https://mecanicus.com/fr/gazette/paul-bracq-le-dessinateur-de-la-pagode-la-sharknose-mais-aussi-de-mobilier-dinterieurGoogle...
After taking you to the Peugeot Adventure Museum and its reserves with two beautiful videos (the live Une Nuit Au Musée is here, the reserves with François Allain are here), Mecanicus will tell you in detail about several emblematic cars of the lion mark. We start today with the Quasar, a prototype that marked. Its exterior style is signed Gérard Welter but as for the interior, we owe it to another legend of French (and German) design: Paul Bracq, about whom we are talking about here.
Paul Bracq at Mercedes
Born in 1933, Paul Bracq returned in 1950 to the prestigious Boulle school, a benchmark in art and design. He left it in 1953 and found a first job in design alongside Philippe Charbonneaux. The automotive fiber is already very present and here he is then hired at Citroën for some time. After his military service, he found an employer in Germany: Mercedes-Benz. His first works relate to the Heckflosse, the sedans produced between 1959 and 1972! In 1963 were unveiled two of the cars on which he was going to make a name for himself. First of all the 600, an imposing limousine which will become the symbol of the powerful of this world. But it is above all the year when the Pagoda is revealed. From its real name 230 SL (W113), it owes its nickname to the design of its hard-top, in the shape of a Pagoda, whose final design (but not the idea) belongs to Paul Bracq. It will remain with Mercedes until 1967. Its last studies will be used for the W114 and W115 released the following year.
Brief return to France
Paul Bracq then returned to France. He will notably work at Brissonneau and Lotz. In addition to industrial applications (and a collaboration of Bracq in the design of the first TGV), the automobile is once again at the center of his studies. He designed a Simca 1100 Coupé prototype as well as a sports car study based on the BMW 1600. This project was well advanced when the French coachbuilder ceased its automotive activities.
Paul Bracq returns to Germany
In 1970 after the end of the Brissonneau adventure, Paul Bracq capitalized on the link with BMW to return to the design office of the German manufacturer in Munich. He is quite simply the director! His designs will mark the production of BMW and he will design the Sharknoses, the BMW Serie 5 E12, Serie 3 E21, Serie 6 E24 and Serie 7 E23. Cars that will participate in permanently installing BMW in the position that the German manufacturer still holds. But its most spectacular creation is the BMW Turbo prototype of 1973. If the car is not produced as it is, it is clearly the inspiration for the BMW M1. The BMW adventure was nevertheless relatively short since Paul Bracq left Bavaria in 1974.
Paul Bracq joins Peugeot
In 1974, Paul Bracq again joined a French manufacturer, Peugeot in this case. Except that there he will not be director of the style office. In fact, it will do work that some may call shadow work. It was in fact under his direction that the interiors of the Lion cars were designed. He will start with the 604 and continue with the 05 Series: 305, 505, 205, 405 and 605 before also working on two of the 06 and the most emblematic: the 206 and the 406! A collaboration that will last more than 20 years and ends in 1996 when he retires. It is in this capacity that we also find him as a signatory of the interiors of Sochaux concepts, including the very first, Quasar and Proxima, both based on the 205 T16. The mind-blowing exterior is due to Gérard Welter's teams, but the equally striking and well-equipped interiors are his work.
https://youtu.be/937bI3oiN7EPaul Bracq and his legacy
Paul Bracq is now 86 years old but his legacy remains intact. His son and daughter are fine examples of this since they run the Ateliers Paul Bracq specializing in the restoration of ... Mercedes Pagode! We find on their site and their facebook nuggets about the history of the designer. He also continued to draw for years, signing posters for great events (the 48 Hours Automobiles of Troyes for example) and was a jury of Concours d'Élégance in France and abroad.
