At the start of the 20th century, the automobile in Franche-Comté was not just Peugeot. There was also Rossel in Sochaux, Japy in Beaucourt, Millot in Gray, Schneider in Besançon, Zédel in Pontarlier and, later, Lambert in Giromagny.
Born in 1903 in Passavant, Haute-Saône, Germain Lambert was garage manager in Mâcon, sold cars, tried – in vain – to build an electric car and built flour mills in Reims before developing his own automobile brand by buying, in 1946, a former production site of parts for the weaving looms in Giromagny. He had been trying to build cars since 1926, but it was from his arrival in the Territoire de Belfort that his projects ended with the Torino Coupé, the 6 CV type SA, the Simplicia… Producing sports cars, he started working aligned with the Bol d’Or in 1948, but is not classified. He insisted and ended up winning the event in 1952 and 1953.
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An engineering mechanic, Lambert is less gifted for business and management. Lambert automobiles won on the circuits but sold poorly. Heavily in debt, his business collapsed at the end of 1953. He then lost everything, including his own house. Four Lambert’s are now exhibited at the Automobile Museum in Mulhouse.
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