Henri Chapron

Henri Albert Maurice Chapron (born December 30, 1886 in Nouan-le-Fuzelier ; † May 14, 1978 in Paris ) was a French entrepreneur who founded the coachbuilding company Ateliers Henri Chapron ( Chapron for short) named after him and until his death business. In the 1960s, Chapron was best known for its convertible, coupé and special sedan versions of the Citroën DS , which are now popular classics. Henri Chapron is considered one of the last great automobile couturiers in France.

Life

Chapron was born in a village in the agricultural region of Sologne in central France . His father, Valentin Chapron, was a gardener in a neighboring castle that belonged to the Louis Vuittons family. After completing school, Chapron began training as a saddler , which he completed in various companies in the Loire Valley and in southern France. In the early years of the 20th century, Chapron first worked in Algeria . He took part in the First World War and primarily performed services as a craftsman.

Chapron was married twice. His first marriage to Berthe lasted from 1919 to 1941. In 1948 Chapron married his second wife Françoise, b. Chevrier. The marriage lasted until Henri Chapron's death. He died in Paris in 1978 at the age of 92.

Henri Chapron's studio

In March 1919, Chapron founded Ateliers Henri Chapron , which began operations in the autumn of 1920. It was initially located in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine ; In 1923, Chapron relocated to neighboring Levallois-Perret , where the company moved into larger halls designed by Gustave Eiffel . In the immediate post-war period, the company dealt with equipping military vehicles from the First World War with bodies that would enable civilian use. From 1923, Chapron bodyworked used and new Ford Model T chassis with standardized coupé and torpedo bodies. In 1927 the company had grown so much that Henri Chapon had 340 employees and was delivering three vehicles a week. In the 1930s, his company became one of the preferred body suppliers for French luxury vehicle manufacturers Delage , Delahaye and Talbot . After the Second World War , production of luxury vehicles came to a standstill in France. So there was no longer any need for high-quality special bodies. Chapron saved his company in the 1950s with one-offs and repair orders until the technically revolutionary Citroën DS came onto the market in 1956 . Henri Chapron recognized in their special construction a suitable basis for individual derivations. The open version of the DS presented in 1958 was essentially based on the conceptual work of Henri Chapron. Chapron manufactured the standardized DS convertible on a factory basis in the 1960s; In addition, various individual coupés, convertibles and limousines were created on behalf of customers. Henri Chapron also repeatedly succeeded in receiving orders for state cars from the French government.

After the production of the DS derivatives had largely ended, Chapron withdrew from operational business in 1972, at the age of 86. The management of the company was then taken over by his second wife Françoise, who continued it after Chapron's death until it went bankrupt in 1985.

literature

Dominique Pagneux : Henri Chapron. Carrosserie française , ETAI, Boulogne-Billancourt, 2002, ISBN 2-7268-8602-7

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "The Coachbuilders Encyclopedia: Chapron". www.coachbuild.com, accessed December 26, 2014 .