Hotchkiss heads to Beaulieu

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Our friends at The Automobile magazine are on a mission to disprove the old adage 'If you can't find it at Beaulieu, it probably doesn't exist.' They are hoping to bring along their latest acquisition to display on their stand (number G116) at the world-famous Autojumble – a 1952 Hotchkiss-Grégoire. Jean-Albert Grégoire was the singular engineer and designer who, along with Pierre Fenaille, was responsible for the constant velocity joint, a simple invention that allowed him to pursue his belief in front-wheel drive cars, beginning in the pre-war era with the marvellous Tracta sports cars. Grégoire was also a fantasist, a liar and an egomaniac, who would not be swayed from his own rigid beliefs no matter how much the tide of popular opinion turned against him. Luckily for us, it was his relentless bullying of the French motor industry to take up his AF-G design that eventually led to the Panhard Dyna series – one of the most modern, stylish and usable early post-war cars.

Grégoire's last major design to go into production was something like an enlarged Dyna, using his signature cast aluminium bulkhead, a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine of 2.2 litres, and modern, semi-streamlined coachwork. Every part of the car was over-engineered, but it wasn't enough to make it succeed. Reliability issues and a massive purchase price killed the Grégoire – and Hotchkiss as a manufacturer of road cars – after just 247 had been built. So, if you have any old parts, or even a factory handbook, for this magnificent white elephant sitting unused on your shelf, please visit our friends at Beaulieu – they will be very pleasantly surprised.

(Text Scott Barrett)

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