Matford was a car and truck manufacturer in France from 1934 to 1940.
In the 1930s, the Ford Motor Company was quickly expanding its European production. Before 1934,a front wheel drive version of Ford Model Y had been produced with an 8 hp engine under the marque Tracford. In 1934, Mathis had financial problems while Ford wanted to increase production and the Mathis plant in Strasbourg seemed to be more suitable than the one in Courbevoie where Tracford had been produced. A joint venture of Ford and Mathis was created under the name of Matford S.A. which copied at the beginning the style of contemporary American and British Ford models. The plan had been to produce the Matford models alongside those from Mathis but the last Mathis was actually made in October 1934.[1] Nevertheless, there were high hopes for the Matford collaboration which, in 1934, was expected to last for fifty years.[1]
In 1935 a range of V-8 engined Matfords was put on the market which were very similar to the American Ford Model 48s with their V-8 3622cc engines. A unique French design appeared in 1936 with the Alsace with a choice of a 2.2 or 3.6 litre V-8 engine and a cabriolet was also launched. The 1937 models featured a V-shaped windscreen and in 1938 an estate car joined. Matford ceased car production in 1940 (in Poissy) with the build up of truck orders for the French army, though an unknown number were made during the German occupation, at least till 1942. Because of its proximity to the German border, the Stasbourg factory was moved while a new plant opened at Poissy near Paris in 1940 and the links with Mathis were severed.
The firm was reorganised in 1940 under the name Ford Société Anonyme Française and this company used the Ford trademark instead of Matford.
Matford cars achieved success at the Coupe de Dames (1936) and at Monte Carlo (1938).