2023-05-28 19:00:00
In the firmament in the 1930s, the French sports car industry absolutely failed to recover following the war. Still, the efforts have been commendable, beginning with those of Salmson. This French firm first produced airplanes before coming to the automobile in 1919. Through sport, by offering double overhead camshaft engines as early as 1921, at a time when side valves were the norm . At the turn of the 1930s, the brand turned to more bourgeois models, without much success, because of too high prices.
In 1951, Salmson filed for bankruptcy but fortunately, it was taken over by Bernard Moteurs in 1952. There, we understood that the sports car was in vogue, especially for export, and we launched the design of a coupé which came out in Paris Motor Show 1953: the 2300S. With a displacement of 2.3 l, as the name suggests, its all-alloy, ultra-modern 4-cylinder is topped with a cylinder head with two overhead camshafts, and develops 105 hp. At the time, it was a very respectable power and an output which was even more so!
Also equipped with a Cotal semi-automatic gearbox, the 2300S coupé is close to 180 km/h, which places it well on the level of Jaguar and Maserati for example. André Costa, from Auto-Journal, also praises his dynamic qualities. Logically, the Salmson is entered in competition, where it wins the 1954 Alpine Cup. There, one wonders what will prevent this car with brilliant mechanics from experiencing commercial success.
Several things actually. In addition to aesthetics not entirely successful due to a bulbous bell (which in itself is not irremediable), the Salmson 2300S suffers from outdated design and production methods. It takes the separate chassis of the Randonnee sedan, shortening it, and is content with a leaf rear suspension combined with a rigid axle. If the direction uses a modern rack, the unit appears heterogeneous, and the steering wheel continues to be established on the right, according to the tradition of the French manufacturers of top-of-the-range… before the war!
By comparison, the Alfa Romeo 1900, released in 1950, already had a monocoque structure. In addition, the driving position of the French is poorly studied, the finish a little light and above all, the frankly excessive price: 1,950,000 F, or 47,500 € today. Blame it on archaic production methods. Lacking export appeal and too expensive for a France still recovering from the war, the Salmson did not sell.
The manufacturer modified the bodywork (produced by Esclassan then Chapron), even developed a convertible – even more expensive –, but nothing helped. The price climbs once more, reaching 2,320,000 F (three times that of the Peugeot 403) in 1957, the year in which the 2300S is withdrawn, produced at barely 227 units. The brand, already bloodless at the launch of its sports car, will have missed a modern industrial tool.
Salmson, like many others, paid in the 1950s for his relative immobility of the 1930s and a lack of investment that the French government, more concerned with seeing manufacturers make volume than exceptions, did not helped to compensate once the hostilities ended.
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