Tag Archives: Chapron

Triple Feature Hollywood Star – Delage D8 120 Chapron Cabriolet

Today’s featured Delage D8 120 sits on the same Delahaye sourced chassis and is mechanically similar to the Delage D8 120 Letourneur & Marchand Aerosport Coupé” I looked at last week.

Delage D8 120 Chapron Cabriolet, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

However once complete the chassis was sent to the Henri Chapron carrosserie for it’s magnificent Cabriolet body to be fitted in 1939.

Delage D8 120 Chapron Cabriolet, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

An unfortunate French General is said to have shipped the car to the United States, before being denied access to the country because of his alleged Nazi sympathies in 1946.

Delage D8 120 Chapron Cabriolet, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

During the 1950’s this car belonged to the Warner Bros Studio in Hollywood and it stared in three films, when it was still painted it’s original Ocean Blue a shade of green with a white roof; Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye with James Cagney in 1950, An American in Paris with Gene Kelly in 1951 and finally Carmen Jones with Harry Belafonte in 1954.

Delage D8 120 Chapron Cabriolet, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The Delage seen in these photograph’s at the Goodwood Festival of Speed was acquired, restored and painted Burgundy for it’s current owner Peter Mullins in the 1980’s, when not on tour the car is to be found at the Mullins Museum in Oxnard, California.

Thanks for joining me on this “Triple Feature Hollywood Star” edition of “Gettin’ a little psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be going testing at Donington Park. Don’t forget to come back now !

Almost Factory Catalogued Convertible – Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine

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From 1961 Citroën commissioned Henri Chapron to build the DS19 Usine (factory) Convertible’s to order for distribution through the Citroën dealer network.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The Usine unlike the earlier Chapron devised La Croisette Decapotable was based on Flaminio Bertoni’s drawings for a DS Cabriolet.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

As might be expected from the most expensive model in the DS range the Cabriolet d’Usine was kept up to date with all the latest DS face lifts which in 1968 included a reworked nose by Robert Opron who would go on to style on the Citorën SM and CX models.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The DS third face lift by Opron included a pair of headlights in the front wing/fender cluster that swiveled up to 80° with the steering to improve the drivers vision when cornering.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The swiveling headlight feature was pioneered on the 1935 Tatra T77a and copied by the 1948 MY Tucker 48, which never went into full scale production, both of which had a third central headlight that swiveled with the steering.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

This car is officially registered as having been built in 1969 when just 47 DS21 variants, with the original DS type hydraulically operated transmission and DS21 M with conventional manual clutch operated transmission were built.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

With a motor officially registered as 1985cc / 121 cui this model would be a DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine meaning either a clerical error as by 1969 only DS21 Cabriolet d’Usine’s with 2,175cc / 132 cui motors were built or this vehicle is no longer powered by it’s original motor, there never having been a factory catalogued DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine so far as I know.

Thanks for joining me on this “Almost Factory Catalogued Convertible” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting the revival of the Chateau Impney Hill Climb. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cannes Boulevard Convertible – Citroën DS 19 La Croisette Décapotable

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With a declining market for his coach building skills on supplied bare chassis Parisian Coach Builder Henri Chapron turned his attention to tailoring existing bodies for his demanding clientele starting with converting saloon / sedan Citroën DS19’s into two door La Croisette Décompatable convertibles and later two door La Paris Coupés in 1958.

Citroën DS 19 La Croisette Decapotable, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Until 1959 his DS 19 conversions were built without the approval of Citroën and Chapron had to buy entire cars and convert them, using a vertical chrome strip to hide the join between the rear door panel and the rear wing panel.

Citroën DS 19 La Croisette Decapotable, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

From 1960 the La Croisette, named after the exclusive Cannes boulevard, was built with a single rear panel from the rear to the door, first seen on the Chapron Le Caddy Convertible in 1959.

Citroën DS 19 La Croisette Decapotable, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

From 1961 Citroén commissioned Chapron to build the DS19 Usine (factory) Convertible’s to order for distribution through their dealer network from, the Usine was based on Flaminio Bertoni’s drawings.

Citroën DS 19 La Croisette Decapotable, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Building La Croisette, Le Caddy and factory Usine Convertibles at the same time proved unsustainable and the La Croisette model was dropped afer 52 examples had been built in 1962, the Le Caddy lasted until 1968 with 34 examples built while the Usine production survived in ID/DS19 and later DS21 form until 1971 with 1325 examples built.

Citroën DS 19 La Croisette Decapotable, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Curiously despite clearly having a post 1960 single piece rear wing with no pre 1960 vertical chrome strip covering the join between the rear door and rear wing today’s featured car was shown at Goodwood with a label advising us it is a 1958 car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cannes Boulevard Convertible” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting a Volksfest for the first time. Don’t forget to come back now !

Automotive Haute Couture – Delahaye 178 Chapron Convertible

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In 1946 Delahaye became one of the first manufacturers to show a new chassis onto which customers were to fit individually tailored bodies built by third parties.

Delahaye Type 178 Chapron Cabriolet, Desert Classic, Palm Springs

The 175/178/180 chassis featuring new Dubonnet front independent and de Dion rear suspension, was available in three different lengths all powered by the same 4,455 cc / 271 cui 6 cylinder motor, the two longer models were fitted with a single carburetor to produce 140hp.

Delahaye Type 178 Chapron Cabriolet, Desert Classic, Palm Springs

The 1953 chassis featured today is one of 37 178 chassis and the Henri Chapron Cabriolet body was originally painted monotone black.

Apparently back in the day Delahaye owners were not averse to showing off their new cars at Concours events wearing the latest haute coture designs in colours matching their cars.

Sadly most of the third party bodies fitted to the Delahaye chassis were too heavy for the suspension and the companies reputation went into rapid decline.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs taken at this years Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance at Palm Springs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Automotive Haute Coture” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Détails Français – Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

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Among the 1,700 cars on display at the recent Classic Motor Show at the NEC Birmingham was a wonderful selection of storied French vehicles a hand full details from which are featured below.

Bugatti T37, Classic Motor Show NEC, Birmingham

Above the brass tail light above graces the back of the 1926 Bugatti Type 37 driven by Phillipe Auber to victory in the 1927 Picarde Grand Prix.

Peugeot 202 Commerciale, Classic Motor Show NEC, Birmingham

This 1940 Peugeot 202 Commerciale was used by a French off license, alcohol retailer, from 1947 to 1991 when it was sold to the present owners family.

Alpine A220, Classic Motor Show NEC, Birmingham

In 1968 Alpine and Gordini founders Jean Rédélé and Amédée Gordini concocted a 3 litre / 183 cui V8 with four overhead cams by using two 1500 cc 4 cylinder Renault derived blocks as used in the Alpine A110 and A210 competition cars. The V8 was fitted to the new A220 prototype racing cars of which the one seen here was the second built and the only one later modified and registered for road use with a short tale.

Citroen DS Decopotable, Classic Motor Show NEC,

Last week I looked at a Henri Chapron bodied Delahaye, above is the rear indicator on one of his later, Citroen DS Decopotable’s built in 1969.

Simca Rallye 2 Coupé SRT 77, Classic Motor Show NEC, Birmingham

Any US Mopar fan will recognise SRT as standing for Street and Racing Technology, not so many may know that these initials were used by Chrysler Frances Simca brand in the 1970’s for the Simca Racing Team founded in 1972 for entry level competition alongside the successful Chrysler France backed Matra Simca Le Mans programme. In 1977 a Coupe SRT 77 non street legal competition kit was offered for their rear engined Simca Rallye 2 which boasted the power to 110 hp and top speed to over 100 mph.

Citroen Dyane Special, Classic Motor Show NEC, Birmingham

Finally above is the interior of a converted Citroen Dyane Special, known as the HJS complete with what appears to be a highly polished aluminium towing hook.

Thanks for joining me on this “Détails Français” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l Psycho On Tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be making a final visit to this years Classic Motor Show. Don’t forget to come back now !

Polymethyl Methacrylate Wheel – Delahaye 135MS Chapron Vedette

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The competition version of the 135M that I looked at last week, known as the 135MS, had a more powerful motor giving up to 160hp and a wheel base a shade under 10 inches / 25cm shorter.