I was basing my account on this passage in the book at the bottom of page 17:
“Others however were quick to criticize the shape of the hardtop on technical grounds and regarded it as no more than fashionable gimmickry. This school of thought included numerous technical experts like the later Development Chief Professor Dr. h. c. Dr. Ing. Hans Scherenberg, the respected motoring journalist Reinhard Seiffert and the designer Paul Bracq himself. They were right, of course”. [My previous post erroneously included H. U. Wieselmann in this list – sorry for the slip]
A passage at the top of the page seems to contradict this, and does say that Bracq was the third father of the pagoda roof. However, I’ve been assuming that the German version came first, and that the English is a translation. If so, I think the translation here may be misleading. Here’s the German:
“Ästhetische Aspekte des Designs standen bei Bela Barenyi nicht im Vordergrund seines Schaffens. Aber Karl Wilfert, auch im Designbereich immer auf der Suche nach neuen Ideen, gefiel die Idee des nach innen gewölbten Daches.
Der Dritte im Bunde, der nun auf den Plan trat, war Paul Bracq. Als Leiter des Advanced Designs bei Friedrich Geiger bildete der kreative junge Franzose mit dem strengen schwäbischen Konstrukteur und ein sich ideal ergänzendes Duo. Paul Bracq hatten den 230 SL gezeichnet und musste nun dem Dach den formalen Pfiff geben, damit das Hardtop auch mit dem Korpus des übrigen Autos harmonierte und eine formale Einheit bilden konnte.”
Here’s my translation, which is more literal than the one in the book:
___________
“Aesthetic aspects of the design were not in the forefront of the work of Bela Barenyi. But Karl Wilfert, always looking for new design ideas, liked the idea of the roof with a dip in the middle.
The third member of the group, who now joined the project, was Paul Bracq. As the leader of Advanced Design under Friedrich Geiger, the creative young Frenchman and the strict Swabian design engineer formed an ideally complementary pair. Paul Bracq had designed the 230 SL and now had to give the roof the formal nod of approval, to ensure that the hardtop could harmonize with and form an integrated whole with the design of the rest of the car.”
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Note that it doesn’t say Bracq designed the roof, or even that he liked it – only that he had to approve the design. Once he did, for whatever reason, it was probably natural to put his name on the patent as the representative of Advanced Design. Clearly, this is pure speculation on my part, but the passage I initially quoted might give it some credence.
I certainly would like to know whether Paul Bracq was one of the designers of the hardtop, and whether he would have preferred a different design. So Michael, why not ask him when you two meet in the near future?
Chris Earnest
