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AMILCAR Société Nouvelle pour l'Automobile Amilcar, St. Denis |
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Two engineers from the failed Le Zèbre car company, Edmond Moyet and André Morel, decided in 1920 to set up their own firm to build cyclecars. Financed by Joseph Lamy and Emile Akar the
Socièté Nouvelle pour 'l Automobile Amilcar was founded in July 1921, first at 34 rue du Chemin-Vert, Paris 11e but the factory later moved to the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Moyet became head engineer and together with Jules Salomon he designed the first 4 cylinder 903cc Amilcar cyclecar called CC, similar to the pre war Le Zèbre. C4 was a lightly longer sports car and in 1924 came the C4 with an enlarged 1004cc engine for competition, Morel being the works driver. It was followed by the 1074cc CGS "Grand Sport" and the CGSS "Grand Sport Surbaissé". These cars were built under license in Germany as the "Pluto". 1925-1926, in an effort to beat Salmson in cycle car racing, Moyet designed a new 6 cylinder 1096cc (55mm x 77mm)engine. The new car, named C0, featured a Roots supercharger, a low two seater body, semi elliptic front springs and quarter elliptic rear springs. In 1926 the car went into production as the C6 with a slightly different 1094cc (56mm x 74mm ) engine. The Co and C6 proved to be a success in racing relegating the previous winning Salmsons to also runs. In 1927 the factory built three off-set single seaters featuring a roller bearing crankshaft. Called MC0 two of the cars were raced by Le Havre Amilcar Agent José Scaron who, with works support, proved almost invincible until 1932. But the factory had economical problems, and a business agreement with André Briès and Marcel Sée of the company "Sofia" was made and at he end of 1933 they took effective control of Amilcar. Development of the race cars had finished in 1928 and with no further works support and voiturete racing changing to 1500cc Amilcar disappeared from the major arenas but appeared in minor races all the way to 1939. The financial problems continued and the factory at Saint-Denis closed in August 1934. A singel Amilcar model were produced at Boulogne-Billancourt. Finally Hotchkiss took over most of the shareholding in "Sofia" and Amilcar merged into Hotchkiss even if cars with the Amilcar name was still oroduced until the second world war started. Production of the Amilcar was not resumed after the war. |
 Amilcar C6
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 Amilcar MC0
Amilcar class victories:
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