Recent Article on Paul Bracq

[mdsalemi]

To those interested,

As I mentioned in a recent post just around the holidays, there was an article published in the Netherlands automobile magazine Autovisie about Paul Bracq.  It is entitled Maitre Carrossier, or Master Coachbuilder.  I liked the article, it covers a bit on his design thoughts and is focused on the Pagoda.

Through the courtesy of Cees Klumper, and a friend of mine here in Michigan, Han Roest, I was able to put the Dutch text into English and edit it to what I think is modern, American English vernacular.

I have the original article scanned as multiple .pdf pages and the English translation as a .pdf as well.

Here's the rub: the original (more photos) in Dutch is 6 pages, plus cover, each about 6MB; the English is 3MB single file (posted by vanesp below).

Here's a tease:

Photo for Autovisie Magazine by Lies de Mol

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

[Kemal]

''Interested,'' we should all be .(' ')

A very nice read.(' ')

Thank you Michael.

Kemal
280 SL Manual 69

[thelews]

quote:Originally posted by kemal shah

''Interested,'' we should all be .(' ')

A very nice read.(' ')

Thank you Michael.

Kemal
280 SL Manual 69

Agree wholeheartedly.  Thanks, Michael

John
1967 Early 250 SL Red/Caviar, Manual

[Peter van Es]

I've uploaded the file. Note, it's over 3 MB in size. If the forum is busy it will take a while for you to download. Best is to right click the link below and then do a "Save As..." to save the file on your own harddrive.

Maitre Carrossier, 3.2MB

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

[joelj]

thank you Cees for taking the time out to translate the interview in English. Its  great to know the man behind our wonderful cars.

I printed the article so I can read it over and over.

Warm regards,

Joel

1969 280sl auto
White exterior
Blue interior

[Raymond]

This is an elegant translation and a wonderful read.  It serves as a reminder of why we get together on this site.  And even if the Wiki ever  could become the end all and be all for technical information, there is no substitute for the personal gift of someone who goes to all this effort for the rest of us.

Thanks to Michael, Cees, and Han.



Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[Mike Hughes]

What Ray and Joel said, and more elegantly than I might have!  Thanks Michael, Cees and Han for a wonderful read!

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[al_lieffring]

I wouldn't dare to compare my works to those of Paul Bracq, but my 250PT I built in 1975 while I was still in high school bears a strong resemblance to the masters rendering of El Benzamino, a name I considered but thought was much too corny.



And that's right, I am also claiming to have beaten Chrysler to the use of "PT" by at least 15 years.

Excelent article, I also couldn't help but notice the similarity of the BMW 1600 roadster hard top to that of the 107 sl's top.

Al Lieffring
66 230SL

[mdsalemi]

Al,

Couple of things here you should know.

1.  The p/u truck version of the Grand Mercedes 600 came in several versions, the first dubbed Benzomino and the second, El Benzo.  It was done as a joke at first and came out of a cocktail napkin and beer discussion at the Lodestar fest some years back, from the M100 group.  The joke of course was the 600 on which it was based, was the #1 vehicle to haul heads of state, royalty, etc.  Making it into a pickup truck?  That's pretty dark humor.  Hauling a king, converted, hauling manure?  Something almost all American made out of something almost all European?  Then there is the reliability issue, also a joke.  Pickups are supposed to be rock-solid dependable; the joke of the 600 is the car is so big so you can bring the full time mechanic along!  The more things you think about the funnier it becomes!  Mr. Bracq had made comments that he liked the El Camino to the M100 group, and well, you can guess the rest.  At least one, maybe two were actually built.

2.  Bracq left MB in 1967, I'd like to say that was before the R107/W107 was really conceived?  I don't know about MB production cycles, but 5 years seems a bit of a stretch.  I don't think he has ever laid claim (or anyone has attributed the design of) to the W107 or any part thereof.  If anything the hardtop of such looks Pagoda like with the center being lower; that's a Bela Beranyi design as I understand it.

3.  The photo I added of the hard-top version of the 1600ti roadster/coupe was only one of the concepts that were part of that project.  I just chose one photo that would work well with the layout and design and just to also illustrate something in case people had not seen it before.

Here's a recent painting of both El Benzo #2 and El Benzo #3 at Bryce Canyon National Park.


By the way, nice job on your PT.  I've seen a few pickup conversions done on MB's, but none by high school students!  I particularly liked the vintage square format snapshot (Box camera or Instamatic 126 film??) with white borders and the muted colors!

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

[al_lieffring]

quote:Originally posted by mdsalemi

Al,

I particularly liked the vintage square format snapshot (Box camera or Instamatic 126 film??) with white borders and the muted colors!

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The photo was taken with a Polaroid SX 70 Land Camera. It is the only one I have left, People would write to me asking for photos and I gave them all away except for this one.

The PT in the photo is actually the second one I built, the first was a 240D built for a customer, and this one I built about 3 years later, making a few small improvements, but it was basicly the same.
I took the unique aproach of making the PT look as stock as I possibly could, instead of the wild custom paint that was popular at the time. A common response when people would see it for the first time was "Is that real?"

Al Lieffring
66 230SL

[mdsalemi]

quote:Originally posted by al_lieffring

quote:Originally posted by mdsalemi

Al,

I particularly liked the vintage square format snapshot (Box camera or Instamatic 126 film??) with white borders and the muted colors!

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The photo was taken with a Polaroid SX 70 Land Camera. It is the only one I have left, People would write to me asking for photos and I gave them all away except for this one.

The PT in the photo is actually the second one I built, the first was a 240D built for a customer, and this one I built about 3 years later, making a few small improvements, but it was basicly the same.
I took the unique aproach of making the PT look as stock as I possibly could, instead of the wild custom paint that was popular at the time. A common response when people would see it for the first time was "Is that real?"

Al Lieffring
66 230SL

Very cool, all of it.  My brother worked on the assembly line in Norwood, Massachusetts adjusting SX70's back in 1980.  I got one for Christmas, took it on a training/business trip to Israel and Europe.  It drew a crowd where ever I went with it.  My European hosts were so taken with it I actually had to leave it with them!  Never replaced it.  Truly it was one of the high-quality American products you just don't see anymore.

Of course you probably don't have any of your MB creations anymore, do you?

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

[waqas]

Speaking of pick-up truck conversions...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-200-Series-Truck-1973-Mercedes-280SE-PickUp-Truck-Custom-No-Reserve_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6329QQihZ020QQitemZ300193058222QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Waqas in Austin, Texas

[jmela]

Pictures of the Bracq's Benzomino via builder Karl Middehauve's site:

http://www.mbgrand600.com/benzomino.html

Excellent work on this article. Thanks.