From AutoCult, we are now getting an exquisite model of a somewhat unusual looking Mercedes, a 1933 290 roadster (W18) with a custom-made body by the carmaker Amilcar, of St.Denis, a suburb north of Paris.
Amilcar only existed between 1921 and 1939. The company was specialized in the construction of small, light and fast cars, and won quite a few competitions, among them in 1926 with its types “CS” and “CGS”, and even beat a world speed record with its “CO” in 1925. In 1928, Amilcar introduced the “CGSS”, which was also produced under license in Austria and in Italy, as well as in Germany, where it was oddly called the “Pluto”. The same year 1928, the German racecar driver Ernst von Halle finishes in third place at the wheel of an Amilcar C6 in the second “ADAC Eifelrennen”, held on May 28th on the Nürburgring. Unfortunately, he is killed in an accident not even 2 months later, on July 15th1928, on the same Nürburgring.
Part of what used to be a category of cars called “Cyclecars” or “Voiturettes”, the sporty Amilcars were until the company’s takeover in 1933 by the “Sofia” (Société Financière pour l'Automobile) holding company, essentially narrow two-seaters, usually painted in “French blue”. Their shape, speed, and not the least their colour resulted in them being nicknamed “the poor man’s Bugatti”.
Amilcar subsequently was taken over by Hotchkiss in 1937 and their automobile businesses merged. The company closed its door at the beginning of WWII towards the end of 1939, not to re-open after the war.
Amilcar also built custom bodies onto rolling chassis of other car brands.
One single Mercedes-Benz, a 290 (W18) roadster, which sits nowadays in the “Autosammlung Steim”-museum, in Schramberg (Germany), is known to have been built with a body by Amilcar in 1933 for a German client.
All documentation about this client and his purchase unfortunately has seemingly disappeared.
But now, let’s give the floor to AutoCult:
Swabian Heart in a sportive Dress
In 1933 the Swabian car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz replaced their model range of the Type 350/370 by the model 290. The chassis fitted with the engine in-house listed with the abbreviation ‘M 18’ was the base for large number of different body versions. The customer had the option between sedan, station wagon and convertible versions and even within each version there were several other options to choose, such as two doors or four doors. And even if the product range was huge, there were also customers which wanted to have an own, customized car body. For those the bare chassis fitted with the 2.8 liter six-cylinder engine with a performance of 60 hp was available.
A lot of body makers, both abroad and home, offered their service to built customized bodies for the standard chassis. One of them was the company ‘Amilcar’ in France. Since 1921 the company, which was led by Joseph Lamy and Emile Akar, built own automobiles and also accepted orders for customized car bodies. They were also tasked to design and built a sportive roadster body for a 1933 Mercedes-Benz Type 290. The – unfortunately unknown – customer probably stated the guideline to create a sportive Roadster that remained visually true to its Swabian origin. To fulfill this the French body makers left the front end with its huge radiator grille untouched. A flat windscreen and flat sloping, short rear end emphasized the sporty appearance. Visually appealing were also its slightly protruding rear fenders and the completely covered rear wheels.
“Avenue 43”- Magazine
I need to clarify who/what is ‘Avenue 43’, in relationship to ‘AutoCult’.
Many a collector is under the impression that ‘Avenue 43’ is a “branch’ or sub-brand of ‘AutoCult’.
Earlier on, I was under this impression as well, but ‘Avenue 43’ is its own different brand, which however is exclusively distributed by ‘AutoCult’. That being said, the quality of both ‘Avenue 43’ and ‘AutoCult’ is the same.
Please note that ‘Avenue 43’ issues also a print magazine, which is available (so far in Europe) for the asking, and for free, from your local model car shop. In this 24-page bilingual German and English magazine, the history of anywhere between 7 and 9 cars and of their ‘Avenue 43’ model version is being related.
So, do ask your dealer for it!
Kess (Carmodel) had scheduled for the end of May the release of the 1:43 model of the 1929 Mercedes-Benz 260 (W11), type “Stuttgart” as a four-door sedan. It appears as if we may need a bit more patience (Thanks, Covid-19!) The model will be available in blue/black, and green/white. Inasmuch as can be concluded from looking at the pictures published by Carmodel, the 260 looks quite promising.
(с)BERND D. LOOSEN
