Hotchkiss 686 / Grand Sport History

Introduced in 1936, the 686 replaced the 620 as Hotchkiss's flagship six-cylinder. Its 3,485 cc overhead-cam six produced around 100 bhp in standard trim; the high-performance Grand Sport and twin-carburettor Paris-Nice variants, launched from 1937, tuned the engine to roughly 125 bhp on a shortened 9 ft 2 in wheelbase chassis with duo-servo Bendix brakes — a deceptively simple specification that made it one of the fastest touring cars of the 1930s.

The 686 Grand Sport's competition record was extraordinary. It won the Monte Carlo Rally outright in 1939 (a shared result with Delahaye), then again in 1949 with Jean Trévoux and Marcel Lesurque, and again in 1950 — giving Hotchkiss six Monte victories in total between 1932 and 1950. Contemporary road tests placed the GS's 0–50 mph acceleration ahead of Derby Bentleys and V12 Lagondas of the period.

Post-war production resumed very slowly — fewer than 100 cars in both 1946 and 1947 — before picking up to 460 in 1948. The 686 chassis carried on as the basis for the Anjou saloon from 1950 until the model line finally ended in 1952.