Franay was a French coachbuilder operating at Levallois-Perret, a suburb on the prosperous north-western edge of Paris. [1] The company was founded in 1903 by Jean-Baptiste Franay, a carriage upholsterer, following an apprenticeship with Binder. It was later taken over by his son, Marius. [2] Franay car body production stopped in late 1955. [3]
Carrosserie Franay was founded by Jean-Baptiste Franay, a trained saddler who had completed his training with the carriage manufacturer Henri Binder. In 1903, Franay started his own repair business, which later became a manufacturer of automobile bodies. The company was based in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. After the First World War, Marius Franay, the founder's son, took over management of the company.
In the period between the world wars, Franay dressed chassis from Bentley, Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Duesenberg, [4] Hispano-Suiza and Rolls-Royce, among others.
After the Second World War, Marius Franay took over the chairmanship of the Association of French Car Body Manufacturers (Chambre Syndicale de la Carosserie Française). Among the first new cars that Franay built after the end of the war were various Rolls-Royces and Talbots. At least six drophead coupés (convertibles) based on the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith and at least one sedan were built, primarily in 1947 and 1948. They also built special bodies for the Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport; From 1947 to 1949, at least eight sporty coupés, as well as some convertibles, were built on the short chassis, each of which differed in terms of their designs.
Furthermore, in the first post-war years, Franay often provided older pre-war chassis with new bodies, including a Bugatti Type 57 chassis manufactured in 1936, which was given a pontoon-style convertible body. Other bodies for Bentley and Rolls-Royce, produced around the same time, continued to follow the traditional style with sculpted front and rear fenders [5] or repeated the striking Art Deco designs of the pre-war period. [6]
One of Franay's last works was a four-door representative limousine for the French President René Coty based on the Citroën Traction Avant with a "three-box" modern body. The pontoon-style notchback body was designed by Philippe Charbonneaux. The car, registered with the license plate 2 PR 75, was used on official occasions from 1955, including a state visit by the British Queen Elizabeth II in 1957. Due to long-term use at walking pace, the car overheated during a parade and had to be driven in front of the eyes of the people public. [7] In order to save money, the limousine shared some parts with other mass market cars, including windscreen and bumpers from a Ford Comète, wheel trims from a Ford Vendôme, the rear window from a Buick and the tail lights from a Chevrolet. [8]
Franay car body production stopped in late 1955. [3]
Marius Franay was also involved in the film industry as owner of the Industrial Society synchronization and society Cinematographic prints, St. Cloud. [2] [9]
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Bentley has been a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998 and consolidated under VW's premium brand arm Audi since 2022.
A coachbuilder or body-maker is a person or company who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. Coachwork is the body of an automobile, bus, horse-drawn carriage, or railway carriage. The word "coach" was derived from the Hungarian town of Kocs. A vehicle body constructed by a coachbuilder may be called a "coachbuilt body" or "custom body".
The Rolls-Royce Phantom IV is a British automobile produced by Rolls-Royce. Only eighteen were made between 1950 and 1956, sold only to buyers whom Rolls-Royce considered worthy of the distinction: the British royal family and heads of state. Sixteen are known to still exist in museums as well as in public and private collections.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom was Rolls-Royce's replacement for the original Silver Ghost. Introduced as the New Phantom in 1925, the Phantom had a larger engine than the Silver Ghost and used pushrod-operated overhead valves instead of the Silver Ghost's side valves.
Robert Jankel was a British designer of limousines, armoured cars, and other speciality vehicles. He also founded the automotive company Panther Westwinds.
Park Ward was a British coachbuilder founded in 1919 which operated from Willesden in North London. In the 1930s, backed by Rolls-Royce Limited, it made technical advances which enabled the building of all-steel bodies to Rolls-Royce's high standards. Bought by Rolls-Royce in 1939, it merged with H. J. Mulliner & Co. in 1961 to form Mulliner Park Ward.
The Lincoln K series is a luxury vehicle that was produced by the Lincoln Motor Company between 1931 and 1940. The second motor line produced by the company, the Model K was developed from the Model L, including a modernized chassis on a longer wheelbase. In 1931, Lincoln also introduced a V-12, becoming a feature of the company for nearly 20 years.
Carrosserie Hibbard et Darrin was a French coachbuilder located 12 Rue de Berri in Paris, just off the Champs-Élysées. Owned by two Americans, Hibbard and Darrin, it built bodies for various luxury car chassis, including Rolls-Royce, Duesenberg and Minerva.
The Toyota Automobile Museum is a large museum showcasing Toyota's storied past. It is a large complex located in Nagakute city, a city close to Nagoya, Japan.
James Young Limited was a top class British coachbuilding business in London Road, Bromley, England.
Carrozzeria Castagna is an Italian coachbuilding company based in Milan, Italy.
Carrosserie Pourtout was a French coachbuilding company. Founded by Marcel Pourtout in 1925, the firm is best known for its work in the decades prior to World War II, when it created distinctive and prestigious bodies for cars from numerous European manufacturers. Pre-war Pourtout bodies were mainly one-off, bespoke creations, typically aerodynamic and sporting in character. Together with chief coach designer and stylist Georges Paulin from 1933 to 1938, Pourtout pioneered the Paulin invented 'Eclipse' retractable hardtop system on four models of Peugeot, several Lancia Belna's and other car makes.
Among the company's customers was Georges Clemenceau, the physician and journalist who served as the prime minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and 1917 to 1920.
The Dana Point Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year on the Monarch Beach Golf Links at the Monarch Beach Resort Resort in Dana Point, California. It is operated primarily as a Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Concours, with additional classes showcasing interesting and relevant automobiles and motorcycles. The 2010 event was held Sunday, June 27, 2010 moving from its traditional date in September.
Weymann Fabric Bodies is a patented design system for fuselages for aircraft and superlight coachwork for motor vehicles. The system used a patent-jointed wood frame covered in fabric. It was popular on cars from the 1920s until the early 1930s as it reduced the usual squeaks and rattles of coachbuilt bodies by its use of flexible joints between body timbers.
Founded by cabinet maker Jacques Saoutchik, Saoutchik was a French coachbuilding company founded in 1906. In the 1930s, the company became well known for their often extravagant automobile designs for high end luxury car manufacturers. After Jacques died in 1955, the company passed into the hands of his son Pierre. With most of the well known French luxury car manufacturers going out of business and independent automotive coachbuilding as an industry in decline, the market for Saoutchik designs evaporated and the company ceased trading in 1955.
J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited was an English firm of bespoke coachbuilders specialising in sporting bodies founded in 1918 as a new enterprise by a Croydon firm of builders and joiners of the same name. The senior partner was John (Jack) Gurney Nutting (1871–1946).
Graber was a Swiss coachbuilder based in Wichtrach. Between 1927 and 1970 the firm supplied coach-built bodies for fitting on the chassis of various European and US auto-makers. Graber had a particularly close relationship with the British firm of Alvis, providing the manufacturer with bespoke and elegant if expensive bodies for almost twenty years, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s.
Corsica Coachworks was a small British coachbuilding business founded in 1920 just after World War I. They were builders of bespoke car bodies, employing no in-house designer. They realised customers' designs for them. Almost every Corsica body is unique.
Carrosserie Vanvooren was a French Coachbuilder based in the north-western Paris suburb of Courbevoie. The company concentrated on producing car bodies for luxury cars, being closely associated, during the 1930s, with the products of Hispano-Suiza, Bugatti, Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
Letourneur & Marchand, located in the prosperous Paris suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a car body manufacturing business which became one of the last French coachbuilders.
Media related to Franay Coachwork at Wikimedia Commons
 Coachbuilders of France | |
|---|---|
|