Car : Hotchkiss AL Torpedo
Year : 1922
Engine : 4 cylinder in line
Bore and stroke : 95×140 mm
Cylinder capacity : 3962 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power :-
Maximum speed : -
Wheelbase : –
Suspension : front : semi-elliptic leaf- springs; rear: cantilever leaf- springs
Like many other manufacturers Hotchkiss did not begin as a car factory. In its case it did not begin with bicycles or motor cycles but with heavy armaments, as the two crossed cannons that from its emblem clearly show. History tells that a certain Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss supplied Napoleon III with cannons.
The AL, which was considered to be the equivalent of the Lancia Theta or Kappa, was a direct descendant of the AF which had taken part in 1914 in the Austrian Alpine Trial. After the Armistice the AF became the AH with a cone clutch, a 4-speed gearbox, pressure (pumped) lubrication and an electric starter. The AL includes all the improvements made in the preceding models and it used for the first time an open shaft drive. This was known as Hotchkiss transmission and was used in place of a shaft enclosed in the propeller tube. The car weighed 2,870 pounds (1,300 kg) and was capable of a top speed of about 60 mph. An interesting feature was the two piece windshield that protected the passengers in the rear seats.
The AL was a successful car; in 1919 and 1920 450 were sold. In 1922 overhead valves were fitted, the cylinder head was detachable whilst in 1923 brakes on the front wheels were added.
Hotchkiss AL Torpedo
