Bodywork De Villars

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Bodywork De Villars
legal form
founding 1925
resolution circa 1945
Seat Courbevoie , France
management Charles Guignedoux
Number of employees 10
Branch Body shop

Carrosserie De Villars was a French manufacturer of automobile bodies that manufactured individual bodies for luxury vehicles in the years between the two world wars .

Company history

Rolls-Royce Wraith with coupé body by De Villars (1938)

Carrosserie De Villars was founded in 1925 by Frank Jay Gould , a US billionaire who settled in France in 1911. The company was based in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie . It was named after Gould's son-in-law Roland Graffenried de Villars, who, however, did not work for the company. Charles Guignedoux took over management of the company.

The company's primary task was to maintain and repair the cars of Gould's Parisian friends. A little later, De Villars produced its first own bodies for this group of customers. Body production continued until the outbreak of World War II . The superstructures created during this time were all unique pieces, the shapes and fittings of which were individually coordinated with the client. The chassis clad by De Villars came primarily from French upper-class manufacturers such as Bugatti , Delage and Delahaye , but occasionally also from Minerva or Rolls-Royce . The production was extremely low. It is assumed that no more than 25 superstructures were produced in any year. De Villars customers included actors Gaby Morlay and Jean Murat , Aly Khan and members of the Grimaldi family .

After the end of the war, De Villars did not resume body production. Jean Daninos took over the plant and produced automotive accessories there with his company Facel .

literature

  • Serge Bellu: A French Touch of Class. Les Ateliers de carosserie français , Editions Nicolas Chaudun 2012, ISBN 978-2-35039-136-6

Web links

Commons : Carrosserie De Villars  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Graffenried de Villars had married Dorothy Gould, the daughter of Frank Jay Gould and Helen Kelly.
  2. ^ A b Serge Bellu: A French Touch of Class. Les Ateliers de carosserie français , Éditions Nicolas Chaudun 2012, ISBN 978-2-35039-136-6 , p. 200.