Two sporting models with 1500cc 4-cylinder engines were launched by Chenard et Walcker at the 1927 Paris Salon: the Y7 was a semi-lowered sports car clothed either in a three-seater Grand Sport torpedo body called “Torpille,” or a two-seater plywood saloon. The Y8 that we see here was a fully-lowered “Tank” car, with axles above the chassis rails and an all-enveloping body well ahead of its time. It was similar in concept to the 1923 Bugatti Type 32, but that was a racing car and the Y8 was built for the road, with windscreen and headlamps.
Chenard et Walcker won the inaugural 1923 24 Hours of Le Mans with one of three cars entered and by 1925 were the fourth largest car maker in France, but the company never had sufficient capital to modernise and the cars remained largely hand-built leaving them unable to compete on price. As a result, they went bankrupt in 1936 and were taken over by body maker Chausson.
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