Fittingly the winner of the premiere 24 hours of Le Mans was a French manufacturer that made their first car in 1900. In addition to winning out-right they finished 2nd as well. The car was designed by Henri Toutee who had been with the company since 1906. It had a 3 litre overhead camshaft engine and was driven by Renée Leonard and Andre Lagache, both engineers employed by the company. A 2 litre version was subsequently sold to the public.
Despite any marketing advantage the victory might have provided, the company had insufficient capital to modernize and with the cars being largely hand built left them unable to compete on price. As a result they went bankrupt in 1936 and we're taken over by a body maker called Chaussen, (who today has the glamorous image provided by being makers of RVs).
Chanard-Walcker continued to produce cars under its own name while being owned by Chaussen but the cars were merely rebranded Matfords. In turn the Matford was the slightly modified and rebranded product of a joint venture by Emilie Mathis with Henry Ford, (hence the Matford name).
So the winner of the very first Le Mans race wound up producing a rebrand of a rebrand and in spite of plans to rejuvenate their "Aigle 22CV" model for 1939, they ceased producing cars around 1940. From 1940 on the company existed by producing a pathetic sounding light van powered by a measly 720 cc two stroke watercooled engine. Finally around the end of the 1940s the parent company, Chaussen, was acquired by Peugeot and in 1950 the van acquired both a Peugeot engine and Peugeot branding. Thus Chanard-Walcker slipped into obscurity.
An interesting aside is that Emilie Mathis, the founder of Automobiles Mathis Strasbourg, who's cars Chanard-Walcker wound up manufacturing re-badged versions of, was from 1902 to 1904 employed by the firm Lorraine-Deetrich. Lorraine-Deetrich scored the first back-to-back victories at Le Mans in 1925 and 1926 and they too are little remembered now.
More complete and detailed information about Chanard-Walcker is available by clicking on the following links.
There's more of the loosely related story about Emilie Mathis below the race results graphic.
While at Lorraine-Deetrich, Mathis worked with no less a figure then Ettore Bugatti. After Mathis left Lorraine-Deetrich he became a leading car dealer in Strasbourg Alsace. He sold Fiat, De Dietrich and Panhard-Levassor among other makes from his "Auto-Mathis-Palace". Two models were designed for Mathis by the young Bugatti. They were sold under the brand Mathis-Hermes.
Mathis built his own factory in 1910 and by 1927 he was producing more than 20,000 cars a year making the firm the fourth largest automaker in France.
Declining sales after the onset of the Great Depression motivated Mathis to attempt to forge an alliance with an American automaker and in 1934 he negotiated a deal with Henry Ford. Ford invested heavily in the factory and they started producing copies of British and American Fords called Matfords. Disappointing sales and dislike with playing second fiddle to Henry led Mathis to selling his shares in the venture.
Mathis then moved to the United States where he began making marine engines under the Matam brand and by the time world War II started he had managed to regain control of his factory in Strasbourg. However he had little choice but to remain in the United States as the Germans had him on a wanted list.
Is seems that when World War I broke out, Mathis, being a German Alsatian, was drafted into the German army. In 1916 he was sent on a mission to Switzerland to buy trucks. Instead... wait for it... he deserted with the money and enlisted in the French army!
After World War II he returned and at great cost rebuilt his bombed-out factory in Strasbourg only to struggle terribly at actually manufacturing cars again. He had lost all his connections in France and the government had put into play something called "The Pons Plan". This plan gave the bureaucrats complete control over permits and access to raw materials and large manufacturers such as Citroen, Renault, Peugeot and Simca were highly favored.
Emile Mathis kept his factory going by making engines for light aircraft and components for Renault and tried to make a comeback with some very unusual and unorthodox designs. These included the aluminum bodied three-wheeler called the VEL 333 and the six cylinder six seat six speed transmissioned Mathis 666.
In 1954 he sold the Strasbourg factory to Citroen.
As if his life and career weren't unusual enough, in 1956, at the age of 76, he died after going out a hotel window in Geneva. Whether it was a fall or a jump has never been determined.
A more complete, detailed and better written version of the story, which I have stolen heavily from, can be found by CLICKING HERE>
The No.9 Chanard & Walcker 3.0L 14 was the winner in 1923
Click to Enlarge
Acording to Les Aigles (The Eagles) Chanard & Walcker Club
only one of the winning cars still exists. That is the No.50 "Tank" Z1 Special that won the under 1.1 Litre class in 1925.
A visit to the club's web site is worth it just to sample the entertaining way the computer translated the French.
Click Here Chenard & Walcker Club
The "Tank"
Click Here To View More "Tank" Photos
only one of the winning cars still exists. That is the No.50 "Tank" Z1 Special that won the under 1.1 Litre class in 1925.
A visit to the club's web site is worth it just to sample the entertaining way the computer translated the French.
Click Here Chenard & Walcker Club
Click Here To View More "Tank" Photos
The No.9 car won by completing 128 laps with
the 2nd place N0.10 Chenard-Wakcker completing 124 laps.
It's hard to think of cars from that time as capable of racing
24 hours and racking up 1372 miles in the process.
Cars 9, 10 and 11 finished 1st, 2nd and 7th in 1923.
Despite any marketing advantage the victory might have provided, the company had insufficient capital to modernize and with the cars being largely hand built left them unable to compete on price. As a result they went bankrupt in 1936 and we're taken over by a body maker called Chaussen, (who today has the glamorous image provided by being makers of RVs).
Chanard-Walcker continued to produce cars under its own name while being owned by Chaussen but the cars were merely rebranded Matfords. In turn the Matford was the slightly modified and rebranded product of a joint venture by Emilie Mathis with Henry Ford, (hence the Matford name).
An interesting aside is that Emilie Mathis, the founder of Automobiles Mathis Strasbourg, who's cars Chanard-Walcker wound up manufacturing re-badged versions of, was from 1902 to 1904 employed by the firm Lorraine-Deetrich. Lorraine-Deetrich scored the first back-to-back victories at Le Mans in 1925 and 1926 and they too are little remembered now.
More complete and detailed information about Chanard-Walcker is available by clicking on the following links.
FrenchVintageAutomobiles.com
More information about the first 24 Hours of Le Mans
is available by clicking on the following link.
Le Mans 1923
More information about the first 24 Hours of Le Mans
is available by clicking on the following link.
Le Mans 1923
Here are pit stop photos of cars no. 10 & 11 which finished 2nd and 7th in 1923
Emilie Mathis has such an interesting story that I digress here to relay it.
While at Lorraine-Deetrich, Mathis worked with no less a figure then Ettore Bugatti. After Mathis left Lorraine-Deetrich he became a leading car dealer in Strasbourg Alsace. He sold Fiat, De Dietrich and Panhard-Levassor among other makes from his "Auto-Mathis-Palace". Two models were designed for Mathis by the young Bugatti. They were sold under the brand Mathis-Hermes.
Mathis-Hermes
Mathis built his own factory in 1910 and by 1927 he was producing more than 20,000 cars a year making the firm the fourth largest automaker in France.
Declining sales after the onset of the Great Depression motivated Mathis to attempt to forge an alliance with an American automaker and in 1934 he negotiated a deal with Henry Ford. Ford invested heavily in the factory and they started producing copies of British and American Fords called Matfords. Disappointing sales and dislike with playing second fiddle to Henry led Mathis to selling his shares in the venture.
Mathis then moved to the United States where he began making marine engines under the Matam brand and by the time world War II started he had managed to regain control of his factory in Strasbourg. However he had little choice but to remain in the United States as the Germans had him on a wanted list.
Is seems that when World War I broke out, Mathis, being a German Alsatian, was drafted into the German army. In 1916 he was sent on a mission to Switzerland to buy trucks. Instead... wait for it... he deserted with the money and enlisted in the French army!
After World War II he returned and at great cost rebuilt his bombed-out factory in Strasbourg only to struggle terribly at actually manufacturing cars again. He had lost all his connections in France and the government had put into play something called "The Pons Plan". This plan gave the bureaucrats complete control over permits and access to raw materials and large manufacturers such as Citroen, Renault, Peugeot and Simca were highly favored.
Emile Mathis kept his factory going by making engines for light aircraft and components for Renault and tried to make a comeback with some very unusual and unorthodox designs. These included the aluminum bodied three-wheeler called the VEL 333 and the six cylinder six seat six speed transmissioned Mathis 666.
In 1954 he sold the Strasbourg factory to Citroen.
As if his life and career weren't unusual enough, in 1956, at the age of 76, he died after going out a hotel window in Geneva. Whether it was a fall or a jump has never been determined.
A more complete, detailed and better written version of the story, which I have stolen heavily from, can be found by CLICKING HERE>
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