Salmson Type AL History

The Type AL was launched in July 1921 as Salmson's first truly original car, designed by engineer André Lombard with a water-cooled four-cylinder engine by Emile Petit. It retained cyclecar proportions — quarter-elliptic rear springs, lightweight construction — but offered more mechanical refinement than the British GN cyclecars the company had previously built under licence.

Petit's pushrod four-cylinder proved durable and tuneable: more than 10,000 examples in various AL-series guises were sold between 1921 and 1929. The car's competition debut at the Swiss Six Days Trial in 1921 prompted Petit to develop a twin-overhead-camshaft version for racing, which would define Salmson's inter-war reputation.

From the twin-cam AL derivatives grew the Grand Sport (GS) series, which won class honours at the first Le Mans 24 Hours in 1923 and at the Targa Florio and San Sebastian in subsequent years. Salmson recorded 550 race victories and ten world records between 1921 and 1928 before closing its racing department in 1929.