I dare say that the first US "patent" referenced here is a design patent not a utility or invention patent; that is cheap to get, and offers very little protection. It's also just for a re-imagining of an existing design. The real "meat" as it were, is in a utility patent...and that's the one with Bracq, not Wilfert, listed as co-inventor. That's the one that would offer real protection to the inventors or assignees, and notes real distinct invention. The bar is pretty low for a design patent, and extremely high for utility. There is no "international patent", so inventors must patent where they have the largest market potential...which is why the US Patents are so important, and the German patents, well, good in Germany only (at that time). A German patent only would prevent BMW or Audi or other German firm from copying, but not General Motors...or the Japanese. Turns out that nobody really licensed that design...and for whatever its worth, it's all ancient history today--sitting on our cars, and those of the 107.
The contributions of Bela Barenyi, Karl Wilfert, Fritz Nallinger, Friedrich Geiger, Rudolph Uhlenhaut (and just a tad bit later, Bruno Sacco and Erich Waxenberger) are all well known; a dream team. To discount Bracq's contributions is just naive. Wilfert thought of Bracq "as a son..."; he was the man that hired him, and the one saddest to see him go when he returned to France to raise a family in his native land.
Are you a lurker or bystander here? Then, don't discount the silent enmity the Germans have towards the French--and vice versa; it runs both ways. It may be unspoken but it was (is?) certainly real, and dates back to the time of Julius Caesar. A great example from the 1960s was the BMW 1600ti coupe, designed by Bracq while back in France at contract design house, B&L in 1968. A prototype was built, and the project authorized by BMW for production. Unfortunately, BMW was tiny at that time (this was BEFORE even the 2002) and had no excess production capacity. Thus, it was going to be built by French firm Chausson (Société des usines Chausson). Sacré bleu! A respectable French firm making German cars? Renault and Peugeot (principal shareholders) wouldn't hear of it, and shut the project down. They also shut down something similar with Adam Opel.
It's easy for armchair researchers to pull out foreign language patents, photos from the internet, and draw their own conclusions. But there are noted and respected authors and historians such as Reed Hitchcock, Gavin Farmer, Pierre Ernst, Fulvio Cinti, Christophe Bonnaud and others who aside from impeccable research, have spent a lot of time with Bracq over the years, and crafted well written and researched articles and books. For each photo you pick off the internet, this group has seen dozens of otherwise unpublished photos and works you cannot find elsewhere. As one who spent several days exclusively with Mr. and Mrs. Bracq, I can certainly vouch for such a trove of history. He gave me copies of a LOT of things, and very little of it online.
For whatever reason or reasons, you may choose to discount Bracq's contribution to the Pagoda or to Mercedes-Benz in general. That's certainly an opinion. The unmistakable fact is he was the first Frenchman hired by MB after the war. He was chief of the Advanced Design Studios for ten years. He worked FOR Karl Wilfert (Chief of Car Body Development) and Fritz Nallinger (Head of Development). After those ten years, while toiling at B&L, he designed the first TGV high speed train, and then the aforementioned BMW--which then led to his employ in Munich where the first 3, 5, and 6 series cars were penned. Maybe you'll discount that, too.
There's a lot of people that believe the moon landing was a hoax, too. If that's the case I have no idea where all those aerospace engineers on Long Island (NY) were going every day if not to work. Grumman was just one contractor on that project. These were my neighbors; the fathers of my friends.
So, believe what you choose.
