or early 1922.

The first model Amilcar Type CC was a cycle car at the beginning of the construction period . For vehicles of this special vehicle class, an annual vehicle tax of 100 francs has been in force in France since July 30, 1920 . For the next higher vehicle class Voiturette was due for 280 francs.

In October 1922 the four-seater Amilcar Type C 4 and the sports version Amilcar Type CV were added. The Amilcar Type CS quickly followed the Type CV . The coachbuilder Carrosserie Charles Duval manufactured many of the bodies. In addition, La Phocéenne and Georges Lemaitre have come down to us. In that year 1695 vehicles were built.

In 1923 the sports car Amilcar Type CGS and the Amilcar Type E appeared as mid-range cars. In that year 2529 vehicles were built.

In mid-1924, a larger plant in the same city was acquired and moved into in October. The capital was increased from 3 million to 10 million francs. 800 people were employed at the time. The Amilcar Type G was presented. In that year 3,647 vehicles were built.

In 1925 there were 1,100 employees. Around 1925 Margyl joined as a further coachbuilder under the direction of Marcel Sée and Gilbert Nataf. The Amilcar Type J released the Type E from. At the end of 1925 there were 150 sales outlets in France. Around 15 vehicles were built every day. 3764 vehicles were built that year.

Around 1926 Amilcar bought Margyl and thus had its own body shop. The Amilcar Type CGSS presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1926 replaced the Type CGS . The Amilcar Type C 6 sports car with a six-cylinder engine also appeared . The capital was increased to 13 million francs. 3970 vehicles were built that year.

In early 1927 financial problems began. The raw material prices rose sharply. Liquidation followed in March 1927 .

1927: Société Anonyme Française de l'Automobile

Marcel Sée had already been employed by Akar in 1921. He invested his own assets as well as those of investors, took over the remains of the old company and founded the new one in 1927. He directed it. Akar and Lamy were eliminated. Six million francs are named as capital. The Amilcar Type L was presented as the successor to the Type G at the Paris Motor Show.

In May 1928 the capital was increased to 10 million. The Amilcar Type M , which replaced the Type L , was presented at the Paris Motor Show . At the end of 1928 there were negotiations with Durant Motors . Amilcar was supposed to sell vehicles with eight-cylinder engines in the USA. The Amilcar Type C 8 was presented as a prototype in October.

Negotiations continued in 1929. Sée stayed in the USA for seven weeks. Ultimately, there was no deal. The global economic crisis had its part in the failure. Amilcar suffered from the investments that had already been made in the eight-cylinder engine. In October, the Amilcar Type M 2 was presented as the successor to the Type M at the Paris Motor Show. In addition, the Type C 8 and the more powerful Amilcar Type CS 8 went into production. At the end of 1929, Pierre Delage was hired as a director, but he returned to Delage a year later .

In 1930 the bad times continued. The type M 2 sold poorly. New models were not presented that year.

At the Paris Motor Show in October 1931, the Amilcar Type M 3 was presented as the successor to the Type M 2 .

In 1932 Moyet again developed a small car. The Amilcar Type C , also known as the 5 CV , was presented in Paris in October 1932. For this year 10 million capital are named, which corresponds to the level of 1928.

1933 sparked Amilcar Type C 3 to C print from. In October the Amilcar Type M 4 was presented as a supplement to the Type M 3 . At the end of the year the capital fell to 4 million.

In 1934 the Amilcar Type C 5 appeared as the successor to the Type C 3 . Many employees were laid off that year. Production ended in August 1934. Some existing parts were sold, the rest scrapped. The designers Moyet and Chinon switched to Citroën.

1934: Société Financière Automobile

Sée founded a new company at the beginning of 1934. The seat was now in Boulogne . Only a few employees were taken on. This included Maurice Mestivier as sales manager. The factory was smaller and poorly equipped in terms of machinery. That is why many parts were bought in or manufactured by external service providers. In October 1934, some Type M 3 and Type C 5 were presented at the Paris Motor Show, the production of which had already been discontinued, but existing vehicles were sold until 1935. The prototype of the Amilcar Pégase , which differed from the previous models, was also presented.

In the spring of 1935, the Pégase went into series production.

In 1936 a variant of the Pegáse was added.

In 1937 the capital had dropped to one million. Harry Ainsworth, the director of Hotchkiss et Cie's automotive division , and his sales manager Jacobsen became directors. In September 1937 Hotchkiss held the majority of the shares. The Pégase was discontinued because it was in competition with its own models. Hotchkiss, fearing for its good reputation, took over Amilcar in order to be able to market a smaller model with front-wheel drive without risk . In October 1937 the Amilcar Compound was presented at the Paris Motor Show. Jean-Albert Grégoire was the designer.

The production of passenger cars continued until 1939.

Sée left the company on April 10, 1940.

During the Second World War , a few compounds were used as panel vans and ambulances . At the time, Hotchkiss was part of the Générale Française Automobile .

In 1946 the company was dissolved. This resulted in the Société de Fabrication Industrielle Automobile , also abbreviated SOFIA, but which no longer manufactured vehicles. It existed until the late 1980s when it became part of the Thomson Group .

Licensing

Pluto Automobilfabrik from Germany , Grofri and Österreichische Amilcar-Automobil from Austria as well as Amilcar Italiana from Italy manufactured vehicles under license .

vehicles

class	Type	From	To	cylinder	Bore (mm)	Stroke (mm)	Displacement (cm³)	Power hp	Wheelbase (mm)	text	image
Cyclecar	Type CC	1921	1925	4th	55	95	903	17th	2310	light enough for Cyclecar at first
Small car	Type CC	1921	1925	4th	55	95	903	17th	2310	later too difficult for Cyclecar
	Type C 4	1922	1929	4th	58	95	1004	22nd	2450	longer supplement to type CC
	Type C	1932	1933	4th	58	80	845	19th	2150	new small car
	Type C 3	1933	1934	4th	59	80	875	21st	2250	Successor to the Type C
	Type C 5	1934	1934	4th	59	85	930	22nd	2370	Successor to the Type C 3
Lower middle class	Type G	1924	1927	4th	60	95	1074	28	2600	first model of this size
	Type L	1927	1928	4th	60	105	1188	28	2650	Successor to the Type G
	Type M	1928	1929	4th	60	110	1244	26th	2650	Successor to the Type L
	Type M 2	1929	1931	4th	60	110	1244	25-30	2650	Successor to the Type M
	Type M 3	1931	1934	4th	60	110	1244	27	2675	Successor to the Type M 2
	Type M 4	1933	1934	4th	72	100	1629	37	2675	stronger addition to type M 3
	Compound	1937	1942	4 4 4	60 63 67	110 95 95	1244 1185 1340	27 33 45	2500-2650 2500-2650 2500-2650	Successor to Type M 3
Middle class	Type E	1922	1925	4 4	65 67	112 112	1487 1579	42 46	2970 2970	first large model
	Type J	1925	1928	4th	73	112	1875	46	3000	Successor to the Type E
	Type C 8	1928	1930	8 8	62 63	75 80	1811 1995	? 63	2920-3000 3000	Successor to the Type J
	Type CS 8	1929	1933	8th	66	85	2326	60-65	3000	Successor to the Type J
	Pégase	1934	1937	4 4 4	80 80 89	100 107 100	2011 2151 2488	50 58 75	3000 3000 3000	Successor to the Type CS 8
Sports car	Type CV	1922	1923	4th	57	95	970	18th	2310	Sports car based on the Type CC
	Type CS	1923	1925	4th	58	95	1004	23-25	2310	Successor to the Type CV
	Type CGS	1923	1926	4th	60	95	1074	33	2425	even sportier than Type CS
	Type CGSS	1926	1929	4 4	60 60	95 110	1074 1244	33 ?	2323 2323	Successor to the Type CGS
	Type C 6	1926	1930	6th	56	74	1094	62	2195	Sports car based on the type CO, often used by customers for races
race car	Type CO	1925	1927	6 6 6	55 56 57	77 74 83	1098 1094 1271	90 105-107 ?	2160-2235 2160-2235 2160-2235	Racing cars for factory drivers
	Type MCO	1928	1928	6 6	56 57	74 83	1094 1271	? ?	2130 2130	Successor to the Type CO

Motorsport

In 1922 Amilcar won the title in the cycle cars class ahead of Salmson . As a result, a rivalry arose between these two brands.

Maurice Boutmy and Jérôme Marcadanti took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1923 .

At the 1924 24 Hours of Le Mans , both the team Boutmy / Marcadanti participated as well as the factory drivers and Morel Marius Mestivier part.

The first time it took part in a race outside France was in the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race in 1925 . During 1925 24 Hours of Le Mans accident Marius Mestivier fatal. The Amilcar Type CO was the first pure racing car from Amilcar.

Marcel Lefebvre-Despeaux won the Monte Carlo Rally in a modified Type G in early 1927 .

In 1928 Morel and Charles Martin set several world records. That year the Amilcar Type MCO replaced the Type CO .

Jules Moriceau participated in the Indianapolis 500 in 1929 .

literature

• Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 (English, French).

Web links

Commons : Amilcar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Automanie.net (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Amilcar.
2. ↑ George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 1: A-F . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 54-55 (English).
3. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 12 (English).
4. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 13 (English).
5. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 18 (English).
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 21 (English).
7. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 19 (English).
8. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 20 (English).
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 22 (English).
10. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 23 (English).
11. ^ ^{A b} Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 25 (English).
12. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 26 (English).
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 27 (English).
14. ^ Gilles Fournier, David Burgess-Wise: Amilcar . English edition. Dalton Watson, Deerfield 1994, ISBN 1-85443-218-4 , pp. 14 (English).