14 Dec 06
Emile Salmson set up business in Paris in 1890 to make industrial pumps and motors. He was joined in 1908 by engineers George Canton and George Unne, who designed a new seven-cylinder engine, specifically with a view to fitting it in aircraft. Salmson set up a new factory to build this at Billancourt, and production began in 1913; by the outbreak of World War I, Salmson was making 16 engines a month, claimed to be the lightest and most powerful around. Demand for these was strong; a second factory was opened in Villeurbanne, France, and a third in Moscow, with production of over 4,000 engines and 3,200 planes by the end of the war. The Salmson 2A2 biplane, powered by Salmson's 230bhp radial engine or the earlier 260bhp Canton-Unne unit, was supplied to the French and American airforces during World War I to replace Sopwith and Renault craft, and proved effective at reconnaissance and observation duties as well as in combat. Many 2A2s went on to be used for civilian flights after the war. Salmson also built the lighter three-seat 160bhp SM1 gunner, in partnership with Moineau, though only four of these were made, and engines were supplied to firms including Bleriot, Bloch, Farman and Hanriot. The 1920 Salmson-powered Bleriot-SPAD S.33 flew commercial routes between France and Eastern Europe, and on into Constantinople (now Istanbul).
Emile Salmson had died at the end of 1917, however, and the firm was taken over by a consortium of bankers. New production manager Jean Heinrich led a move to diversify, and in 1919 Salmson began production under licence of the British-designed GN-Salmson cycle car. This 1100cc light vehicle won a number of endurance races, and it spurred Salmson to develop its own cars; the Emile Petit-designed A1-series racers scored wins in the French GP and at Le Mans and Brooklands in the 1920s, and in turn inspired the Type D 10hp road car, showcasing a double camshaft.
A subsidiary company was set up in Britain, making Salmson cars under licence at the former aero engine factory in Raynes Park, near Wimbledon. Sales in France, however, flagged after the departure of the company's sales director, and Petit too left the company in 1926, leaving a V8 engine only partially developed. The 9hp S6, with a 1.6-litre, six-cylinder engine, proved too expensive for most buyers, but things picked up with the 1.3-litre, four-cylinder S4, eventually offered with a four-speed gearbox and four-wheel brakes. This model took Salmson through the early 1930s; updated and more powerful S4C, S4D, S4E and S4 61 models, though traditional-looking, featured new developments such as independent suspension and rack-and-pinion steering as well as hemispherical cylinder heads. The launch of the revolutionary Citroen Traction Avant, and serious social and economic problems in France, however, saw sales hit a low by 1939.
Much of the Billancourt facility was destroyed during World War II. Salmson started building the S4 61 and S4E again in small numbers post-war, and launched the new-generation Excursion E72 and G72 in 1950, but its aeronautical division was heavily subsidising the car-making activities, and demand for large luxury cars had slumped in France. When the aero division collapsed in 1951, Salmson declared bankruptcy. The British Salmson factory, which had not built cars since 1938 but had continued in sub-contract aero engine work, was sold to Napier; for a while British Salmson marketed a small number of Cycleaid motorised bicycles, capable of around 20mph, but after initially promising sales demand faltered and the company folded.
Under new management, French Salmson continued to make the S4 and G-Series, and engineer Eugene Martin, who had worked on the Renault 4CV and Peugeot 203, was recruited to design a new small car to succeed the E-series. Martin fell out with director Jacques Bernard, and the G85 (2300) turned out larger and more powerful than planned, with a 2.3-litre engine. It was successful, however, especially with coachwork by Esclasson and Chapron. Sporting versions competed in the Liege-Rome-Liege and Monte Carlo rallies, but continuing financial problems brought new management and ownership again in 1954, a failed attempt at an alliance with Renault, and a running-down of production. The last 2300 S coupe models were completed by Chapron in early 1957 and the Billancourt factory was closed. Surviving assents were transferred, and today the Salmson name continues as it started, making pumps and motors for the water supply, sewage treatment and other industries.
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