Salmson Salmson was a French engineering company , initially in the automobile and aeroplane manufacturing area , turning to pump manufacturing in the 1960s . History . It was established by Émile Salmson ( 1858 - 1917 ) as Emile Salmson , Ing . as a workshop in Paris ( 1890 ) , making steam - powered compressors and centrifugal pumps for railway and military purposes . Subsequently joined by engineers Canton and Unné , it was renamed Emile Salmson & Cie , building petrol - powered lifts and motors ( 1896 ) . The company became one of the first to make purpose - built aircraft engines , starting before World war I and continuing into World War II . After World War I the company looked around for other work and started making car bodies and then complete cars . Car production finished in 1957 . Focus also moved back to pump production and the facilities moved to Mayenne in 1961 . The firm was bought by ITT - LMT in 1962 and then by Thomson in 1976 . Its headquarters today are in Chatou . Aircraft manufacture . It moved to Billancourt and manufactured the Salmson 9 series of air and water - cooled radial engines . During World War I Salmson made its first complete aeroplanes , mainly the two - seat fighter / reconnaissance plane , the Salmson 2A2 . These were used in combat by both the French and the American Expeditionary force . The company also designed a prototype of a single seat scout / fighter , the Salmson 3 , but this was not produced in large quantities . Salmson aircraft were also used for air mail to India in ( 1911 ) . Aeroplane manufacturing moved to Villeurbanne near Lyon . Two world records were set by Maryse Bastié who flew Le Bourget to Moscow ( 1931 ) . Aero - engines . Aero - engines produced up to 1917 are shown in the following table : < / noinclude > Salmson post world War One engines . In common with several other French aero - engine manufacturers Salmson named their engines with the number of cylinders then a series letter in capitals followed by variant letters in lower - case . Engines not included in the 1932 table are listed here : Salmson air - cooled engines available in 1932 are tabled here : < / noinclude > Car manufacture . The Billancourt factory became the car manufacturing plant directed by Emile Petit . As the firm had no direct car design expertise they started by building the British GN cyclecar under licence , displaying six cars at the 1919 Paris Salon . In 1922 the car part of the business became a separate company , named Société des Moteurs Salmson . The first Salmson car proper used a four - cylinder engine designed by Petit with unusual valve gear : a single pushrod actuated both inlet and exhaust valves pushing to open the exhaust and pulling to open the inlet . This was used in the AL models from 1921 . Later the same year the company built its first twin - overhead - cam engine , which was fitted to the 1922 D - type , although most production at first used the pushrod engine . Models included Salmson won 550 automobile races and set ten world records ( 1921 - 28 ) before closing the racing department in 1929 . The " S " - series cars took over from the D - type , starting in 1929 and becomong a long lived series . After World War II the Salmson Typ S4E and Salmson Type S4 - 61 were re - introduced . Initially , as before the war , they were in most respects mutually indistinguishable from the outside apart from the slightly longer nose on the Type S4 - E , necessary to accommodate the six - cylinder in - line 2 , 312 cc engine . The Type S4 - 61 retained its four - cylinder in - line 1 , 730 cc engine . The standard body was a four - door sedan / saloon , 4510 mm in length for the four - cylinder car and 4610 mm with the larger engine . As well as the sedan / saloon there was a four - seater two - door coupe version of the S4 - 61 although this variant represented barely 10 % of the post - war S4 - 61 ‘ s total sales . A few two - door cabriolets were produced . In October 1947 a substantially updated body appeared for the six - cylinder Type S4 - E , featuring more flamboyant wheel arches and lowered headlights , now set into the body work rather than perching above the front wings . The revised frontal treatment also quickly found its way onto the coupé and cabriolet variants , making the six - cylinder cars easier to distinguish from the fours than hitherto . Like France ’ s other luxury car makers , Salmson sales suffered from a government taxation policy that penalised cars with large engines and a French economy which during the five year period from 1945 to 1950 resolutely failed to show significant signs of growth . Overall volumes were depressed . Nevertheless , the 336 cars produced in 1948 – split between the four - cylinder cars and the six - cylinder cars in a ratio of approximately 2 : 1 – did provide grounds for cautious optimism when compared to the 1947 volume of just 143 cars built . In 1950 a new car arrived in the shape of the Randonnée E - 72 . Car sales nevertheless continued to be slow in the postwar market . The company ' s passenger car production reached a postwar peak of 1 , 162 in 1950 , but by 1952 had slumped to just 89 . The company had been kept going by its aircraft engine sales , although the factory had to close for a period . A new car , the 2300 S , was shown in 1953 and it even took part in the 1955 , 1956 and 1957 Le Mans 24 hour race s After bankruptcy in 1953 , all activities ended in 1957 and Renault bought the factory .