Farman A6B

The Farman A6B was the first car built by Farman, a French marque founded by the aviation pioneer Henri Farman that made luxury cars between 1919 and 1931. It was presented at the motor show of October 1919 as a grand luxury car of 40 HP, built around a 6.6 litre six-cylinder in-line engine with a real output of 108 horsepower at 1,800 rpm, a single overhead camshaft and an unusual suspension with one transverse spring joined at front and rear to two cantilever springs. Its construction was careful and luxurious and it was sold against the Hispano-Suiza H6, the Renault 40CV, the Delage CO, the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 and the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. The engine and much of the body were aluminium, which explains why many were lost when aluminium became a sought-after metal in the Second World War.