Coachbuilders - France: Illustrated History Books & Guides

Concours d'Elegance - Dream cars and lovely ladies

Surely no form of contest has ever equalled the marriage of luxury and ostentation offered for many years by the great concours d'élégance. The vital step for organisers of such events was to choose a venue famous for its air of leisurely hedonism, such as Longchamp, Deauville, Cannes, La Baule, Vichy, Nice or Enghien, where costly automobiles, their elegant silhouettes crafted by the great names of contemporary coachwork, could parade.

To enhance the atmosphere, these exotic creations were presented by pretty ladies, mostly recruited from fashionable society, dressed in the latest fashion by the leading Parisian couturiers in an attempt to achieve the best possible symbiosis with the machines that they accompanied.
Without wishing to diminish the important role played in the spectacle by these actors, it was of course the aristocratic automobiles that the eager spectators had come to admire.

This book offers a delicious journey back in time to witness the golden age of the concours d'élégance. Over fifty coachbuilders covered, from Antem to Weymann.

Product details

Author:	Patrick Lesueur
Details:	208 pages, 11.6 x 9.8 x 0.87 in (29.5 x 25 x 2.2 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	200 b&w photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Dalton Watson Fine Books (USA, 2011)
ISBN:	9781854432506

Figoni on Delahaye

This book highlights the artistic mastery of Joseph Figoni and his elegant designs for Delahaye automobiles. It explores his creative process through sketches, models, and rare surviving artifacts.

Modern photographs, including those by Michael Furman, capture the timeless beauty of Figoni's restored masterpieces. The Figoni Archive, featuring notebooks, vintage photos, and historical documents, provides valuable insights into these legendary cars.

The book presents over fifty Delahayes with Figoni's signature coachwork, offering detailed descriptions of each. An appendix, "Joseph Figoni's Designs and Drawings", includes many previously unpublished sketches.

Claude Figoni shares the story of his father's journey from modest beginnings to becoming one of France's leading coachbuilders. Richard Adatto offers personal reflections on his experiences with collectors and the restoration community.

Product details

Author:	Richard Adatto, Diana Meredith, Michael Furman
Details:	328 pages, 11.2 x 9 x 1.42 in (28.5 x 24 x 3.6 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	302 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Dalton Watson Fine Books (USA, 2023)
ISBN:	9781956309133

Marcel Pourtout: Carrossier

Pourtout is a name often mentioned as one of the greats of French coachbuilding. It was the company behind the rakish Darl'mat Peugeots of the 1930s and the famous 'Embiricos' Bentley. From modest beginnings, founder Marcel Pourtout - latterly working with designer Georges Paulin - created a respected business that bodied some of the world's finest and most interesting chassis.

When bespoke coachwork became a thing of the past, Carrosserie Pourtout was one of the few companies to survive. It moved on to fresh areas of activity. Quick on its feet, it thrived in a newly dynamised post-war France, whilst remaining a family business under the direction of Marcel Pourtout's second son Claude.

Extravagant publicity vehicles, notably for the 'Tour de France' cycle race, replaced special-bodied Hispano-Suizas and Delahayes. Then Carrosserie Pourtout became involved with ALM, for whom it created a cab body that redefined the image of the company's rugged trucks, these becoming a staple of armed forces around the world.
Finally it became France's leading converter of Peugeot light vans and a sub-contractor for the aircraft and oil-prospecting industries.

Written by award-winning author Jon Pressnell, this is the first history of Carrosserie Pourtout and has been compiled with the full and generous support of the Pourtout family.
Using surviving documentation from the archives held by Kévin Pourtout, it tells the complete story of this enterprising small business, from its inception in 1925 to its demise in 1994.

Product details

Author:	Jon Pressnell
Details:	448 pages, 8.5 x 11.6 x 1.5 in (21.5 x 29.5 x 3.8 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	754 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Dalton Watson Fine Books (USA, 2022)
ISBN:	9781854432865

Gotha de l'automobile française

This book, written by two enthusiasts and experts, pays tribute to the French luxury automobile through the magnificent models produced by brands such as Bucciali, Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Hispano-Suiza, Hotchkiss, Panhard, Rochet-Schneider, Talbot, Voisin, and others, throughout the decades.

The authors share their admiration and enthusiasm for this fascinating, often overlooked history of the luxury automobile. They have selected hundreds of superb photos, many of which are unpublished or little known, from various sources, as well as reproductions of luxury catalogs printed in France.

These images could be sufficient in themselves, but the authors have also added precise comments, extracts from period press, texts by contemporary writers of the cars mentioned, as well as comparative tables and some important technical details. However, the book does not claim to develop them in detail.

This book thus offers a captivating fresco of more than a century of sumptuous cars, true works of art and technology, demonstrating the essential role of France in the history of the luxury automobile. It is both an enriching read and a work to be carefully preserved.

Product details

Author:	Claude Rouxel, Laurent Friry
Details:	384 pages, 11.4 x 9 in (29 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	550 b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2010)
ISBN:	9782726888872

Les carrosseries Henri Chapron

Henri Chapron set up his body shop in the west of Paris in 1919. His specialization as a saddler quickly brought him a regular clientele who appreciated the quality of his work. A solid reputation for classicism and serious work opened the doors to the major French prestige brands such as Delahaye and Delage in 1930. He became their official supplier for convertible and coach bodies.

Set up at the now historic address of 114-116 avenue A. Briand in Levallois-Perret, Henri Chapron designed the most elegant and luxurious French and European cars: Delahaye 235, the latest Talbot-Lago and some magnificent Salmsons.
In 1956, the legendary Citroën DS sealed Henri Chapron's destiny. Having become the official coachbuilder of the Presidency of the Republic, he designed the limousines of Presidents Coty, de Gaulle, Pompidou, and Giscard d'Estaing. Even today, Henri Chapron's name shines on the two convertible SMs of the Elysée.

The book tells the story of Henri Chapron, interspersed with memories and interviews with people who knew him, and that of a century of coachbuilding, from 1886 to 1986.

Product details

Author:	Dominique Pagneux
Details:	192 pages, 11 x 8.5 in (28 x 21.5 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	150 b&w and 150 color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2002)
ISBN:	9782726886021

Concours d'élégance automobile

It is difficult to find a concept of event that has combined for several decades more luxury and ostentation than the elegance competitions. If this elitism can seem somewhat outdated, even indecent, these days, its brutal and magnificent splendor still fascinates as much in this 21st century, far too standardized and dull.
Let us not forget that these gatherings have also allowed - like the great transatlantic liners of the moment - the most sought-after artists and creators to express themselves in complete freedom, beyond any petty profitability.
All the ingredients are combined for a precious good: the dream. First, the organizers carefully selected places known for their calm and voluptuousness, such as Longchamp, Deauville, Cannes, La Baule, Vichy, Nice, Enghien, where expensive automobiles would travel in hushed silence, their elegant silhouettes owing everything to the greatest names in coachbuilding of the time.

An additional asset is that these appearances are presented by pretty women recruited (for the most part) from the pages of the "Bottin mondain"; they adorn themselves with outfits designed by the masters of Parisian haute couture, in order to attempt the best possible symbiosis with the machines they accompany.
Of course, these outfits also affirm French know-how in this field. But without in any way wanting to minimize any of the important roles played by all these actors participating in the party, it is indeed the automobile queen that the stunned spectators come to admire. This book has no other purpose than to make you participate in a delicious journey through time.

Product details

Author:	Patrick Lesueur
Details:	192 pages, 11.4 x 9 in (29 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	300 b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2011)
ISBN:	9782726895429

Encyclopédie de la carrosserie française

Coachbuilders, manufacturers, schools, stylists, designers... the 500 players in creation. As announced in the foreword to the book "La carrosserie française - du style au design", a second volume was to follow, focusing on inventorying, from A to Z, all the players who have been involved in the evolution of bodywork, from its origins to today.

The book is divided into two parts, the first devoted to companies, the second to personalities. Among the 350 companies presented, we will find the vast majority of coachbuilders who have been or are still active in France. Also grouped are the manufacturers who have been involved in the evolution of bodywork, on an aesthetic or technical level.
For each brand, we discover how the style or design studios have evolved over the years. The main design schools and suppliers to the automobile industry are also cited. Among the 150 personalities listed, we will discover the women and men who have contributed to the technological or aesthetic evolution of bodywork: stylists, designers and engineers.

Product details

Author:	Serge Bellu
Details:	384 pages, 11.4 x 9 in (29 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	600 b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2011)
ISBN:	9782726895627

Les automobiles publicitaires (volume 1)

Even before the beginning of the 20th century, companies had the idea of using means of transport as a support for advertising with posters painted on the sides of vehicles.
With the arrival of the mechanical automobile and integral bodies, the advertising message changed dimension by covering all surfaces; then "rebodied" vehicles supporting three-dimensional products appeared.

These heterogeneous prototypes gave an instant idea of the message to be conveyed! This is how hundreds, probably thousands of advertising vehicles were manufactured. With more or less success depending on the imagination of the creators and the means at their disposal, these sheet metal artists created a host of rolling fantasies.
This book brings together for the first time in more than 600 black and white photos - most of which have never been published - the most curious vehicles there are. On the road to the fairyland of advertising...

Fabien Sabatès, as a good industrial archaeologist, was the first in France to publish a book on advertising vehicles entitled "Pub qui roule" in 1995, when the Internet did not exist. But thanks to this fabulous window open to the four corners of the world, he was able to carry out in-depth research in the main countries and extract from the dust documents that would otherwise have remained unknown.

Product details

Author:	Fabien Sabatès
Details:	150 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.79 in (23 x 16 x 2 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	600+ b&w photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	Antique Autos (F, 2017)
ISBN:	9791096322008

Les automobiles publicitaires (volume 2)

This book on advertising automobiles (volume 2) brings together for the first time in more than 600 black and white photos - most of which have never been published - the most curious vehicles there exist.

Product details

Author:	Fabien Sabatès
Details:	140 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.79 in (23 x 16 x 2 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	600+ b&w photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	Antique Autos (F, 2017)
ISBN:	9791096322015

Letourneur & Marchand Autobineau, maîtres carrossiers français (Collection Prestige)

The Letourneur & Marchand body shop is an excellent example of industrial longevity and adaptation. From 1905 to 1998, it offers a century of know-how and talent. Letourneur & Marchand will be the first to body petrol-powered cars, and almost the last, apart from Chapron, Pichon-Parat and Heuliez, to exhibit at the Motor Show.

The quality of their creations and the elegance of their style were and remain recognized. "Bon chic, bon genre" creations that delight international elegance competitions and prestigious auctions. The Letourneur & Marchand body shop is a symbol of French artisan automobile know-how of the 20th century.

Pages of the book "Letourneur & Marchand Autobineau, maîtres carrossiers français"

Summary:

Part 1 - History of the Letourneur & Marchand bodywork
1. From one world to another
2. Two young apprentices at the beginning of the 20th century
3. The rise of a great coachbuilder
4. The war and the Occupation
5. The last lights before the end
6. Diversification then reconversion
7. Autobineau
Part 2 - Production of the Letourneur & Marchand and Autobineau bodies

Product details

Author:	Dominique Pagneux
Details:	400 pages, 11.4 x 9 in (29 x 24 cm), hardback, in cassette
Illustrations:	660 b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	ETAI (F, 2018)
Series:	Collection Prestige
ISBN:	9791028301415