HOTCHKISS: Born: 1903 Nationality: French
The roots of this brand that was quintessentially French lie in the American Civil War. Connecticut Yankee Benjamin Hotchkiss manufactured armaments for the union side, but after the war armaments were no longer in demand.
Hotchkiss moved his business to France and expanded into making parts for cars when demand for munitions also fell there. Among the parts was an open driveshaft driving a live rear axle, which was called a Hotchkiss Drive and was used in most American cars right up to the 1980s.
Hotchkiss's main interest, though, was in developing a machine gun which subsequently was to bear his name in many modern wars.
Hotchkiss died before his company actually produced its first car, in 1903, which was notable for its round radiator and ball-bearing crankshaft. The original 4-cylinder model spawned a range over the next few years powered by 4- and 6-cylinder engines, including a 7.4-litre in 1906, and by 1912 a 2.2-litre light car.
The first World War pushed the company back into its original raison d'être, and carmaking was shelved while the company produced weapons and military vehicles.
After the war, Hotchkiss resumed car making with its 4-litre AF. The same engine was used in the 1922 Torpedo. Just one copy of a 6.6-litre car, the AK, was built. In the early 1920s, the 2.2-litre AM was introduced - it had a horseshoe-shaped radiator that was to become the marque's trademark style. In 1926, Hotchkiss produced OHV engines for the first time.
The brand became very popular in France during the 1930s, helped by a string of wins by specially-prepared AMs in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1939. A number of these cars had 3.5-litre engines, which became available as options in the road cars.
Hotchkiss won itself a reputation for luxury and quality right up with anything else being produced then, and was generally considered above the "ordinary" French marques of Peugeot, Citroën and Renault.
Military customers were also interested in the cars as well as Hotchkiss armoured vehicles. Versions of the AM 80 were adapted for desert use in Syria, with larger 3-litre engines and oversized tyres. By the mid-1930s, Hotchkiss tanks were a key part of the French Army's equipment.
Among the main civilian cars produced by Hotchkiss in the run-up to the second World War was the 680 series, also powered by the marque's mainstay 3-litre six.
The company's English managing director, Henry Ainsworth, returned to Britain and spent the second World War helping the Allies build tanks. He was also the liaison with Willys Overland, makers of the US Army Jeep.
Car production resumed after the war with the 686 (pictured) , joined in 1949 by the 3.5-litre Anjou. In 1952, a short run of the Hotchkiss Gregoire "traction avant" led to expensive litigation which possibly hastened the eventual abandonment of Hotchkiss car production. The cabrio Antheor was a 1952 model.
Hotchkiss was in the meantime making and distributing spare parts for the Willys Jeep, which was being used by the French Army. In 1954, in association with Willys, the company undertook the manufacture of Jeeps in Europe, and ceased making cars. They competed with Delahaye for equipping the French armed forces with "general purpose" vehicles. Through a number of mergers, including one with Delahaye, it continued the jeep business until 1966. The Hotchkiss name disappeared in 1972.
BEST CAR: The AM80S of 1933 would be a good bet
WORST CAR: None, really
WEIRDEST CAR: Most were beautiful in a conservative way, but some of the military vehicles looked odd .