War affected the French auto-industry during the ensuing months, as first the Paris Motor Show, scheduled for October 1939, was cancelled and then, in June 1940 the German Army invaded and occupied the northern half of the country.

[1] The four cylinder, side valve, 1185 cc engine had its all synchromesh equipped, four speed, gearbox mounted in front of it with gear selection via cables.

The car's technical design, including but not restricted to the light-metal technology, was supplied by a brilliant and charismatic engineer called Jean-Albert Grégoire.

By the time of the German invasion an upgraded Compound had been prepared by Grégoire, an energetic exponent of front wheel drive and of the use of aluminium in automobile construction, and a man whose designs found their way into the ranges of several automakers in the 1930s and 1940s.

[1] Wartime records may not be complete, but it is apparent that the car's front wheel drive layout made it particularly suitable for adaptation to different body types.

[1] The Compound B38 made extensive use of Alpax [fr], an aluminium alloy, to make castings that were assembled into a frame onto which steel sheet metal pressings were bolted and welded.

Drawings came to light in 1946 for a four-door “woody” style estate version with a lengthened chassis, thought to have been penned in 1937 by Clément Vinciguerra, who at that time was in charge of the company's design and development department.

There was also, in 1946, a proposal for a simpler three door estate version, but by this time it was becoming increasingly clear that the Amilcar Compound's post-war renaissance was not part of the agenda of Charles de Gaulle’s highly interventionist government.

The Pons Plan reflected government determination to structure the French auto-industry according to priorities identified by politicians and civil servants: exclusion or any departure from it created great difficulties in obtaining necessary permissions and materials.