1939 HOTCHKISS 686 CABOURG BERLINE

Another American in Paris

by Kit Foster (AutoWeek, March 18, 2002) ©

Hotchkiss Drive: The term is found on the spec sheet of most American cars built before the 1980s. It comprises, as we all know, an open driveshaft propelling a live axle. But who was Hotchkiss, and why does this design bear his name?

Hotchkiss, the man, was an American. Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss was born in 1826 in Sharon, Connecticut, where his father operated a hardware factory in the cradle of America's iron industry. Hotchkiss, the car, however, was French. Young Hotchkiss and his brother had moved from door hinges into armaments, supplying Union forces during the Civil War. The postwar period was fallow for arms makers, so Hotchkiss took his business to France, where he established a factory outside Paris and developed the revolving machine gun.

But in France, too, arms were a cyclical business, so in the early 20th century Hotchkiss et Cie. turned to the new field of automobile manufacture. The first Hotchkiss cars were Mercedes-like, and offered in two models at the 1903 Paris motor show. Powered by T-head fours, they featured ball-bearing crankshafts and round radiators, and, of course, the namesake drivetrain. Shortly thereafter, a more extensive range of cars was offered, fours and sixes of various sizes, T-heads and L-heads, but World War I diverted the company back to weapons work.

The 1920s brought a more modest car, the AM, with a 2.4-liter four and a horseshoe-shaped radiator that remained the make's hallmark. Hotchkiss' heyday came in the 1930s, with production approaching 5000 in some years. Both fours and sixes were produced, all with the overhead valves first seen in 1926. Hotchkiss was the car of the successful doctor or lawyer. More prestigious and expensive than France's "Big Three" (Citroen, Renault, Peugeot), it ranked below noble Delage, somewhat analogous to the modern E-Class Mercedes-Benz. High performance versions won the Monte Carlo Rally six times between 1932 and 1950.

Delivered originally to Johannesburg, South Africa, this 1939 Cabourg Berline remained with its first owner until his death in 1983, when it was inherited by a son in Toronto. After a spell on Long Island it was acquired by Charles Roy in 1995.
He had it entirely rebuilt in his native city of Montreal, and on completion it joined him in Connecticut where he now lives.

The Hotchkiss carries a quiet aerodynamic appearance, and has been said to evoke the values of the French bourgeoisie. It is about the size of the mid'30s Buick, but sits a good six inches lower. Stylistically more conservative than the avant-garde Renault and Peugeot of that time, it avoids the technical innovation of Citroën. Its 3.5 liter ohv six pulls strongly, with lots of torque, and the four speed nonsynchro box, crunchy when cold, becomes malleable when warmed up. Handling belies the solid axle, leaf spring suspension and braking is competent due to huge drums, though cable-operated (Hotchkiss would not fully embrace independent suspension or hydraulics for another decade).
Automobiles Hotchkiss, as the company became, suffered from the proletarian policies of the French government after World War II. Production of cars consisted of slightly modified prewar models, with trucks and tractors added to the mix. A 1948 decision to acquire the rights to Jean Albert Gregoire's innovative front-drive car proved unwise; a mere 247 were built and ensuing litigation depleted company coffers. Passenger car production ceased in 1955 after a failed merger with Delahaye and Hotchkiss concentrated on trucks. A license from Willys-Overland spawned a viable Jeep manufacturing business that lasted until 1966.

Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss never saw his automobile business; he died in 1887. In a wonderful quirk of coincidence, his widow Maria endowed The Hotchkiss School, a Connecticut preparatory institution established in 1891 as a feeder to Yale. Among its notable graduates wood be Henry, Benson and Bill, the scions of Henry Ford.

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