The 1947 ALAMAGNY microcar prototype is coming
Who has ever heard of the unique ‘Alamagny’ car? A vehicle from 1947, it was an aluminium prototype that embodied an innovative vision of the future of car manufacturing.
Who has ever heard of the unique ‘Alamagny’ car? A vehicle from 1947, it was an aluminium prototype that embodied an innovative vision of the future of car manufacturing.
The extraordinary Alamagny prototype
In 1947, the French engineer Marcel Alamagny (who also worked as a designer for Renault & Gordini) unveiled the prototype of a small car with room for four people. Marcel Alamagny drew his inspiration from an idea dating back to 1934, which had been sketched by Gabriel Voisin. Voisin was an aircraft designer and became known from 1919 onwards for his Art Deco-inspired saloon cars.
Work on the Alamagny, designed by Marcel Alamagny, began in 1946 at the “Bureau d’Etudes des Prototypes de Saint-Cloud”, near Paris (Boulogne-Billancourt). Only one prototype was ever built. The completely symmetrical car sits on a central axle in the middle of the vehicle – a single wheel steers at the front, whilst another single wheel at the rear provides the necessary stability. This was called the ‘Diamond-Wheel-Formation’.
It is powered by a 4-cylinder Simca 569cc engine
The identical ‘clamshell’ aluminium body halves open in such a way that passengers can enter at both the front and the rear, with those in the rear seats also facing backwards. The car – which had no doors and in which passengers sat back-to-back – was officially unveiled at the 1948 Paris Motor Show.
This unique prototype will take to the circuit at the 2026 Grand Meeting as part of a special ‘Racing Legends’ race. It will be the only time the car is ever seen in Germany. After the Grand Meeting, it will be shipped via the port of Rotterdam (NL) to a museum collection in the USA.