Category Car Of The Month History

Simca – Henri Théodore Pigozzi – was the founder of Simca in 1935 in the
outskirts of Paris. Pigozzi was sponsored by Fiat Director Giovanni Agnelli who
wanted the Fiat cars built in France. Production started initially with the Fiat 508
Balilla, but only really got going with the Fiat 500 Topolino, which was also
sold as the Simca Cinq.

7’282 cars were built in 1936, which increased to 12’925 in 1937. During 1937
the Cinq was replaced by the Simca Huit, which was based on the Fiat 1100.
After the Second World War, Simca was one of the fist companies to re-start
car production. Even a racing car known as the Simca Gordini was made
available. The Simca Gordini was quite successful, but really made its mark
by winning its class at the 24-hour Le Mans race.

After the death of Pigoz...

Lincoln – Henry Martyn Leland, also known as “Uncle Henry” was the founder
of both Lincoln and Cadillac, the two foremost American auto brands. He started
work as a shoe shine boy aged eight. Ten years on, in 1861, he worked as a
designer. During 1890 Leland started a machine factory in Detroit, where he
also built engines for the Oldsmobile Company. He soon started another factory,
The Cadillac Motor Company next door. This company was acquired by General
Motors in 1909.

During 1917 Leland also started his own aircraft engine factory, for which he soon
received an order for 6000 units. But he soon ran out of orders, as the war only
lasted two years.

Leland, now 77, decided to start The Lincoln Motor Company with his son. The
first luxury car with a 5...

Auburn – The Eckhart company was founded in 1874 by Charles Eckhart as a
carriage company. In 1904 his sons Frank and Morris built their first 1 cylinder
2 speed touring car under the name Auburn, named after the small city they
were situated in. In 1910 they started using a four cylinder engine and in 1912
the Auburn was also available with a six cylinder engine.

In 1924 they had accumulated large number of unsold cars which forced them
into bankruptcy. Cord, one of America’s top car salesmen was asked to take
charge of reviving the company. He quickly got rid of the 700 unsold cars by
lowering the roof and repainting them in attractive colours to make them look
more appealing. In 1925 Cord produced a sporty looking fast car with a new
Lycoming 8 cylinder engine...

Hupmobile – Robert Craig Hupp had worked for Ford and Oldsmobile when
he started his own company in 1908 with a small open top sports car.

Sales of 5’340 cars were achieved in 1910 and continued to grow. 1925 a new
eight cylinder engine was introduced with the model E-1. The cars were known
for their reliability and good looks and so commanded a premium price.

Car production peaked at just over 10’000 cars in 1932 and declined from there.
The last cars left the factory in 1940.

Hudson – Joseph Hudson provided the finance for friends Roy Chapin and
Howard Coffin, who sold their first car in 1909 from their Detroit factory. They
made an excellent start by selling 4000 cars in one year, which was a record at
that time.

Joseph Hudson – Roy Chapin – Howard Coffin

Sales continued to grow to 25’772 cars sold in 1916. In the same year a Hudson
Super Six was the first American car to drive from New York to San Francisco
and back. Great achievements were important at that time. This was followed
with a ninth place in the 1919 Indianapolis 500 mile race. So by 1925 Hudson
occupied third place behind Chevrolet and Ford. In 1929 Hudson sold an
amazing 71’179 cars. Sales peaked at 87’900 cars in 1940 and started to
decline from there.

Cord – Errett Loban Cord – was a car salesman who worked himself up to
become one of the most important American car manufacturers. Although he went
bankrupt a number of times, he eventually managed to take over the insolvent
Auburn manufacturer in 1924. He managed to get the company going again and
two years later he bought the very famous Duesenberg.

Cord bought a number of front wheel drive patents from Harry Miller. In 1929
Cord launched the first car, the L.29 under his own name, which was also the
American car with front wheel drive. The car was fitted with a Lycoming eight-
in-line engine, as Cord also owned the Lycoming engine factory.

At about the same time Wall Street crashed and it became very difficult to sell
very expensive cars, such as Cord and Duesenberg...

WO Bentley built his first car in 1919 with a 3 litre engine, which achieved a top
speed of 120km/h. The car consisted of a chassis, the engine, two bucket seats, a
large fuel tank and two spare wheels. It was fairly common at that time that coach
builders then added a body to the customer’s specifications, but most Bentleys
bodies would be built as two or four seater open tourers.

Bentley built very successful racing cars and won second, fourth and fifth place
in the 1922 Tourist Trophy, behind an 8 litre Sunbeam. In 1923 one of the 3 litre
Bentleys finished fourth in the 24-hour Le Mans race. However sales were not
very good, so the company was struggling along.

Bentley introduced the “100 MPH” with a top speed of 100 miles/hour and the
Speed Six luxury models with the 6...

Maserati – Alfieri, Ettore, Bindo and Ernesto founded the company in December
1914 in Bologna as licensed agents for Isotta Fraschini, where they made themselves
a very good name. In 1926 they obtained an order to design and build a racing car.
When their sponsor went bankrupt they named their first car with a 1500cc eight
cylinder engine Maserati Tipo 26.

Alfierie managed to win his class at the Targa Florio with this car. Before the second
World War they only built racing cars. In 1928 they enlarged the engine to 1980cc
named Tipo26B, which was very successful in winning the Indianapolis 500 both in
1939 and 1940. In 1938 they were forced to sell their company to Adolfo Orsi,
although they continued to work for the Maserati company for at least another ten
years, after which they for...

Walter Chrysler of German extraction was born on a farm in 1875
in America, where he showed a strong interest in technology. He
trained as a railroad mechanic. Walter Chrysler was also a motor
car enthusiast, so in 1911 he joined Buick as works manager.

In 1916 Buick was incorporated in General Motors under William
Durant, who was the founder of General Motors and a leading
figure in the automotive industry. William Durant gave Chrysler full
control of the Buick Company. After three years and a argument
with Durant, Chrysler left the company to take management control
of the ailing Willys-Overland Company.

With his reputation to get things done he was offered a salary of
$1’000’000 a year. He soon managed to make the company
profitable and after a few years he was offered the same positi...

Audi – Dr August Horch had a big argument with his fellow directors, which upset
him so much, that he walked out of his own Horch Car Factory in 1909 to start a new
factory nearby. He chose the Latin translation of his name AUDI as the name for his
new car. In 1911 his son won the Austrian Alpen Rally with this new car with the
powerful 3564cc engine. This win created a lot of positive publicity for them, so they
named this car the “Alpensieger”.

They continued to build large luxury cars, mostly with six cylinder engines. However,
with the difficult economic conditions the sales of large and expensive cars slowed
quite dramatically, which forced Horch to accept a take-over offer from Rasmussen
who was looking for additional production facilities for his popular DKW’s. With the
acq...