Autoquiz #582 - Finished

[carsntrucks4you]

?

Again I',m too late. The answer on this quiz is  1953 Hotchkiss Grégoire.  Sometimes I'm asking myself what the designer though when he did the first sketches of  a car. That is my personal opinon. This car looks outof proportion, but that is a personal comment.

The correct answer were sent in by:

Matt Bacon

Mittagskind

Richard Bartrop

Ace-Garageguy

otherunicorn

thatz4u

DonW

Congratulation

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by carsntrucks4you

[Mittagskind]

PM

[Earl Marischal]

No idea but I like it.

steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

I have no idea. None, zero, period.  

EDIT: But I have an inkling of where to start searching...  

Edited July 5, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[peteski]

Not sure if I like it, or want to turn my head away, but I think it would make a great model.

I'm pretty sure I know where it is not from.

Edited July 5, 2023 by peteski

[Ace-Garageguy]

PM'd.  

[DonW]

I knew this one, unfortunately - I've tried to put it out of my mind but failed!

Not a stylistic success to my mind.

Ideal for truffle-hunting with it's big snout, probably not so eager to turn into corners...

[thatz4u]

pm'd

[otherunicorn]

Out of proportion because they hung the engine in front of the front wheels. It must handle like a pig!

 

[Earl Marischal]

Looks a bit like an overgrown Saab 93.

steve ?

[Ace-Garageguy]

I figgered anything that odd looking had to be either Eastern Bloc or French.

French it is.

[Mittagskind]

22 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I figgered anything that odd looking had to be either Eastern Bloc or French.

Hihi, or UK or US or...?

[Bainford]

4 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I figgered anything that odd looking had to be either Eastern Bloc or French.

French it is.

Yup, my thoughts exactly. Spent a lot of time looking at Panhards. Couldn't find it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

29 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Yup, my thoughts exactly. Spent a lot of time looking at Panhards. Couldn't find it.

This is my search to find the thing, which I sent to Michael to demonstrate I hadn't just image-searched it:

OK, I figured with the kinda odd styling, it would either be Eastern Bloc or French.

Nothing EB came up, had a look through old French cars.

Came up with a car that had a similar front end, labeled "Gregoire", about halfway down this page, far right.

https://motor-car.net/french-1950s?start=36

Searched "Gregoire car", came up with this:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_Grégoire

More digging...   https://www.conceptcarz.com/z21740/hotchkiss-gregoire.aspx

So...it would appear this week's car is a Hotchkiss Gregoire Coupe, one of seven (?) built in 1952-'53.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[Matt Bacon]

I went old school: decided it was early 50s and pulled a couple of volumes of “The Observers Book of Automobiles” annual editions from the (almost) full set in my office and started flicking through the pages… It’s a reasonably quick process when there are a lot of manufacturers you know it ISN’T ?

best,

M.

[peteski]

I also thought it was Eastern European, but the wheels looked like Porsche wheels.

[Richard Bartrop]

I know about Gregoire from perusing Automobile Quarterly, and it looked like one of his, so a trip to Google to detail the details.

Jean-Albert Grégoire was an interesting guy.  He was an early promoter of front wheel drive.  and there's actually some neat engineering under that sheet metal.

Supposedly, they handled very well.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Richard Bartrop

[DonW]

On 7/12/2023 at 8:58 PM, Richard Bartrop said:

I know about Gregoire from perusing Automobile Quarterly, and it looked like one of his, so a trip to Google to detail the details.

Jean-Albert Grégoire was an interesting guy.  He was an early promoter of front wheel drive.  and there's actually some neat engineering under that sheet metal.

Supposedly, they handled very well.

Thanks Richard. Well you live and learn, it seems the looks are deceptive where the handling is concerned. The French seem to have a proud tradition of deliberately odd styling! Viva la revolution!

[Richard Bartrop]

Gregoire is like Voisin, where you're not entirely sure whether you're looking at genius, or madness.

[Ace-Garageguy]

10 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

Gregoire is like Voisin, where you're not entirely sure whether you're looking at genius, or madness.

Luigi Colani...

       

 

[Richard Bartrop]

Yes, Colani is another one like that.

[DonW]

And there's nothing new in this zone:

Count Trossi:

Walter Christie:

[Richard Bartrop]

The Hotchkiss Gregoire has a flat four hanging out front, so it's basically like a modern Subaru.