Lot Ended
Description
A wonderful example of one of the great French sporting voiturettes;
fully restored in Switzerland from 2006 - 2015 with various upgrades; raced
at Montlhery and elsewhere; much recent expenditure; an exceedingly rare Vintage
era race car at a very enticing guide price
Few would argue
with Georgano's statement that: "Of all the sporting voiturettes that
proliferated in France after World War One, the Amilcar was the most famous and
successful."
Amilcar was founded in 1921 by
Andre Morel and engineer Edmond Moyet to build cyclecars with sufficient
performance for Morel to realise his dream of competition success. Emile Akar, a
Paris businessman, and Joseph Lamy, an executive at cyclecar maker Le Zebre,
backed the partners' prototype, which was enthusiastically received.
Called the CC, it was powered by a Jules
Salomon-designed four-cylinder side-valve engine of about one-litre capacity
mated to a three-speed manual gearbox. Spawning a number of variants with
displacements up to 1,250cc, the Amilcar enjoyed immediate competition success
including an outright win at the 1922 Bol D'Or 24-Hours and 3rd and 4th at that
year's Cyclecars Grand Prix at Le Mans.
Appearances at the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia continued to prove
the Amilcar’s agility and speed, culminating in the marque's legendary CGS
'Grand Sport' and CGSS 'Grand Sport Surbaisse' models launched in 1924 and 1926
respectively.
Introduced in 1924, the CGS was by
far the marque's most successful model, remaining in production until 1929 with
continuous refinements to a design of proven performance and reliability. Mostly
fitted with two-seat bodywork and, crucially, with four-wheel brakes, the CGS
encouraged owners to drive competitively, proving highly successful in club
racing and hill climbs.
By the 1930s Amilcar had
branched out into heavier touring cars and saloons and by 1937 had merged with
Hotchkiss. No more Amilcars were made after the outbreak of hostilities in 1939
and surviving models of any kind are now rare and sought
after.
This Amilcar CGS, chassis number 261,
dates from 1924 and is believed to have spent much of its early life in France,
documents showing that it was previously owned by an Yvonne Traglia of La Bresse
who sold it to a Christopher Ansermet of Switzerland in 2001.
By 2006 it was owned by a Mr O Meier of Zurich
who had it fully restored at great expense over a nine-year period (2006 –
2015). It seems that much of the mechanical work was done by Willi
Jaberg of Windisch including a full engine rebuild with various upgrades to
improve performance and drivability, as documented by many invoices and photos
on file (a small fraction of which are reproduced here).
The invoices
are mainly in Swiss German so somewhat hard to follow if, like some of
us, you are not familiar with the technical terminology of that
language. Okay, we managed zylinderblock but it took a fair
bit of Googling to discover that a kurblewelle is a
crankshaft, an oelwannendichtung an oil pan gasket, a
hauptlagerdeckel a main bearing cap and a pleuellagerschalen a
con rod bearing shell so we soon admitted defeat.
It seems
that the upgrades included the fitment of a ‘Speed’ cylinder head,
either a period piece or one made by Cercle Pegase, conversion to dynamo rather
than Ducellier charging and a modified footwell to give more room for bigger
feet. It was then campaigned in various winter and
summer rallies and at Montlhery, as shown in photos on file.
Imported to the UK in 2017, it was then owned by a Mr P Otley who
reputedly spent another £20,000 on the car, including fitting new cycle wings, a
thorough service, upgraded wiring, a trio of Marchal headlamps and a new canvas
tonneau.
It then appeared at the Bonhams
Goodwood Revival auction in September 2019 where it was acquired by our vendor
(for substantially more than the guide price suggested here). He has fitted a
new battery and starter motor and also a Solex carburettor of the correct type
as the more modern one fitted when he bought the car looked out of
place and leaked fuel.
Offered with a V5C, copies
of previous French and Swiss registration papers and two large files of bills,
photographs and much technical literature relating to the marque, it also comes
with a CD of photos/history for the car, dozens of Amilcar Register
magazines and sundry useful spares including a couple of new wheel
spinners, the original cylinder head and two carbs, one of the correct
type and the other the aforementioned more modern one.
We are told that
the car is in good running order but due to our vendor's health issues, it has
not covered many miles in his ownership and he has not had chance to
set the carb up properly so it will require some running adjustments to the main
jet to optimise the performance. At the moment it runs sweetly but splutters a
bit if you pull away too quickly.
He also tells us that his research into
the car via the Amilcar Register has established that the engine in the car,
number 3CGS 261, is an improved pressure-fed unit rather than the
splash-fed unit fitted to earlier Amilcar models. The gearbox also has the
number 261 so is original to the car and we are advised that 2nd gear can
be a bit graunchy as it is the gear that is used the most.
As you
can see in the photos, this well-historied CGS looks very pretty indeed in
fetching Bugatti Blue and represents an extremely rare opportunity to
acquire one the great French lightweight sports cars of the Vintage era at a
very enticing guide price.
PLEASE NOTE: If bidding on this
lot over £25,000, you will need to increase your bid limit within your
account.
Consigned by James
Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com