This year's special show at the 25th Techno Classica in Essen, which takes place from April 10 to 14, 2013, is entitled "Automobile Masterpieces" and showcases the haute couture of automotive engineering - the most elegant and beautiful designer creations from the heyday of coachbuilding. The twelve luxury cars on display are all unique and were created by the crème de la crème of coachwork manufacturers from the 1930s to 1940s.
The art of coachwork design has a long tradition: since the early days of the automobile, vehicles individually manufactured to customer specifications have mostly been based on vehicles that were only produced in small numbers. Many cars from luxury manufacturers such as Talbot Lago, Bugatti, Delahaye or Maybach were already considered beauties in their own right - but with coachwork by Saoutchik and Figoni et Falaschi from France or Autenrieth and Erdmann & Rossi from Germany, for example, they became works of art.
On display will be a Delage D6-70 from 1936, bodied by Figoni, one of the most beautiful cars to have won (its class) at Le Mans. Delahaye took over the company from Louis Delage in 1935 and wanted to polish up its image with motorsport successes. This car, whose three-liter, six-cylinder engine had around 100 hp, was built especially for Le Mans in 1936. Joseph Figoni had fitted the lightweight, closed racing body with almost free-standing fenders. Due to a general strike, the 1936 race was canceled and the Delage was presented at various Concours d'Elegance. The following year, the coupé was able to prove its suitability for racing: Louis Gerard and Jacques de Valence were class winners and finished 4th overall.
Presented is a Talbot Lago T 150 C Teardrop Coupé with a body by Figoni et Falaschi from 1938. This beautiful coupé is a highlight of French streamlined design. Parisians Joseph Figoni and Ovidio Falaschi built around 16 of these so-called "goutted'eau" coupés (teardrop, drop of water) - the car on display was the only one with a long wheelbase. And it is not only beautiful, but also fast: it won the class victory at the Spa 24-hour race in 1948.
The Bugatti 57 C with Gangloff bodywork from 1939 has an interesting history. The elongated roadster with the covered rear wheels was considered a Saoutchik creature for many years until its history could be researched: The first owner liked the Parisian's design but found it too expensive, so he commissioned Gangloff in Colmar to build it. The elegant car won the Concours at the 2nd Schloss Bensberg Classic in 2010.
The Delahaye 135 MS Coupé with Pourtout bodywork was presented as a streamlined coupé at the 1946 Motor Show in Paris. The chassis - incidentally the same as that of the successful Delahaye Le Mans racing car. For the bodywork, the French coachbuilder Pourtout was inspired by the pre-war designs of its former employee Georges Paulin, who was murdered by the Nazis in 1940 as a British secret agent.
In the Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport with Saoutchik bodywork, contrary to the designers' guiding principle, function follows form. The famous Parisian coachbuilder Jacques Saoutchik created this work of art in 1948 - seven years later he had to close his business.
Historical background to the bodywork trade
The term car body comes from the French (carosse = carriage). As early as antiquity, coachbuilders and, from the Middle Ages onwards, cartwrights were involved in the design of vehicles and their superstructures. At the beginning of automobile construction, wealthy customers had bodies made according to their own wishes on the chassis of automobile manufacturers. With the transition from coachwork to automobile bodywork after the turn of the century, a new craft emerged - that of the coachbuilder. As series production increased, automobile factories also set up their own departments for the bodywork of their vehicles.
In the 1920s, with the spread of the automobile, external appearance also became increasingly important. In addition to being a status symbol, the car also became a piece of jewelry for its owner and the bodywork became a distinguishing criterion in road traffic - art and design finally found their way into automobile construction. This marked the beginning of the heyday of the coachbuilding trade and the development of the coachbuilding industry. Artistic reform movements and styles such as Art Deco and New Objectivity soon began to influence the design, as did aerodynamics, which led to the streamlined bodies of the 1930s.
The body of the classic automobile concept, which was separate from the vehicle floor assembly, allowed for great diversity in body construction. The first automobile with a self-supporting body had already been presented in 1922 with the Lancia Lambda and in 1925 with the Hanomag 2/10 PS "Kommissbrot", the first pontoon body (in which the wheel arches are integrated into the body). However, it was not until after the Second World War that these functional body designs became established. The "Carosseriers" were thus deprived of the indispensable basis for their work.
