Chenard-Walcker

Chenard-Walcker, also known as Chenard & Walcker, was a French automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer from 1898 to 1946. Chenard-Walcker then designed and manufactured trucks marketed via Peugeot sales channels until the 1970s. The factory was at first in Asnières-sur-Seine moving to Gennevilliers in 1906.[1] The make is remembered as the winner of the first Le Mans 24 Hours Race in 1923.

History

Ernest Chenard (1861–1922)[1] was a railway engineer and maker of bicycles with a factory in the rue de Normandie at Asnières-sur-Seine, then just outside Paris on its north side. He joined with mining engineer Henri Walcker (1877–1912)[1] in 1898 to make motor tricycles. Together they founded their automobile business on 19 January 1899,[2] with Chenard in charge of design and Walcker sales and finance. The business was formally registered as Chenard, Walcker et Compagnie in 1900.

Decline

The company never had sufficient capital to modernise and the cars remained largely hand-built leaving them unable to compete on price. As a result, they went bankrupt in 1936 and were taken over by body maker Chausson. The 1938 models shared bodies with Matford, distinguishable only by the radiator grilles and were powered by Citroën or Ford V-8 engines. There were plans to rejuvenate (again) the appearance of the big Chenard & Walcker "Aigle 22CV" model for 1939, giving it a raked grille, but this came to nothing and car production finally ceased in 1939 or 1940.[8] In April 1940, an advertisement for the company's Matford-based passenger cars appeared in the French-language version of a leading Swiss-based motor magazine but, by this time, the company appears to have been finishing up existing stocks of new cars rather than building more.[8]

The war years

In September 1939 France declared war on Germany and in June 1940 the German Army rapidly invaded and occupied Northern France. The war years were characterised by a desperate shortage of raw materials for civilian industry and of petrol. In 1940 Chenard & Walcker presented the prototype for a light van based ambulance intended for the army, and this vehicle turned out to be the first in a long line of forward control light vans.[8] By 1941 the van was listed for civilian use, powered by a compact 720 cc two-stroke water-cooled engine which occupied a central position between the driver's right leg and the left leg of his passenger. Power output was in the region of 20 hp which seems to have been barely compatible with the stated 1,500 kg of carrying capacity.[8] By 1942 fuel for civilian use had become virtually unobtainable and an electric-powered version of the little van was offered by a company called Sovel.[8] Although the success of the little van was not sufficient to ensure the manufacturer a long-term future in vehicle production, the van itself endured. Towards the end of the 1940s Chausson (the company which by now had acquired Chenard & Walcker) itself fell into the hands of Peugeot, and the van acquired the engine from the Peugeot 202. A few years later, in 1950, it was rebranded as the Peugeot D3 van.[8] The last ones to carry the Chenard name were made in 1950.

fate	Purchased by Chausson in 1936 following bankruptcy, after which the name continued to be used into the mid-1940s
foundation	19 January 1899 Registered 1900 as Chenard, Walcker et Compagnie Registered 1906 as Société Anonyme des Anciens Étabissements Chenard et Walcker
defunct	1946
location city	Asnières-sur-Seine, France (1899 - 1908) Gennevilliers, France (1908 - 1946)
key people	Ernest Chenard (1861–1922) Henri Walcker (1877–1912) Lucien Chenard (1896–1971)
products	Automobiles Commercial vehicles

History

Decline

The war years

Competition

Tracteurs FAR

Major models

Further reading

References