402 and the Citroën Traction. Henry Mann Ainsworth, the Automobile Director at Hotchkiss, had already been presented, by the high-profile engineer Jean-Albert Grégoire, with a promising prototype (at that stage based on an Adler chassis) for a lightweight 7CV category, small, technically advanced family car. It was agreed that the automotive businesses of Hotchkiss and Amilcar would be merged and the prototype would be developed into an Amilcar model that would become the Amilcar Compound. The front-wheel-drive Amilcar Compound was technically advanced in design for its era, featuring a monocoque frame made of a light alloy and independent suspension all around. Its engine at launch was a four-cylinder side-valve unit of 1185 cc. The Compound's ambitious use of aluminium in its body structure, and its front-wheel-drive configuration, meant that production got off to a slow start, and although it was launched in October 1937, 584 of the 681 passenger cars produced date only from 1939, with a further 64 produced during the early months of 1940, before the German invasion of May/June 1940 effectively ended civilian automobile production in the Paris region. Production prototypes for an upgraded Compound with an OHV 1340 cc engine were running by the summer of 1939, and this version was scheduled for an October launch at the 1939 Paris Motor Show, but the motor show was cancelled and the launch was postponed – as matters turned out indefinitely – due to the intervention of war which France (and Britain) declared against Germany in early September 1939. Production of the Amilcar was not resumed after World War II. List of important Amilcar models 1922 Amilcar CC 1922 Amilcar C4 1923 Amilcar E 1924 Amilcar CGS 1925 Amilcar CS 1926 Amilcar CGSS 1927 Amilcar C6 1928 Amilcar M 1929 Amilcar C8 1930 Amilcar C8 bis 1930 Amilcar CS8 1934 Amilcar Pégase 1938 Amilcar Compound aka B38, sedans being in regular manufacture from 1938 to 1940 Isadora Duncan Isadora Duncan's fondness for flowing scarves was the cause of her death in 1927 in an automobile accident in Nice, France. The famed American dancer was the passenger in an Amilcar CGSS when her silk scarf became entangled around the open-spoked wheels and rear axle, breaking her neck. References External links http://vea.qc.ca/vea/marques1/amilcar.htm http://historic-motorsport.de/TEAM_BURO/VITA_PRIVAT/MOTORSPORT/AMILCAR/amilcar.html Car brands French brands Cyclecars Vintage vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1921