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- Jean-Albert Grégoire was one of the great pioneers of the front-wheel drive car. He contributed to the development of front wheel drive vehicles in two ways. The first way was in developing and promoting the Tracta joint (designed by his friend Pierre Fenaille), which was, until manufacturing techniques had progressed sufficiently to allow the successful manufacture of the constant velocity joints commonly in use today, the preferred choice of most manufactures of vehicles that had driven front wheels. Tracta joints were used by many of the pioneers of front wheel drive, including DKW between 1929 and 1936 and Adler from 1932 to 1939 as well as the cars designed by J A Grégoire that will be mentioned later. The Tracta joint was fitted to most of the military vehicles that had driven front wheels used by most of the combatants in the Second World War. They included Laffly and Panhard in France, Alvis and Daimler in the UK and Willys in the USA that used the joint in a quarter of a million Jeeps and many others. This was to continue after the war, the first Land Rover being so fitted. The second way he contributed to the development of front wheel drive vehicles was in designing and in some cases manufacturing front wheel drive cars. The Tracta Gephi was his first design and it was this car that inspired him to design a constant velocity joint. All subsequent Tracta cars, and there were about two hundred manufactured between 1927 and 1932, used it. The first of these was raced at Le Mans in 1927 completing the 24 hour race. The Tracta cars used engines from S.C.A.P. from 1100 cc to 1600 cc, and Continental and Hotchkiss, from 2700 cc to 3300 cc. J .A. Grégoire designed an 11cv 6 cylinder car for Donnet in 1932. Only four prototypes were produced, one being shown at the Paris Salon of 1932 before Donnet went into liquidation. He then worked with Lucian Chenard to design two cars for Chenard et Walcker. They were of advanced design but were not a commercial success. In 1937 he designed the Amilcar Compound, produced by Hotchkiss from 1938 to the Second World War, by which time 681 examples had been made. It was constructed using another of Grégoire's ideas, a cast Alpax (light alloy) chassis frame. Other advanced features were rack and pinion steering and all independent suspension. But the car had its bad points, cable brakes and gear-change linkage snd a side valve engine although the latter was still common at this time. An overhead valve version came later. During the Second World War he secretly worked with his design team at his works at Asnières-sur-Seine on a small car the Aluminium "Francais-Gregoire". It had a chassis-body frame of light alloy, front wheel drive, an air-cooled flat twin engine and independent suspension on all wheels. A four-seat car weighting only 880 pounds (400 kg) and could reach 60 mph (97 km/h) while returning 70 mpg. This design was to form the basis of the 1950 "Dyna" Panhard. In 1950 another Hotchkiss car the "Hotchkiss-Gregoire", was produced again with an alloy chassis and body. With independent suspension on all four wheels and fitted with a water cooled flat four engine of 2 litres, ahead of the front axle, it was fast, with a top speed of 94 mph (151 km/h), but the car was expensive and only 250 examples were made by 1954. In 1956 Grégoire produced a two seat convertible with a 2.2 litre supercharged flat four engine producing 130 bhp (97 kW; 132 PS) and, as in the case of the cars mentioned previously, front wheel drive. All of ten cars made were fitted with bodies designed and built by Henri Chapron. All the cars mentioned previously were front wheel drive cars. Grégoire also designed a couple of rear wheel drive machines, the first an electric car with the machinery in the mid engine position and a gas turbine car the experimental Socema-Gregoire with a front power unit and rear drive layout.
- Jean-Albert Grégoire war ein französischer Ingenieur, Erfinder und Automobilpionier. Grégoire studierte an der École polytechnique und promovierte in Rechtswissenschaften. Er wurde durch die von ihm entwickelten erfolgreichen Frontantriebsfahrzeuge der Marke Tracta bekannt. Er konstruierte 1924 mit einem Tracta das erste Serienfahrzeug mit Frontantrieb. 1935 gewann er mit einem zweisitzigen Fahrzeug in Aluminium Rahmenbauweise einen von der französischen „Societe des Ingenieurs de l'Automobile (SIA)“ ausgeschriebenen Wettbewerb zur Entwicklung eines einfachen und bezahlbaren Autos für „Jedermann“. Später arbeitete er mit dem französischen Aluminiumhersteller Aluminium Francais zusammen und entwickelte das weitgehend aus der Aluminiumlegierung Alpax gefertigte Auto Compound des französischen Herstellers Amilcar, das zwischen 1936 und 1939 in Frankreich und England verkauft wurde. Ab 1942 entwickelte er zusammen mit Aluminium Francais den auf einem Aluminiumrahmen basierenden Prototypen Aluminium Francais Gregoire (AFG, 600ccm Zweizylinder-Boxermotor, 400kg Gesamtgewicht mit variabler Federung), der den Vorläufer des von 1948 bis 1953 in mehr als 50.000 Exemplaren gefertigten Panhard Dyna X bilden sollte. 1952 war er an der Entstehung der ersten französischen Turbinenwagens von S.O.C.E.M.A. (Société de constructions et d'équipements mécaniques pour l'avition) mit ca. 200 km/h Endgeschwindigkeit als Experimentalauto beteiligt. An dieses Auto lehnt sich auch ein im Comic Spirou und Fantasio abgebildetes Modell an. Beim Motorradhersteller Monet-Goyon sind in den 1950er Jahren nach ihm benannte Radfederungssysteme verwendet worden. Neben seiner Tätigkeit als Ingenieur war Grégoire auch sportlich und als Buchautor aktiv. Er spielte Rugby und war französischer Meister über 100m. In den Jahren 1927, 1928, 1929 und 1930 nahm er mit einem Tracta am 24-Stunden-Rennen von Le Mans teil. Später verfasste er mehrere Bücher über Automobilgeschichte und Automobilkonstruktion, wie Des autos et des mots, Toutes mes automobiles und Vivre sans pétrole.
- Jean-Albert Grégoire (7 juillet 1899 à Paris - 19 août 1992) est un ingénieur français, polytechnicien (X1918), l'un des grands pionniers de la traction avant et de l'utilisation des alliages d'aluminium dans la technique automobile. Il fut aussi en son temps un champion de France du 100 m aux championnats interscolaires.
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