The Billancourt factory became the car manufacturing plant directed by
Emile Petit. As the firm had no direct car design expertise they started by building the British
GN cyclecar under licence, displaying six cars at the 1919 Paris Salon. In 1922 the car part of the business became a separate company, named
Société des Moteurs Salmson. The first Salmson car proper used a four-cylinder engine designed by Petit with unusual valve gear: a single pushrod actuated both inlet and exhaust valves pushing to open the exhaust and pulling to open the inlet. This was used in the AL models from 1921. Later the same year the company built its first twin-overhead-cam engine, which was fitted to the 1922 D-type, although most production at first used the pushrod engine. Models included:
Early models • AL (cyclecar, 1920) • D-type (1922) • VAL3 (1922) • AL3 (1923) • GSC San Sebastian • Gran Sport (GS, 1924–30) • 2ACT (1926) Salmson won 550 automobile races and set ten world records (1921–28) before closing the racing department in 1929.
S-series models The
S-series cars took over from the D-type, starting in 1929 and becoming a long lived series. • S4 (1929–32) •
S4C (1932) •
S4D (1934) •
S4DA (1935–38) •
S4-61 (1938–51) •
S4E (1938–51)
Post-War • 2300 Sport Coupe (1953 to 1957) After
World War II the
Salmson Typ S4E and
Salmson Type S4-61 were re-introduced. Initially, as before the war, they were in most respects mutually indistinguishable from the outside apart from the slightly longer nose on the Type S4-E. The Type S4-61 retained its four-cylinder in-line 1,730 cc engine. The company had been kept going by its aircraft engine sales, although the factory had to close for a period. After bankruptcy in 1953, all activities ended in 1957 and
Renault bought the factory. ==See also==