Salmson VAL3

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The Salmson engineering company started life manufacturing steam-powered compressors and centrifugal pumps for military and railway applications.

Just before the Great War, they moved into aero engine design and manufacture, supplying a wide range of units, mainly radial multi-cylinder engines of large capacity. This side of the business thrived, their engines proving very reliable, the biggest of which had 18-cylinders and a capacity of nearly 40-litres!

One of the many industries that had grown rapidy in stature through suppling the war effort, they had considerable spare capacity once the demand for fighter aircraft engines came to an abrupt halt. They initially supplied bodywork to the existing motor-trade, graduating to building the British-designed GN cyclecar under licence. These sold well and were a firm favourite with the Gendarmerie at the time.

By 1920 they had designed a car of their own, the AL model which featured a simple overhead valve engine which ingeniously used one pushrod per cylinder to open both its inlet and exhaust valves. The light yet robust little cars performed well in competitions across Europe, a twin-cam version arriving in 1922. An updated AL made its debut not long after, the VAL3 using a further developed version of the ‘four-pushrod’ engine.

Most sporting of all was the GSC or San Sebastian. A very sporty, narrow, staggered two-seater body and twin-cam engine made them more than a match for the Amilcars of the period, both marques retaining a fanatical following to this day.

Salmsons of the early ‘30s were typically French, getting heavy high-wasted coachwork which did little to aid performance, the company struggling into the 1950s with low volume production of largely hand-built quality cars with coachbuilt bodies. The final blow came in 1957, after which the large Boulogne-Billancourt factory in the outskirts of Paris was taken over by Renault.

This early VAL3 is fitted with a ‘four-pushrod’ engine and has useful front wheel brakes fitted. Acquired by the vendor’s father in the early ‘60s, the car is reputed to have appeared in a photograph in Autocar sometime in 1950. Extensively campaigned over the years in VSCC trials, it has always proved very effective due to its light weight and excellent weight distribution, the ‘bouncer’ being located over the rear axle thanks to the staggered seating.

Retired from such rough treatment around ten years ago, the car was stripped and rebuilt, its original GCS San Sebastian body being entrusted to Keith Hill for sympathetic restoration. Now far too good to abuse on the ever more challenging trials sections, the vendor finds he is not using it and so is reluctantly offering it for sale.

With genuine GCS models fetching in excess of £100,000, this VAL3, with its rare and original San Sebastian body looks excellent value, the active and very friendly ‘Amicale Salmson’ group offering plenty of advice, spare parts and fun events in which to use these charismatic and distinctive cars.

AMENDMENT: Bidders are advised that when the work was undertaken around ten years ago, the body was restored, but the rest of the car was not rebuilt at the same time as catalogued. It has been driven around 40 miles to the sale.