Amilcar

This well-known French marque started in 192l as a small cyclecar, designed by Jules Salomon and Edmond Moyet, and bore a close resemblance to the pre-war Le Zebre. The first model was the 903cc CC, available in a sport version, the CS, and the family C4.

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The sv engine had splash lubrication, and there was a three-speed gearbox. But the most famous of all was the CGS "Grand Sport" of 1924 with a sv engine of 1074cc and four-wheel brakes; it evolved into the more sporty CGSS "Grand Sport Surbaiss?". These were made under license as Pluto in Germany and Grofri in Austria.

In the mid-1920s, the marque entered proper motor racing, building a batch of supercharged dohc 1100cc six-cylinder cars that used a roller bearing crankshaft in the full racing version, but were also available with plain bearings. Amilcar also built a light touring car, the M-type, with a sv 1200cc engine, launched in 1928, followed by, M2, M3 and M4 versions. They also made a straight-eight in 1928, with an ohc 2-litre engine. This C8 proved unreliable and expensive and disappeared very quickly.

In the late 1930s, Amilcar introduced two new models, the 14cv with a four-cylinder Delahaye engine and the Compound. The latter was made when Amilcar was taken over by Hotchkiss. Very advanced in design, the front-wheel-drive Compound featured a monocoque frame made out of light alloy and independent suspension all round. The engine was an ohv four-cylinder of 1185cc.

Production was not resumed after World War Two.

(text source: Vintage European Automobiles)

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