Editing Matford

{{Short description|Defunct French car and truck manufacturer}}
{{for|the historic estate near Exeter|Matford, Alphington}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Matford
| former_name = 
| logo = Matford vehicles logo.svg
| type = [[Joint venture]]
| fate = 
| slogan = 
| foundation = 1934
| defunct = {{end date and age|1940}}
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| location = [[Strasbourg]], [[France]]
| founder = [[Ford Motor Company]]<br> [[Mathis (automobile)|Mathis S.A.]]
| key_people = 
| industry = [[automotive industry|Automotive]]
| num_employees = 
| products = [[Automobile]]s, [[truck]]s
| parent = [[Ford SAF|Ford S.A. Française]]
| owner = 
| divisions = 
| brands = 
| revenue = 
| net_income = 
| homepage = 
}}
'''Matford''' was a French [[automotive]] manufacturer established as a [[joint venture]] in 1934 by local firm [[Mathis (automobile)|Mathis]] and US-based [[Ford Motor Company]]. The name ''Matford'' derived from both companies' names. The company ceased activities in 1940.

== Overview ==
In the early 1930s, the [[Ford Motor Company]] was quickly expanding its European production, while [[Mathis (automobile)|Mathis S.A.]] had financial problems, but also a large, underutilized factory at [[Strasbourg]] (which, following frontier changes formalized in [[Treaty of Versailles|1919]], was now in France).<ref name=dvole>{{cite web | url = http://dvole.free.fr/matford/histoire.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211224024314/http://dvole.free.fr/matford/histoire.htm | archive-date = 2021-12-24 | title = 1934 - L'accord Ford-Mathis | trans-title = The Ford-Mathis agreement | language = fr | work = Matford | first = Denis | last = Vole }}</ref>

Ford were keen to increase production and the Mathis plant in Strasbourg seemed more suitable than their existing workshop in [[Asnières-sur-Seine]]. A joint venture between Ford and Mathis was created under the name of ''Matford S.A.'', formally created on 1 October 1934, and owned by Ford and Matthis in the proportion 60:40.<ref name=Automobilia1934>{{cite journal| title =Automobilia| journal = Toutes les voitures françaises 1934 (Salon 1933)| volume = 22|page=41|year = 2002|publisher=Histoire & collections|location=Paris }}</ref> The initial cars were locally assembled versions of contemporary American and British Ford models.

The intention had been expressed to produce the Matford models alongside those from Mathis but the last Mathis was actually made in October 1934,<ref name=Automobilia1940-46>{{cite journal| title =Automobilia| journal = Toutes les voitures françaises 1940 - 46 (Les années sans salon)| volume = 26|page=37|year = 2003|publisher=Histoire & collections|location=Paris }}</ref> which was also the month in which Matford was formally founded.<ref name=Automobilia1937>{{cite journal| title =Automobilia| journal = Toutes les voitures françaises 1937 (Salon [Oct] 1936)| volume = 3|page=55|year = 1997|publisher=Histoire & collections|location=Paris }}</ref> During 1935, under the energetic direction of [[Maurice Dollfus]] who had joined Ford in 1930, Ford poured massive amounts of capital into modernising the Strasbourg plant.<ref name=Automobilia1937/> There were high hopes for the Matford collaboration which, in 1934, was expected to last for fifty years.<ref name=Automobilia1940-46/>

In 1935 a range of V8-engined Matfords was put on the market which were very similar to the American [[Ford Model 48]]s with their V-8 {{cvt|3622|cc|CID|0}} engines. A French version appeared in 1936 as the model that has come to be known as the Matford Alsace, with a choice of a 2,225 or 3,622&nbsp;cc V8 engine: a [[Cabriolet (automobile)|cabriolet]] was also listed. The 1937 models were generally known at the time simply as the Matford 13CV and the Matford 21CV which followed the convention of the time by using the cars' [[tax horsepower|fiscal horse power ratings]] as model names.<ref name=Automobilia1938>{{cite journal| title =Automobilia| journal = Toutes les voitures françaises 1938 (Salon 1937)| volume = 6|page=55|year = 1998|publisher=Histoire & collections|location=Paris }}</ref> Both featured a V-shaped windscreen and in 1938 a US style timber bodied [[estate car]] joined the range. The steel car bodies were purchased from the coachbuilders [[Société des usines Chausson|Chausson]] rather than being built inhouse.<ref name=Automobilia1938/>

Volume passenger car production ended in 1940 with the buildup of truck orders for the French army, though an unknown number were made during the German occupation, at least till 1942. Under the occupation, because of its proximity to the German border, the contents of the Matford Stasbourg factory were moved to Ford's Cologne plant, while a [[PSA Poissy Plant|new Ford plant]] was opened at [[Poissy]], near Paris, in 1940.

Ford's links with Mathis were severed. Ford's French business was restructured in 1940, now taking the name [[Ford SAF|Ford Société Anonyme Française]] and this company used the Ford trademark. [[Émile Mathis]], fearing persecution under [[Military Administration in France (Nazi Germany)|German occupation]], escaped to the United States where he spent the [[Second World War|war]], while Matford ceased to exist.

Matford cars achieved success at the Coupe de Dames (1936) and at Monte Carlo (1938).

<gallery widths=200 heights=150>
1935 Matford V8-48 Roadster by Labourdette, front right.jpg|Matford V8-48 Roadster by Labourdette (1935)
1936 Matford Alsace 72 front.jpg|Matford Alsace V8 sedan (1936)
1938 Matford F81A Cabriolet.jpg|Matford F81A Cabriolet (1938)
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Front wheel drive]]
* [[Tracfort]]

==Bibliography==
* Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Editor [[G.N. Georgano]]. London. 2000. {{ISBN|1-57958-293-1}}

==References==
{{commons category}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Ford Motor Company}}
{{Automotive industry in France}}

[[Category:Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France]]
[[Category:Car manufacturers of France]]
[[Category:Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers]]
[[Category:Ford Motor Company|M]]
[[Category:Car manufacturers]]
[[Category:French companies established in 1934]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1934]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1934]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies of France]]