Amilcar Compound

Amilcar, a secondary level pre- World War 2 French manufacturer, launched an advanced (from an engineering standpoint) car called "Compound" for the 1938 model year (Wikipedia entry here).   For some background on the company itself and its precarious financial position and various buyers, link here.

Engineering was by the famed Jean-Albert Grégoire who was responsible for many innovative French cars that were seldom marketplace successes.  The same can be said for the Compound.  I've seen at least three different producton totals, but it seems clear that its true total was probably less than 1000 over its brief prewar run.

I do not know who was responsible for its body design.  It was fairly advanced for its time in the French context, being similar to American practice for 1936 or 1937 when it was designed.  But apparently no effort was made to anticipate what styling trends might lead to at the end of the 1930s when it was due to be marketed.

The images below that are from publication page scans are fairly large files and can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Gallery

An early production 1938 Amilcar Compound.  The hood is long, the passenger compartment short, with its typically French beltline that drops slightly at the rear.  The front fender - headlight - grille ensemble seems very 1936 American, though on a smaller scale.

Side view.  A trim design with no serious flaws, given the car's stubby proportions.  But not striking.

Here is a 1939 Compound up for auction.  Some were made in England and featured right-hand steering, as seen here.  The English version was badged as a Hotchkiss on its grille.

Auction photo of the roadster version.  This car lacks bumpers and other details.  Its chromed headlight ensembles are a telltale that it's a 1939 model.

The 1938 Amilcar Compound in the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum collection -- museum photo.

From Automobilia Hors-Serie No. 6, Toutes les voitures Françaises 1938, Salon 1937 - pages 9 and 10.  The photos atop this page show the Salon display car whose grille differs from the production version.  The previous page includes a view of the chassis and front-wheel drive layout that was a Grégoire specialty.

From Automobilia Hors-Serie No. 11, Toutes les voitures Françaises 1939, Salon 1938 - pages 9-11.  Featured here are 1939 models.

This page deals with the roadster.

And this features the Coach Découvrable, the model found in the Tampa Bay museum.