![Georges Paulin(c1940)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Georges_Paulin%28c1940%29.jpg)
Georges Paulin was a French Jewish dentist, acclaimed and inventive
automobile designer and coachwork stylist, and died as a hero of the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Born 1902 in a working class section of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, Paulin was a pioneer of aerodynamic design and innovative
coachbuilding
A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...
, with the most notable one being the world’s first
retractable hardtop
A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars.
The benefits ...
system, which he dubbed 'Eclipse'.
[ in 1934, a Peugeot 401D Coupé transformable Eclipse, with coachwork by ]Carrosserie Pourtout
Carrosserie Pourtout was a French coachbuilding company. Founded by Marcel Pourtout in 1925, the firm is best known for its work in the decades prior to World War II, when it created distinctive and prestigious bodies for cars from numerous Europe ...
, designed by Paulin, on a chassis provided by prominent Peugeot dealer Darl'mat
Émile Darl'mat (1892–1970) was the creator and owner of a Peugeot distributor with a car body business established at the rue de l'Université in Paris in 1923. In the 1930s the firm gained prominence as a low volume manufacturer of Peugeot-b ...
, became the world's first coupé-convertible. In 1935, Peugeot purchased Paulin's patent, and the Peugeot 402 Eclipse, with Paulin's roof design and system, became the world's first factory production, power retractable, hardtop convertible car.
Paulin worked as lead designer & stylist for leading French coachbuilder Pourtout from 1933–1938, and then worked for Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
- Bentley, designing amongst others the 1938 Embiricos Derby Bentley (B27LE), and the 1939 ''Bentley'' Corniche prototype.
In 1940, once World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
had begun, Paulin became a spy for the British. He was however betrayed, and arrested by Nazi Germans in 1941, and executed in 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance
The Resistance Medal (french: Médaille de la Résistance) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 ...
by the French government.
From dentist to inventor and auto designer
In 1925 or 1927, while looking out the window of his dental practice during a major downpour, Paulin saw a Delage driver wrestle in vain to get his soft-top up, before the rain destroyed its expensive interior. His neighbor's mishap got Paulin thinking about a retractable hardtop
A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars.
The benefits ...
roof that could quickly and easily be erected or stowed.[Buchanan, James. "The Story of Lancia, Paulin and John Moir", ''redroom.com'']
. Retrieved on July 2, 2008.
With support and collaboration of a friend who was a mechanical engineer,[ he started developing his revolutionary idea of a convertible car design with a reverse-hinged rear deck-lid, under which an elegantly styled, low and aerodynamic, coupé-type roof could be mechanically moved and stowed.][Xavier Riaud: Georges Paulin (1902-1942): A Legendary Dentist, a Resistance Hero. Peertechz Journal of Dental Problems and Solutions, 2 January 2017]
/ref> Paulin made his idea known, and applied for a patent in 1931, and despite the expenses and complexities of the French patent system, received patent number 733.380 on July 5, 1932.[
Paulin presented his 'Eclipse' convertible roof system to one of France's premier custom coachbuilders,][ Marcel Pourtout, who was impressed by the beauty and elegance of the design – both its style, aerodynamics, as well as the mechanics, in which the roof was counterbalanced by a pair of long elastic bands.] Being manually operated, the simple top could be manipulated, to raise or lower, by one man.
When Pourtout got an order in 1933, to build a custom coach on a Hotchkiss Coupé chassis, he saw the first opportunity to apply Paulin's Eclipse roof system.[ Financial disagreement however led to aborting the first Eclipse build.][ Paulin nevertheless became the chief designer / stylist for Pourtout, and left his dental practice. Until 1938, the two men created designs for various brands,][ including Bentley, a ]Delage D8
The Delage D8 was an eight-cylinder luxury car produced by Delage between 1929 and 1940.
The 4061 cc engine of the original D8 placed it in the 23CV car tax band which also defined its position high up in the market hierarchy.
Delage provided r ...
, a French-built Lancia, a Panhard
Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed ...
coupe, a Unic
Unic was a French manufacturer founded in 1905, and active as an automobile producer until July 1938. After this the company continued to produce commercial vehicles, retaining its independence for a further fourteen years before being purcha ...
cabriolet, the "water drop" Talbot-Lago
Talbot-Lago was a French automobile manufacturer based in Suresnes, Hauts de Seine, outside Paris. The company was owned and managed by Antonio Lago, an Italian engineer that acquired rights to the Talbot brand name after the demise of Darracq ...
, and the Darl'mat provided Peugeot roadsters used in 1937 and 1938 at Le Mans.
Emile Darl'mat was a premier Paris Peugeot-dealer with his own car body business, who gained prominence as a low volume manufacturer of Peugeot-based sports cars in the 1930s. Darl’mat was very enthusiastic, and kept collaborating with Pourtout and Paulin in creating the revolutionary Eclipse roof, the first power-operated retractable hardtop
A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars.
The benefits ...
. Paulin and Pourtout created a second prototype on a Peugeot frame provided by Darl’mat, and they subsequently launched small-scale production, based on Peugeot's 401 and 601, modified by Pourtout.
In 1934 it was first presented in the form of the 401D Éclipse Décapotable, a low convertible coupe
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
. Until World War II, Paulin and Carrosserie Pourtout produced Eclipse versions of the Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
301, 401, 601, 302 and 402, the Lancia Belna, and models from Hotchkiss and Panhard
Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed ...
.
Richard Adatto, author of a book on French aerodynamic styling of the era,[Adatto, Richard S, 2003. ''From Passion to Perfection: The Story of French Streamlined Styling 1930 - 1939'']
, SPE Barthélémy, , reviewed at ''Auto History Online''. Retrieved on July 2, 2008. wrote:
:"Paulin became the leading French stylist of the time... Everything he touched was designed with aerodynamics in mind. He was very conscious of fuel efficiencies and the aerodynamic efficiencies that could be created by the lines of the car. You could go faster, which meant you could put a smaller engine in the car and it could go faster even though it was a small car."[
In 1935, Paulin sold his retractable hardtop design and patent to Peugeot,] and Paulin proposed a new system for the 302 and 402 Eclipse which remains notable, for the retractable hardtop does not encroach upon the volume of the trunk.[ Once Peugeot launched the 402, they were free to manufacture a version with Paulin's Eclipse retractable hardtop themselves. Again, Paulin had a financial disagreement, and sued Peugeot, but they now owned the patent on the design, and Paulin lost the law-suit.][ Until ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Peugeot built some 470 of the 402BL Éclipse Décapotable, of which ~30 survive, according to research by Raymond Milo, a Los Angeles dealer in collectible European cars. In the words of Milo:
:“The Éclipse was a milestone design and perhaps the most attractive example of Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
design applied to automobile coachwork, ..”
Art auction house Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
called the Eclipse top, for its simplicity and swiftness of operation, superior compared to the later, mechanised hardtop of the late 1950s Ford Fairlane 500 / Galaxy Skyliner retractable.[
The New York Times estimated the value of a well restored Peugeot 402BL Éclipse at $250,000 in 2006.] In early 2015, the 1934 Lancia Belna Eclipse by Pourtout sold for €212,800 including fees by Sotheby's of Paris.[
]
Fifteen years after Paulin's death, the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 / Galaxy Skyliner became the first retractable from a large car manufacturer to be built in somewhat larger numbers, and was also the first to feature a hardtop split into more than one segment.
Only after the success of the late 1990s Mercedes SLK retracting convertible, did Peugeot reprise Paulin's invention, with the Peugeot 206CC.
From Carrosserie Pourtout to Rolls-Royce-Bentley
From 1938 to 1939, Paulin worked exclusively for Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
- Bentley. For them he designed the (Bentley) Corniche I in 1939, and the Comet Competition.
Additionally, he designed one of the most significant pre-war Derby Bentleys, the Embiricos Bentley B27LE,[ built again by Pourtout. This car departed from standard Bentley practice, by not using the standard Bentley grille, in favor of hiding it behind a streamlined grille. Amazingly this car was entered in the 1949 Le Mans 24 heures du Mans where it finished 6th overall and entered the two subsequent races finishing 14th and 22nd, with over 120,000 miles on the odometer.
From an automobile, purchased in 1993, and initially restored as a 100 point chassis, Gary Moore from California created a roadster, based upon Paulin's design B25GP, hoping to display it next to its predecessor at Pebble Beach in 2019, Bentley's centennial. This automobile took over 14 years to complete with some of California's master craftsman weighing in with buck fabrication, metalwork, chrome and interior finishing.
]
World War II resistance
In July 1940, while he was an engineer at Avions Kellner-Béchereau, Georges Paulin began working with British Intelligence
The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...
to fight the Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
. Discovered by the Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
, betrayed by French Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...
elements, he was arrested in 1941 and sentenced to death by a German military tribunal. He was executed March 1942. An escape plan had been arranged by the British, but Paulin declined to use it, and sacrificed himself in order to protect his team.Classic & Sports Car
''Classic & Sports Car'' is a British monthly magazine based in Twickenham, London, and published by Haymarket Media Group. It was launched in April 1982 and concerns itself with classic cars as well as the people involved in their design and sub ...
magazine, January 2013; article on Embiricos Bentley, pp. 100–105. Author: Mick Walsh
He was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance
The Resistance Medal (french: Médaille de la Résistance) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 ...
by the French government.
References
External links
''The Kellner Affair: Matters of Life and Death''
by Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erickson. Details Jacques Kellner and George Paulin involvement in the French Resistance.
* Designed for Rolls-Royce, the Corniche on the Bentley MK V chassis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulin, Georges
French automobile designers
Recipients of the Resistance Medal
1902 births
1942 deaths