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Open door weekend 27-28/04/2024, are you coming too?✨
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Hotchkiss not only enriched the history books as a manufacturer of automobiles but was, in a sense, a jack-of-all-trades, with several core businesses.
It was established in France in 1875 by a gunsmith that held as last name ‘Hotchkiss’. After fleeing his homeland, the United States, right when the American Civil War ended, the man went to France and focused solely on making weapons and cannons. However, after his death in 1885, his associate decided to tap into a broader market. They started producing crankshafts, engine valves, connecting rods, eventually they started manufacturing cars in the early 20th century, an activity that would define almost their entire further history.
Their cars were cleverly designed, only three engines and four body configurations were ever used and their cost-effective and pragmatic transmission design, often referred to as 'Hotchkiss drive' was applauded by fellow automakers.
The First World War had a disastrous impact on Hotchkiss’ car production. Strategically, the brand chose for further manufacturing of weapons on a large scale, as a Hotchkiss machine gun became the universal attribute for the French soldier. During the interwar period, car production resumed. Hotchkiss built state-of-the-art sports and luxury cars of the highest possible quality, proving their expertise with consecutive victories in the Monte Carlo Rally, as they won the rally in 1932, 1933, 1934, and 1939.
In anticipation of the looming Second World War, Hotchkiss built around a thousand tanks for the French army between 1935 and 1940. After the war, with Europe and the economy in recovery, the number of car orders plummeted, leading to an impending bankruptcy that was prevented by a large batch of orders from the French government. Post-war, Hotchkiss produced jeeps for Willys MB, acquired the well-known Delahaye-Delage in 1954, and in 1966, the company was absorbed by Thomson-Houston, a major electronics and defence company.
The logo depicting two cannons pays homage to the roots of the luxury car brand that positioned itself, translated freely, as ‘the golden mean’ (originally 'la voiture du juste milieu'), somewhere between the offerings of Renault and Peugeot on one side and Bugatti and Talbot on the other.
Hotchkiss 864 S49
In 1948, Hotchkiss presented the 864 S49 at the Paris Motor Show. It is a descendant of the 486 and the 686 that Hotchkiss built in the 1930s before the war.
Not many of them remain in a good condition, showing how rare they are. For collectors, this is the perfect opportunity to acquire a road-ready 864.
Technical information:
Body work
Mechanics
