As this long-forgotten marque celebrates its 120th anniversary, Massimo Delbò experiences the subtle charms of the 1936 Hotchkiss Type 686 Paris/Nice Côte d’Azur
AUTOMOBILE HISTORY IS made up of thousands of marques, so many lost in time and remembered only by very few, some undeservedly so. ‘To see Hotchkiss so forgotten is surprising and very sad indeed,’ says collector Nicola Bulgari. ‘I can’t understand why, except to say that the Americans forgot their history and Hotchkiss’s place in car history. After all, although Hotchkiss is formally considered as a French car manufacturer, it was founded and managed for many decades by Americans.’
Hotchkiss cars were made between 1903 and 1955 by the French company Hotchkiss et Cie, based in Saint-Denis, Paris. The marque badge featured a pair of crossed cannons, evoking the company’s history as an arms manufacturer. Founder Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss was born in Watertown, Connecticut, USA, in October 1826. A perfect example of a self-made man, he had established his gunmaking company before focusing on cannons at the age of just 29. His technology was widely appreciated and sales flourished during the 1861-65 American Civil War.
Always hoping to expand his market, Hotchkiss looked to Europe and, supported by the French Government, opened an ammunition factory in 1870 in the village of Viviez, in the Occitane region. Five years later he moved the operation north to Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. Hotchkiss died in 1885, leaving behind a well-established leading business in automatic machine guns.
The company entered the car world in 1901, with orders from Panhard et Levassor, De Dion-Bouton and other pioneering marques for precisely machined engine components such as crankshafts. That offshoot took a different turn on 31 July 1902, when the automobile department was formally opened with the aim of manufacturing military vehicles and plans were put in place for a complete car.
Behind this decision were JJ Mann and Henri Fournier. Mann was the founder of embryonic car dealership Mann & Overton of London, and in 1902 had become the Daimler distributor for Paris; Fournier was a Parisian racer, the most successful driver of the 1901 season, having won the Paris-Bordeaux and Paris-Berlin races in a Mors. While Mann took care of selling the rolling chassis, Fournier became the first Hotchkiss Automobile distributor. Georges Terasse, previously of Mors, was taken on as designer, and at the helm of the business was
