He had an exceptional understanding of carburetion issues in particular and of engines in general, and was recognised by colleagues as a talented trouble shooter in technical matters.
[1] He was also the director, along with his father, of a Paris-based garage in the Avenue Ledru-Rolin and here, in the 1950s, he began to specialise in developing performance versions of the Peugeot 203: the 203 was hugely popular at the time and by 1950 had, despite its size, become France’s second best selling car.
[2] From improving the performance of customers' Peugeots it seemed a natural progression to develop his own car, and the (Peugeot 203 based) Martin-Spéciale was an elegant two-door coupé, designed by Martin, and presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1952.
The extensive use made of Peugeot parts promised a car that would retail at a competitive price.
[1] Unfortunately, however, Eugène Martin never got through the hurdles necessary to put his promising design into series production.