SALMSON (SMS)
Salmson cars were made in Billancourt, near Paris in France, between 1919 and 1957.
Originally an engineering company started by Emile Salmson in Paris in 1890, manufacturing pumps and compressors, Salmson began building aeroplane engines in 1908, and by 1911 were also manufacturing complete aircraft, including the plane that made the first air mail flight to India, and supplying the French and American forces with fighter planes in the First World War.
After the end of the First World War, demand for aeroplanes and their engines dropped considerably and in 1919, under the direction of Emile Petit, the Billancourt factory began building their first cars. Initially, these were versions of the British designed GN cyclecar made under licence. By 1920, however, they were manufacturing cars of their own, with Petit designing the early engines. These included innovative techniques that set them apart from their competitors - firstly an unconventional valve system with a pushrod that simultaneously pushed the exhaust valve and pulled the inlet one, followed by a twin overhead camshaft engine that was ahead of its time (ignored as a concept by many manufacturers because of the cost). The first of these new cars produced was the AL cyclecar.
In 1922 the car manufacturing part of the business became a separate company, Société des Moteurs Salmson (SMS), introducing the dual overhead cam D-Type and progressing the AL series with the VAL models. A variety of new designs were introduced over the next few years, including various different versions of the VAL3, and limited production models such as the GSC San Sebastian.
Salmson were extremely successful in the racing world during this period, winning hundreds of races and setting 10 world records before they shut their race department in 1929.
In 1922, they opened up a subsidiary in Chiswick, SMS London, to import and distribute their cars to the British market, which also included a service department. They were pretty successful with their British sales, selling 2280 cars in total . This part of the company closed in June 1933, the same year that British Salmson Aero Engineering began preparing for manufacture of the British Salmson S4C at Raynes Park, London.
From 1929 on, after the closure of their race department, the Billancourt factory concentrated on building high quality touring cars, beginning with the S4 in 1929. The S4C replaced this model in 1932, followed by the S4D in 1934, the S4DA from 1935-38, then the S4-61 and S4E from 1938 - 1951 (although car manufacturing stopped during WW2).
The Randonnée E-72 was introduced in 1950, replaced by the Randonnée G-72 from 1951-54. Their final model was the 2300S, from 1953 until 1957. In this year they finally declared bankruptcy, after the disastrous effects of the post war economy in France had produced many years of poor sales. In their final 4 years, they sold just over 200 cars in total, down from the thousands they had previously produced.