Pichon-Parat
Pichon-Parat was a French carrosserie based in the commune of Sens, in the department of Yonne. Established in 1952, it was known for producing custom cabriolet, coupé, estate car, and shooting brake conversions of established models from major automakers, and for building their own distinctive sporting models with completely original bodywork.
History
The company was founded by Bernard Pichon and André Parat. Pichon was born on 28 April 1923, and Parat eleven days later on 9 May 1923. Both families settled in Sens and the two boys became close friends while still very young. Pichon, whose family was wealthier, began drawing cars while still in school. Later he trained as a lathe-operator before buying a truck and working in transportation, then decided to pursue automobile design full time in 1950. Parat trained as a boilermaker and obtained his welder's ticket.The two men started working on automobile conversions together. Some of their earliest work involved converting large American cars into utility vehicles.
In 1949 the pair designed and built a custom coupé version of the Ford Vedette sedan.
They booked a booth at the 1951 Paris Salon de l'Auto to display their conversions.
In 1952 the two partners formally established their carrosserie in Sens. Originally located at 73 rue du Général Leclerc, the company later moved to 39 rue Mocquesouris, where their factory was a rustic collection of buildings around a central courtyard where chickens roamed.
The name of the company was Pichon & Parat, although the hyphenated form Pichon-Parat was commonly used, and some badging reads Pichon Parat Sens. The company was also at times referred to by its location as Sens or Sénonais, in the same way that Citroën was known as Quai de Javel, and Panhard as Porte d’Ivry.
After being selected by Raymond Loewy to build his design for a custom bodied BMW 507, the company went on to do several projects with the Franco-American designer, producing bodywork for Loewy designs based on cars from Cadillac, Jaguar, and Studebaker.
Pichon left the company in 1960. For a time he worked for Antonio Lago, and by 1962 had become an inspector in Fiat's public works division. Parat continued to run the carrosserie himself, while Pichon remained in touch and would send work to his former partner. The two men continued to collaborate on some projects, including their original four-headlamp conversion for the Citroën DS/ID that appeared in 1964 — three years ahead of Citroën's own "Nouveau visage" restyling of the car.
In the mid-1960s, Panhard encouraged Parat to merge with Monopole Poissy, and move to the engine parts supplier's larger facilities in Poissy, but this merger never took place. Parat also turned down an offer from Loewy to move to the US, and an overture from Enzo Ferrari to become the Italian's East France division and workshop, preferring in all cases to maintain his independence. The company did become a distributor of Sterckeman caravans. Coachbuilding activities from this point on almost ceased, making the resumption of estate car building in the late 1970s noteworthy.
On 1 January 1971, Parat relocated operations to Route de Lyon in Sens. Two years later he stopped building coachwork to concentrate exclusively on boiler-making and auto repairs.
On 19 June 1979 Bernard Pichon died at the Ambroise Paré Hospital in Boulogne Billancourt.
The Pichon & Parat company was removed from French corporate registers on 30 November 1983.
André Parat was killed in a road accident on 24 November 1995.
Projects
Bugatti
Shortly after the end of World War II Pichon-Parat created a body for a Bugatti Type 49 Roadster built in the Gangloff style.A Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio, chassis number 57314, was bought new in 1935 by a Monsieur Dettwiller. Fifteen years later Detwiller inquired about buying a Type 101, but was told that the new model was not yet available. Dettwiller and Pierre Marco of Bugatti came to an agreement whereby Detwiller's Type 57 would receive a new chassis frame and a Type 101 engine, while the original body would be retained but updated with, among other changes, a Type 101 radiator grille. Pichon-Parat handled the revisions to the bodywork. In 1987 owner C. Richards had the car restored by Barry Price, who returned the car to its original appearance, undoing the changes made by Pichon-Parat.
Ford Vedette
In a special October 1950 show issue of the magazine L'Action Automobile et Touristique, a coupé conversion of a Ford Vedette sedan by Pichon-Parat was featured alongside work from other coachbuilders, including Franay, Guilloré, Saoutchik and Figoni et Falaschi. The change converted the two-box factory sedan into a three-box shape. A revised version of the Vedette coupé with a panoramic backlite appeared on their stand at the 1951 Salon de l'Auto in Paris. Eventually the company would produce just short of 300 Vedette conversions, with body styles that included variations on the original coupé as well as estate cars, convertibles and modified sedans, including a convertible sedan.Renault 4CV
Also on the Pichon-Parat stand at the Grand Palais in 1951 was a coupé based on the Renault 4CV Grand Luxe.Renault Frégate
In 1952 Pichon-Parat became the first carrosserie to build and show a 2-door convertible version of the Renault Frégate.The first iteration of the design, seen early in 1952, was a simple roofless conversion of the hardtop sedan with a horizontal bar grille and an air intake added to the hood. A later version displayed in October replaced the earlier wide grille with a narrower chrome escutcheon and added extensive chrome detailing along the car's sides. Pichon-Parat did not pursue production of this project, instead turning their attention to modified Panhards.
Citroën 15/6
In 1952 Pichon-Parat built a customized Citroën Traction Avant, based on a 1949 six-cylinder 15/6 model. Changes to the interior included adding a gear change on the steering wheel and a radio. On the exterior, only the original roof and rear door panels were retained. The headlamps were integrated into the front wings and air vents were added. The new rear fenders were very similar to those of the Renault Frégate.Peugeot 203
The carrosserie built a special lightweight Peugeot 203, with body panels of duralumin, that Parat personally drove in the 1953 Liège–Rome–Liège rallye.Dyna Junior
After observing the performance of the Panhard Dyna's during the Liège–Rome–Liège rallye, Parat and company began building what would eventually be a run of about thirty copies of a fixed-head coupé version of the Panhard Dyna Junior beginning in 1953. The mechanical aspects were carried over from the Panhard and, apart from the roof, the carrosserie's coupé followed the original's appearance closely.Pichon-Parat Dolomite
As a follow-on to their Dyna Junior coupés, in 1954 the company unveiled a new berlinette model, called the Dolomite, with a more streamlined body.While one car was built on a DB chassis, the rest of the Dolomites were built on chassis from either a Panhard Dyna X or Junior, new or used, depending on the customer's wishes. Power came from a Panhard flat-twin of either or. About 60 of these cars were built starting in 1954 and continuing until 1956.
Dolomites were raced at several major events, including the Bol d’Or in 1954, the Tour de Corse in 1955 and 1956, the Mille Miglia in 1956 and 1957, as well as at Mont Ventoux, Lyon-Charbonnières and others. The cars achieved some class wins.
The original berlinette was followed by a cabriolet in 1956.
Salmson 2300S
During the years 1953 and 1954 Pichon-Parat built three cars based on the Salmson 2300S. The second and third car in the series were named Pichon-Parat Salmson 2300GS.The Salmson came with a aluminium DOHC straight-four engine fed by a Solex 35/40 double barrel carburetor, and producing. Transmission options included a Cotal preselector gearbox or an optional ZF manual transmission. The front suspension was independent with upper and lower wishbones, longitudinal torsion bars, telescopic dampers, and hydraulic drum brakes. In the rear was a live axle suspended on semi-elliptic leaf springs with telescopic dampers. Steering was by either rack-and-pinion or worm-and-sector.
The first Pichon-Parat Salmson car, which is not always included in the histories, was similar in appearance to a larger version of the Panhard Dolomite coupés.
The second car was shown at the 1954 Paris Motor Show. With a berlinette body made of aluminium, it weighed just, less than the original Salmson. The wide original front air intake was later reshaped to deal with cooling problems encountered by owner René Cotton. Cotton raced the car, registered as 1265 DL 75, at Monte Carlo, the Coupe des Alpes, the Liège-Rome-Liège, and the Lyon Charbonnières. The car was eventually abandoned and later scrapped.
The third Salmson bodied by the Sens carrosserie was also a berlinette, but one whose wheelbase had been reduced from the original to. Other features of this car included an aluminium body painted Ile de France blue, a competition Borgward 4-speed gearbox, and Rudge wheels and brake drums. It was sold to an owner only known as "Vincent" for 7500 New Francs. Rediscovered in 1956, the car disappeared again by the end of the 1950s.
Guépard
André Delacourt's Société d'Etude et de Recherches commissioned the construction of two Renault-powered specials that appeared in 1954. The first car was built for René Paris, and the second for Paul Bobet. Power came from a Renault 4 CV Type 662-2 engine block with a big-valve R1063 cylinder head, Solex carburettor, and sports exhaust. The rear wheels were driven through a 5-speed gearbox from André-Georges Claude. Pichon-Parat produced the original aluminium barquette bodies. The cars were homologated as Guépards.Both cars appeared at the 1954 Bol d'Or, numbered 76 and 77 respectively. The car driven by Paris did not finish, while Bobet's finished twenty-second out of twenty-six classified. Bobet later had his car rebodied with an extremely aerodynamic shape designed by Marcel Riffard and fabricated by Heuliez. This restyled car was renamed the Riffard-Renault in 1956.