Amilcar Compound
| Amilcar Compound | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Amilcar |
| Production | 1938–1943 681 cars and 159 commercials made a few other unrecorded cars were probably also built |
| Body and chassis | |
| Body style | 2-door saloon 2-door convertible van and ambulance |
| Layout | FF layout |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 1185 cc I4 side-valve (B38) 1340 cc I4 ohv (B67) |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,500 mm (98.4 in). |
The Amilcar Compound is a front wheel drive car with unitary body/chassis introduced shortly before World War II by Amilcar after their takeover by Hotchkiss. It was designed by the famous French engineer Jean-Albert Grégoire.
The first Compound, the Compound B38, was presented at the 1937 Paris Motor Show, but production was delayed by difficulties involving the car’s light metal panels, which still represented a very new technology. Series production only got underway a year later. Nevertheless, 35 of the cars were produced during the final quarter of 1938, and through 1939 production built up progressively, with 576 Compounds produced that year. A further 64 were produced during the early months of 1940: however France, along with Britain, had declared war on Germany in September 1939. War affected the French auto-industry during the ensuing months, as first the Paris Motor Show, scheduled for October 1939, was cancelled and then, in June 1940 the German Army invaded and occupied the northern half of the country.
The four cylinder, side valve, 1185 cc engine had its all synchromesh equipped, four speed, gearbox mounted in front of it with gear selection via cables. The drive was transmitted to the front wheels via short shafts and constant velocity joints. The steering used a rack and pinion mechanism. Suspension was independent all round using torsion bars at the rear.
The car’s technical design, including but not restricted to the light-metal technology, was supplied by a brilliant and charismatic engineer called Jean-Albert Grégoire. By the time of the German invasion an upgraded Compound had been prepared by Grégoire, an energetic exponent of front wheel drive and of the use of aluminium in automobile construction, and a man whose designs found their way into the ranges of several automakers in the 1930s and 1940s. The improved Compound, known as the Compound B67, was intended primarily to address the perceived performance limitations of the original model, and this was achieved by adding 4 mm to the cylinder bores, thereby increasing engine capacity from 1185 cc to 1340 cc. Increasing the cylinder diameter made it practical at the same time to replace the side-valve lay-out with overhead valves. Claimed top speed was increased from 110 km/h (68 mph) to 115 km/h (71 mph) . Several pre-production Compound B67s were running during the summer of 1939, and it appears that the manufacturer planned to launch it in October 1939 at the Paris Motor Show . By the time the event was cancelled it appears that about five Compound B67s had been produced in the Amilcar section of the Hotchkiss factory.
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