Car manufacturers - France: books - history (1/2)

Amedee Gordini - A True Racing Legend

This is a story of excitement, laughs, astonishment and anger - a story of the determination of a man with a dream and a passion for motor racing in the big leagues.
It charts Gordini's early life and beginnings in motorsport, up to 1969 when Renault took over the Gordini company, keeping his name on all the racing engines until 1986, before finally resurrecting it for a performance version of the Renault Twingo and Clio in 2009.

The book is packed with evocative period images from important collections, supplementary transcripts in English from many contemporary interviews, plus recollections from former employees remembering their time working with Gordini, and an exhaustive set of statistics.

Information

Author:	Roy P. Smith
Details:	288 pages, 26 x 21.5 x 2.8 cm / 10.25 x 8.5 x 1.1 in, hardback
Illustrations:	410 photos
Publisher:	Veloce Publishing Ltd (GB, 2013)
ISBN:	9781845843175

Farman - de l'aviation à l'automobile

The Farman brothers are well known for the major role they played in the creation and development of aviation. Less well known is that they were automobile manufacturers, producing between the two wars one of the most luxurious French cars of its time, playing on an equal footing with the prestigious Hispano-Suiza.

The Farman brothers started in the automobile industry through trading and the legendary races of the Belle Époque. They then took their first steps in aviation, which led to the creation of the Société des Aéroplanes Henri et Maurice Farman. It is the history of this fabulous automobile that we propose to retrace here, illustrated by the largest collection of photos of the Farman car ever assembled.

The Farman car is at the heart of the subject. After the presentation of its designer, the engineer Charles Waseige, the book evokes the launch of the car, its technical originality, its variants, the reception of the public and the press, its successes in elegance competitions, its attempts in the sports field as well as its evolution towards a new particularly innovative model.

The aviation engines are also developed, which are part of the same branch as the Farman automobile, as well as the "little sister" of the latter: the Alda 18 HP. Finally, a place is given to the brand's hydrofoils.

Information

Author:	Cl Rouxel/L. Friry/S. Faurès
Details:	224 pages, 29 x 24 cm / 11.4 x 9 in, hardback
Illustrations:	348 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2014)
ISBN:	9782726897478

Cycles, motos, automobiles Alcyon, reine du Tour (Collection Prestige)

Alcyon, created in 1903 by Edmond Gentil during the Pioneers period, was a world-renowned brand of cycles and motorcycles. Alcyon was at the forefront of innovation, communication and especially of very high-level competition: 13 Tours de France to its credit, 18 Paris-Roubaix, an astonishing and unequalled series of victories in the cycling world... Alcyon swept it all!
The same goes for motorcycles, with an incalculable number of records and victories including the first world champion title in history, and cars, before the Great War, which marked their era.

Z.L. was a Swiss engine factory owned by Ernest Zürcher. Also a pioneer, it became essential in Europe, it equipped all the great emerging motorcycles of the time without exception: from Minerva to Peugeot, Terrot, NSU, Alcyon... and even Brough, the Rolls of Motorcycles!
Like Alcyon, Zedel launched into the automobile, and left us with wonderful models. This incredible captain of industry and this extraordinary mechanic linked their destinies in 1907. For the best. Here is their story.

The story of an extraordinary industrial saga, but also the story of a tough competition between Alcyon and its fierce rival, but which served as a model, Peugeot, a pioneer in competition. Thus, the two competing brands acquired the most prestigious list of achievements in the history of cycling...
But in the end, and still today, 50 years later, on this ground Alcyon clearly beats Peugeot!

Information

Author:	Cyrille de Ridder, Didier Mahistre
Details:	400 pages, 29 x 24 cm / 11.4 x 9 in, hardback, in cassette
Illustrations:	800 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2015)
Series:	Collection Prestige
ISBN:	9791028300968

Les marques emblématiques disparues

Each of us drives a modern, sophisticated car today with the latest technologies, GPS, power brakes and steering, anti-skid system... All this is the result of advanced research but also of the experience acquired by the generations that preceded us at a time when everything had to be invented and this is the case for the automobile.

You will discover in this book the most emblematic cars in which our parents or grandparents drove, transported us when we were little: Delahaye, Bugatti, Delage, Hispano Suiza But also the more recent ones that you used: Simca, Panhard, Facel Vega, Matra..., and which no longer exist except in museums or piously preserved by collectors.

Discover these cars from a time when specialist coachbuilders made "works of art", Chapron, Saoutchik, Letourneur et Marchand, Figoni Falaschi...
Discover in this book these emblematic models that populate our wildest dreams. A book that presents their history, their technical aspect, their characteristics and the intoxicating beauty of their bodywork.

Information

Author:	Jany Huguet
Details:	192 pages, 29 x 22.5 x 2.3 cm / 11.4 x 8.9 x 0.91 in, hardback
Illustrations:	profusely illustrated
Publisher:	Magasin pittoresque (F, 2017)
ISBN:	9782373460360

Clément Bayard, pionnier industriel

Orphaned at a very young age, Adolphe Clément (1855-1928), a self-made man, became the French number one in cycles at the age of 45, then he threw himself with ardor into the automobile industry, building in Mézières and Levallois two extraordinary factories of modernity, the two largest in Europe, it was said at the time, before launching into the aeronautics industry in 1908. His monogram A.C. appeared proudly above the entrance gates of his factories.
The war of 1914-1918 ruined him, yet the man raised his head and handed over to a young engineer and entrepreneur who had good ideas for producing a popular automobile at a low price: André Citroën. Having become his banker, Adolphe Clément sold him his factories, and, as he himself said, he did not even have to change the monogram.

The result of several years of study in multiple sources, municipal and departmental archives, archives of institutions such as the Aéro-Club de France, family archives, this book traces the life of an extraordinary character, Adolphe Clément and the history of his company.

Information

Author:	Gérard Hartmann
Details:	176 pages, 28 x 21.5 cm / 11 x 8.5 in, hardback
Illustrations:	381 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2013)
ISBN:	9782726896730