Henri Chapron (1886,
Nouan-le-FuzelierNouan-le-Fuzelier is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department...
- 1978,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a prominent French automobile coachbuilder. His atelier, created in 1919, was located in the
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
suburb of Levallois-Perret.
Chapron began his career developing custom body designs for French luxury vehicles, like
TalbotTalbot is an automobile brand, whose history is one of the industry's most complex.-Inception of the British Talbot:Talbot was originally the British brand name used to sell imported French Clément-Bayard cars. Founded in 1903, this business venture was financed by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th...
,
DelageThe Delage Automobile company was established in January, 1905, at 62, rue Chaptal in Levallois, a northwesterly suburb of Paris, France. It was founded by Louis Delâge , an ambitious young engineer who had been working for the Peugeot car company...
, and
DelahayeThe Delahaye automobile manufacturing company was started by Emile Delahaye in 1894, in Tours, France. His first cars were belt-driven, with single or twin cylinder engines. In 1900, Delahaye left the company....
, in the 1940s.
As France ceased building vehicles of this type in the 1950s, Chapron switched his attention to the recently launched
Citroën DSThe Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni, the DS is known for its futuristic body design and innovative technology, including a hydropneumatic self-levelling...
with its revolutionary aerodynamic design and radical hydraulic suspension.
Henri Chapron (1886,
Nouan-le-FuzelierNouan-le-Fuzelier is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department...
- 1978,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a prominent French automobile coachbuilder. His atelier, created in 1919, was located in the
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
suburb of Levallois-Perret.
Chapron began his career developing custom body designs for French luxury vehicles, like
TalbotTalbot is an automobile brand, whose history is one of the industry's most complex.-Inception of the British Talbot:Talbot was originally the British brand name used to sell imported French Clément-Bayard cars. Founded in 1903, this business venture was financed by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th...
,
DelageThe Delage Automobile company was established in January, 1905, at 62, rue Chaptal in Levallois, a northwesterly suburb of Paris, France. It was founded by Louis Delâge , an ambitious young engineer who had been working for the Peugeot car company...
, and
DelahayeThe Delahaye automobile manufacturing company was started by Emile Delahaye in 1894, in Tours, France. His first cars were belt-driven, with single or twin cylinder engines. In 1900, Delahaye left the company....
, in the 1940s.
As France ceased building vehicles of this type in the 1950s, Chapron switched his attention to the recently launched
Citroën DSThe Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni, the DS is known for its futuristic body design and innovative technology, including a hydropneumatic self-levelling...
with its revolutionary aerodynamic design and radical hydraulic suspension. At first Chapron purchased these vehicles and customised them as one-off conversions. Many of these became unique convertible variants of the DS known as the "Decapotable". All told, Chapron created 389 hand-built DS convertibles.
In 1961, the Citroën dealership network began distributing a standard 'usine' (factory) two door convertible. In the years 1961 to 1971, 1,365 of these vehicles were made - they are highly collectible today.
Chapron continued his one-off conversions as well. When the
Citroën SMThe Citroën SM was a high performance coupé produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1970 and 1975. The SM placed third in the 1971 European Car of the Year contest, trailing its stablemate Citroën GS, and won the 1972 Motor Trend Car of the Year award in the US in 1972.-History:In 1961,...
was introduced in 1970, Chapron created two new variants - the Mylord convertible (7 made) and the Opéra four door sedan (8 made). On February 7, 2009, a 1974 Opéra was sold by Bonhams auctioneers for
EURThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
€194,648 (USD $249,580).
http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=ResultsXML&iSaleNo=17043 http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-auction-car.php/carno/2009-02-07-BONHAMS-122
In 1968, Chapron made a special extended DS Presidential model for the government of
Charles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II...
. Then in 1972, Chapron delivered two SM Presidential models to the government of
Georges PompidouGeorges Jean Raymond Pompidou was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968, holding the longest tenure in this position, and later President of the French Republic from 1969 until his death in 1974....
. These gigantic 4 door convertibles were first used for the visit of
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
to
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and continued in use through the inauguration of
Jacques ChiracJacques René Chirac served as the President of France from 17 May 1995 until 16 May 2007. As President he also served as an ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra and Grand Master of the French Légion d'honneur. Chirac was the second-longest serving President of France , behind François Mitterrand...
in 1995.
Henri Chapron died in 1978, and the company itself survived for some time under the direction of his widow, producing some luxury versions of the
Citroën CXThe Citroën CX is an automobile produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1974 to 1991. Citroën sold nearly 1.2 million CXs during its 16 years of production. The CX was voted European Car of the Year in 1975....
. It ceased operations in 1985.
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