Fine Bodies II - European Coachbuilders (Auto Review Album Number 211)

Author: Rod Ward

In Auto Review 055 Fine Bodies we described a selection of British coachbuilders, as well as providing some background information on the process of coachbuilding, and we reproduced charts of the many types of body style. We therefore do not need to repeat any of that in this publication, Fine Bodies II, which is devoted to European coachbuilders. Only the more important or more interesting companies are noted here. In our limited number of pages we could not cover all of the many hundreds of coachworks which have been established down the years. Some of the companies we have left out of our coverage only made a few bodies, or they mostly made commercial vehicle bodywork. Most of the firms which solely did ‘conversions’ of mass-produced cars to make convertibles etc, are also not included here, though a few notable firms in the sector are described. We apologise if we have omitted your favourite coachbuilder, or only given them a more modest entry than you would have liked. There are some names we would have liked to include, but we could not unearth sufficient information for a description here. We have, however, included potted biographies of a few of the eminent designers whose names are often mentioned in the coachbuilder histories. When car manufacturers turned to monocoque bodies in the 1930s there were fewer separate chassis available, and many coachworks closed down or moved to other types of work, such as vans or buses. By the late 1940s there were even fewer separate-chassis manufacturers left, so not many car marques from that era offered possibilities, with the exception of marques such as Delahaye. By 1960 it was mostly only exotic sports cars or expensive luxury cars which merited custom coachwork, and that situation persisted into the 21st century.