Evening all,
Gentlemen, what superb images, thank you all for posting them!
Pete, that whole area of lower Walsall Street has been somewhat decimated over the years. Though I still have a fancy of what could be created from the remmenents of Walkers , Wulfruna Coal Yard…it faces South, and could , (with a bit of imagination), be revamped to become a veritable “hanging gardens of Babylon”…using Brindleys Old Main Line, as a backdrop…sadly my lady wife does not enthuse towards living in Horsley Fields Wolverhampton!!!
Oily, (and anyone else interested in the Automotive history of Wolverhampton)…The Star, Briton, and Clyno register may be of interest…amazing just how many have survived, and all over the world at that…its here on the internet…(although with our lousey internet access I have been precluded from looking at it in detai)l…but it is really interesting as is the history of Wolverhampton as a Motor Vehicle manufacturing centre!
Now then adr…why did you put that picture up?..All through today, whilst enjoying the rain, from the relative comfort, (a subjective word indeed)! of the cab of my old Hy Mac.......(and what a faithful servant she has been), I have been removing a myriad of tons of good clay Staffordshire sub soil, that stands in the way of my intended vista for my , (in the process of conversion), former Cow Shed......and I have been thinking about that wonderful person Phillipe Charbonneaux.......and his myriad of creations.......not least that Berliet based Voix Du Nord caravan.......(note that it has the "face" of the Bernard "Television cab, even though it is a Berliet,and a very low specification one at that)!.......but that was Charbonneauxs strength…making something humble, into something spectacular!!!
Perhaps you will allow me to give a small pen portrait of the man, his
creations, and his vision. And those of you who know far more, please contribute, for I only met him once, in his old age, but quick of thought, and wit, he certainly was…and clear in his desire to create vehicles that gave pleasure to both driver and passenger, and above all were safe to use!
Phillip Charbonneaux, born into a Farming Family in 1917.
A dreamer at school…with a love of Aviation. Joined the French Airforce in 37, and passed to our own RAF in 40.
His keen eye for detail ensured a role in air reconnaisence
Married Nicole in 1943…
Post war, the results of his constant barrage pre war, of the major French Coachbuilders bore fruit in that Soc Figoni, introduced Charbonneaux to Delahaye to re design their motor car bodies.
Just prior to this Charbonneaux has designed a aerodynamic rear engine car for the racing driver Jean Pierre Wimele, shown at the 48 Salon, it was a sensation, with the driving position central, and the passengers either side, (as the much later Matra design). However Wimeles death in practice for the Argentinian GP, cut short the promise of production.
The period with Delahaye, resulting in quite stunning designs, resulted in an approach from Harley Earl, the Head of Design for General Motors in Detroit. The period was not good for Charbonneaux, who could not enjoy the American discipline of a designer only being responsible for one element of a vehicles design…say the dashboard…it caused many clashes…
But it is undeniable, (given the pictorial evidence available), that the sensation, that was the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, perhaps the best Corvette shape ever, was a creation of Phillip Charbonneaux!
Back in France, and with a studio at 50 Rue Copernic Paris , he was inundated with work, both with motor cars, and commercial vehicles. Amongst which were:
The redesign and relaunch of the Rosengart estate, (Vivor), and saloon car, (Ariette), where his skill created a new image, on very old mechanics!
The `52, Ford “symmetric” Vedette 4 door saloon car, but the major coachbuilders were under threat…post WW2 France was short of cash! People were not buying motor cars for the expensive coach builders to body…so where would the business come from?
Well how about the incredible creation, the articulated studio/presentation outfit for Pathe Marconi, of `52. Perhaps the vehicle that Gerry Anderson used as the outline for his Thunderbirds models, so close is the design!
Charbonneaux had the constant parallel that his love of Aviation, and the lines of Aircraft should, and would have a synergy with that of Road vehicles, both motor car and lorry, and bus! An ideology that would persist throughout his life!
The Air Ministry required a new," avant garde" recruitment vehicle…the only constraint, (apart from a modest financial budget), was that the designer would have to base his vehicle on a current useage unit…a ChaussonAH 48, with a petrol engine…most refused the , (very), large challenge…but not Charbonneaux!
What he created…an aeroplane on wheels, lasted 20 years, covered 300000kms, and was still well ahead of the game in the `60s!!!
Then there were the futuristic, and totally wild designs for BIC Biro`s, Formica, The Rocket for ESSO, (pulled by a lowly International .542…(but that is Budget constraints for you)!!!
Then the elevating kitchen display for Astra…and his invitation, (at the personal request of Paul Berliet)…“.to assist”, with the design of the new cab for the Berliet heavies…the outcome…the sensational `60s Relax cabin…
Then of course came the revolutionary Stradair…(perhaps the worlds first totally air suspended lorry, front and rear, 1960s!!! And Charbonneaux designed the cab, and it was good…and there were further plans…
My little office in Venisseux, betwixt the Press Shop, and the Design Studio, with its bank of dusty cabinets yielded treasures beyond belief…copies of Charbonneaux`s designs for a bonnete cab for the “big” V6, and V8 Stradairs…wow, what a presence they would have had!
But meanwhile, Charbonneaux had created a new image for the Television builder Tele Avia…(and done some work on Washing Machine design)…
Then came the commission to design a vehicle to replace the Aircraft like design that the studio had created for Organisation, Radio Television Francais, and the result was the first version of the cab that was to become the Bernard Television…(as Charbonneaux had to seek the permission of TeleAvia, to copy, and enlarge their Television front, into the face of a lorry cab)…oh, they said yes!!!
Often the ORTF 4 wheeler is shown parked next to a Renault 8…why?
Because at the end of the life of the Renault Dauphine, (anyone remember them)? Renault simply could not get any of the Italian bodybuilders to create a handsome body on such humble running gear…but Charbonneaux did…and what a car resulted…even good enough to race
But he created a fire appliance for Berliet,the FF 4x4, , and perhaps Berliets finest on a GBK, GAK, and GCK chassis, with only straight panels…(known affectionally by its crews as “the circle”)…
A double deck bus for Paris, a most creative airport bus, powered by a Perkins diesel, driving individual wheel electric motors, having an identical back and front…used at Orly, so some of you must have ridden in them!
Then if you were in a Boeng 707, or a DC8, then you would have been pushed away by a very stylist Charbonneaux 600hp “pusher”
Or if you were dead…then a very sombre PFG funeral herse on a Saviem SB chassis would have taken you to your place of buriel…or BBQing!!!
Oh and in between all this he created a magical redesign of the Citroen 2cv, …became a sensation…but Dragonnet the bodybuilders were slow…so he took the conversions in house!!!
Oh I forgot the Presidential Limousine for SIMCA, or the incredible `63 luxury, (to rival our own Rolls Royce), Delage…
But my love, his designs for Bernard…the Television…so dramatic…but in its early form so “jelly like”…designed to tilt, (like Trevor Dudleys, Virgin Exnors inspired Invincible cab for Guy), the design exceeded the materials used capacity by some margin…but the revision to fixed base, and porthole sleeper windows cured those "little " problems!
Then there were the sensational looking single cabs, based on Bernards TDA6RA long wheelbase lorry, used as a tractor, with the single seat cab way out front of the front axle alongside the brutal Gardner licence built 185 hp engine the cab and bodywork by Pourtout, who had turned so many of Charbonneaux`s ideas into the metal. Only a few were sold, and the only operator that I knew who ran them being Connileau, based in Villeneuve de Garenne. But what a looker…but a bit odd to drive I suspect!
Charbonneaux`s designs for the next generation of Bernards harked back to his luxury car designs for Delage, but were sadly not to be…for Mack took over, and his Television cab sat over Mack running gear…
But Renault called, and the oh so comfortable R16 was his design, …a simple build being the brief…and with the bodybuilder Augenau he created a 3 box version with a boot…but Renault said No!
His last design was the Ellipsis, in effect an ellips on three wheels…with a 6 cylinder Porsche Engine…300kph…and a turning circle that would embares a London Taxi! 7 versions were built from 95, and all were incredible drivers......but in 98 at the age of 81 Phillipe Charbonneaux left us. But what an inheritance, what clarity of thought, and what handsome lorry designs!
Phillipe, I raise a Bollinger to your memory!
Cheerio Gentlemen.
Richard, just seen your post…yes it was…may be tomorrow I will tel the story of that type of outfit!!!
as Saviem mentions it went away beyond that, so I’ve been doing a bit o’ reading about them, the Stevens family business was started by Joseph Stevens, a blacksmith at Wednesfield, Wolverhampton in 1856.
. Regards Chris
