Hotchkiss was renowned long before the company began car production. In 1867, Benjamin Hotchkiss, a Connecticut businessman, arrived in France to set up an armaments factory in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris. When the motor age dawned, Hotchkiss realized that his experience with cannons provided excellent training for the production of cylinder blocks, and he turned to the manufacture of components for Panhard and De Dietrich. By 1903 the first complete Hotchkiss car, with its distinctive round radiator, left the factory driven by the great racing driver Henri Fournier.This 25-horsepower enclosed limousine with coachwork by Amiet of Paris has a 4-cylinder 4.7-liter engine and is completely original.
