A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily fragile, but satisfactory wheels by a separate trade, a wheelwright, held together by iron or steel

tyres A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

, was always most critical.
From about AD 1000 rough vehicle construction was carried out by a ''wainwright'', a wagon-builder. Later names include ''cartwright'' (a carpenter who makes carts, from 1587); ''coachwright''; and ''coachmaker'' (from 1599). Subtrades include ''wheelwright'', ''coachjoiner'', etc. The word ''coachbuilder'' first appeared in 1794. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2011 Coachwork is the body of an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, bus, horse-drawn carriage, or

railway carriage A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

. The word "coach" was derived from the Hungarian town of Kocs. Coachbuilt body is the British English name for the coachbuilder's product. ''Custom body'' is the standard term in

North American English North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), ...

. "Coachbuilt body" is also the British English name for mass-produced vehicles built on assembly lines using the same but simplified techniques until more durable all-steel bodies replaced them in the early 1950s. Prior to the popularization of

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...

construction in the 1960s, there were many independent coachbuilders who built bodies on chassis provided by a manufacturer, often for

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge put ...

or sports cars. Many manufacturers such as

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

outsourced all bodywork to coachbuilders such as

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian ...

. Coachbuilders also made custom bodies for individual customers.The coachbuilder craftsmen who might once have built bespoke or custom bodies continue to build bodies for short runs of specialized commercial vehicles such as luxury motor coaches or

recreational vehicles A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

or motor-home bodied upon a rolling chassis provided by an independent manufacturer. A 'conversion' is built inside an existing vehicle body.

Horse-drawn origins

A British trade association the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers was incorporated in 1630. Some British coachmaking firms operating in the 20th century were established even earlier. Rippon was active in the time of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards. Brewster, the oldest in the U.S., was formed in 1810. Coach-building had reached a high degree of specialization in Britain by the middle of the 19th century. Separate branches of the trade dealt with the timber, iron, leather, brass and other materials used in their construction. And there were many minor specialists with each of these categories. The “body-makers” produced the body or vehicle itself, while the “carriage-makers” made the stronger timbers beneath and around the body. The timbers used included ash, beech, elm, oak, mahogany, cedar, pine, birch and larch. The tools and processes used were similar to those used in cabinet-making, plus other specific to coach-making. Making the curved woodwork alone called for considerable skill. Making the iron axles, springs and other metal used was the work of the “coach-smith,” one of the most highly paid classes of London workmen. The coating of the interior of the coach with leather and painting, trimming, and decorating the exterior called for specialist tradesmen with a high degree of skill. Building carts and wagons required similar skills, but of a coarser kind.

Automobiles

From the beginning of the automobile industry manufacturers offered complete cars assembled in their own factories commonly using entire bodies made by specialist people using different skills. Soon after the start of the twentieth century mass production coachbuilders developed such as Mulliners or Pressed Steel in Great Britain,

Fisher Body Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan. A division of General Motors for many years, in 1984 it was dissolved to form other General Motors divisions. Fisher & Company (originally All ...

, Budd, Briggs in the U. S., or Ambi-Budd in Germany. Many other big businesses remain involved. Austin 7 Swallow at Coventry Motor Museum

Specialist market sector

There remained a market for bodies to fit low production, short-run and luxury cars. Custom or bespoke bodies were made and fitted to another manufacturer's

rolling chassis A rolling chassis is the chassis without bodywork of a motor vehicle ( car, truck, bus, or other vehicle), assembled with suspension and wheels. Heavy vehicles Separate chassis remain in use for almost all heavy vehicles ranging from pickup ...

by the craftsmen who had previously built bodies for horse-drawn carriages. Bespoke bodies are made of hand-shaped sheet metal, often aluminum alloy. Pressed or hand-shaped the metal panels were fastened to a wooden frame of particularly light but strong types of wood. Later many of the more important structural features of the bespoke or custom body such as A, B and C pillars were cast alloy components. Some bodies such as those entirely alloy bodies fitted to some Pierce-Arrow cars contained little or no wood, and were mounted on a conventional steel chassis. Bugatti Type 57 chassis

The car manufacturer would offer for sale a chassis frame,

drivetrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components o ...

(consisting of an engine, gearbox, differential, axles, and wheels), brakes, suspension, steering system, lighting system, spare wheel(s), front and rear mudguards (vulnerable and so made of pressed steel for strength and easy repair) and (later) bumpers, scuttle (firewall) and

dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business). A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the drive ...

. The very easily damaged honeycomb radiator, later enclosed and protected by a shell or even reduced to an air intake, was or held the visual element identifying the chassis' brand. To let car manufacturers maintain some level of control over the final product their warranties could be voided if coachbuilders fitted unapproved bodies. As well as bespoke bodies the same coachbuilders also made short runs of more-or-less identical bodies to the order of dealers or the manufacturer of a chassis. The same body design might then be adjusted to suit different brands of chassis. Examples include Salmons & Sons' ''Tickford'' bodies with a patent device to raise or lower a convertible's roof, first used on their 19th-century carriages, or ''Wingham'' convertible bodies by Martin Walter.

Obsolescence

Separate coachbuilt bodies became obsolete when vehicle manufacturers found they could no longer meet their customers' demands by relying on a simple separate chassis (on which a custom or bespoke body could be built) mounted on

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, i ...

s on

beam axle A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have als ...

Unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

combined chassis and body structures became standardised during the middle years of the 20th century to provide the rigidity required by improved suspension systems without incurring the heavy weight, and consequent fuel penalty of a truly rigid separate chassis. The improved more supple suspension systems gave vehicles better road-holding and much improved the ride experienced by passengers.

Ultra-luxury vehicles

1920 Editing Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 French Owner's Manual Chassis

Larger car dealers or distributors would commonly preorder stock chassis and the bodies they thought most likely to sell and order them for sale off their showroom floor. All luxury vehicles during the automobile's Golden Era before World War II were available as chassis only. For example, when

Duesenberg Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company, Inc. was an American racing and luxury automobile manufacturer founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, by brothers Fred and August Duesenberg in 1920. The company is known for popularizing the straight-e ...

introduced their Model J, it was offered as chassis only, for $8,500. Other examples include the

Bugatti Type 57 The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants (including the famous Atlantic and Atalante) was a grand tourer car built from 1934 through 1940. It was an entirely new design created by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore. A total of 710 Type 57s were ...

Cadillac V-16 The Cadillac V-16 (also known as the Cadillac Sixteen) was Cadillac's top-of-the-line model from its January 1930 launch until 1940. The V16 powered car was a first in the United States, both extremely expensive and exclusive, with every chassis ...

, Packard Twelve, Ferrari 250,

Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 is an Italian luxury car made between 1919 and 1924. History The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 is an automobile introduced in 1919 by Isotta Fraschini, a company which underwent a complete change after World War I. Unti ...

Hispano-Suiza J12 The Hispano-Suiza J12 is a luxury automobile that was made by Hispano-Suiza in France from 1931 to 1938. It was the largest and most expensive car ever built by Hispano-Suiza. It replaced the Hispano-Suiza H6. The J12 was only available as a cha ...

, and all

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

s produced before World War II. Delahaye had no in-house coachworks, so all its chassis were bodied by independents, who created their designs on the Type 135. For the Delahaye, most were bodied by Chapron, Labourdette,

Franay Franay was a French coachbuilder of renown operating at Levallois-Perret, a suburb on the prosperous north-western edge of Paris. The company was founded in 1903 by Jean-Baptiste Franay, a carriage upholsterer, following an apprenticeship with Bi ...

, Saoutchik, Figoni et Falaschi, or Pennock. The practice continued after World War II waning dramatically in the 1950s and 1960s. Rolls-Royce debuted its first

model, their Silver Shadow, in 1965.

Unibody construction

Independent coachbuilders survived for a time after the mid-20th century, making bodies for the chassis produced by low-production companies such as

, and

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, Nort ...

. Producing body

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

s is extremely expensive (a single door die can run to US$40,000), which is usually only considered practical when large numbers are involved—though that was the path taken by Rolls-Royce and Bentley after 1945 for their own in-house production. Because dies for pressing metal panels are so costly, from the mid 20th century, many vehicles, most notably the

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctiv ...

, were clothed with large panels of

fiberglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

-reinforced resin, which only require inexpensive molds. Glass has since been replaced by more sophisticated materials, if necessary hand-formed. Generally, these replace metal only where weight is of paramount importance. The advent of

construction, where the car body is unified with and structurally integral to the chassis, made custom coachbuilding uneconomic. Many coachbuilders closed down, were bought by manufacturers, or changed their core business to other activities: *Transforming into dedicated design or styling houses, subcontracting to automotive brands (e.g.

Zagato Zagato is an independent coachbuilding company and total design centre located northwest of Milan in Terrazzano, a small village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. The company's premises occupies an area of 23,000 square metres (250,000 sq ft)- 11,000 ...

, Frua, Bertone,

) *Transforming into general coachwork series manufacturers, subcontracting to automotive brands (e.g. Karmann, Bertone,

Vignale Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian ...

) *Manufacturing runs of special coachworks for trucks, delivery vans, touring cars, ambulances, fire engines, public transport vehicles, etc. (e.g., Pennock,

Van Hool Van Hool NV () is a Belgium, Belgian family-owned coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, Coach (bus), coaches, trolleybuses, and Semi-trailer, trailers. Most of the buses and coaches are built entirely by Van Hool, with engines and axle ...

, Plaxton, Heuliez) *Becoming technical partners for the development of roof constructions (e.g., Karmann, Heuliez), for example, or producers of various (aftermarket) automotive parts (e.g.,

Giannini Giannini is a Brazilian musical instruments manufacturing company, based in Salto, São Paulo. Products currently manufactured by Giannini include electric, steel-string acoustic, nylon-string acoustic and bass guitars. Other string instrumen ...

)

Gallery

File:Lancia Belna Cabriolet 1935 Pourtout.jpg,

Pourtout 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 Europ ...

drophead coupé on a

Lancia Belna Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but its ...

chassis 1935 File:Coys vintage car 501593 fh000035.jpg, Touring 2-seater body on a 1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B chassis File:Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Ghia.jpg, Fixed head coupé by

Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Tu ...

1954 on an

Alfa Romeo 1900 The Alfa Romeo 1900 is an automobile produced by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1950 until 1959. Designed by Orazio Satta, it was an important development for Alfa Romeo as the marque's first car built entirely on a production line and ...

SS chassis File:VW Hebmüller-Cabriolet bicolor vl TCE.jpg, Hebmüller Cabriolet modifications upon a mass-produced Volkswagen platform chassis

List of coachbuilders

Austria

*Ambruster *Keibl

Belgium

D'Ieteren D'Ieteren SA () is a company, based in Belgium that is engaged in automobile distribution and vehicle glass repair and replacement (VGRR). Activities D'Ieteren is a group of services to the motorist, founded in 1805. D'Ieteren Auto distrib ...

*Grümmer (Bruxelles) *Simons *

Vanden Plas Vanden Plas is the name of coachbuilders who produced bodies for specialist and up-market automobile manufacturers. Latterly the name became a top-end luxury model designation for cars from subsidiaries of British Leyland and the Rover Group, ...

Denmark

* Carsten Jakobsen

France

*Achard, Fontanel & Cie (

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

) *Ailloud & Dumond (

) *Alin & Liautard (

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Pa ...

) * Amiot ( Dinard,

Dinan Dinan (; ) is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan. Geography Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead o ...

) *Angé (

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

) *Ansart & Teisseire ( Neuilly) * Antem ( Levallois) *Arnault (

Garches Garches () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Garches has remained largely residential, but is also the location of Raymond Poincaré University Hospital, which specialises in traumat ...

) *Arqué (Toulouse) *Aubertin (

Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated ...

) *Paul Audineau (Levallois) *Augereau ( Brou) * Autobineau ( Neuilly) *Bail (Paris) *Baqué (

) *Barbier (

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

) *Bedel (

Trouville-sur-mer Trouville-sur-Mer (, literally ''Trouville on Sea''), commonly referred to as Trouville, is a city of 4,603 inhabitants in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Trouville-sur-Mer borders Deauville across the ...

) *Belvallette (Paris, Neuilly) *Bergeon & Descoins (

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

) *Berlioz & Gouillon (Paris) *Berluteau (

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of the Seine-et-Ma ...

) *Bernin (

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

) *Besset (

Annonay Annonay (; oc, Anonai) is a commune and largest city in the north of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department although it is not the capital ...

) *Bigatti (

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

) *Billeter & Cartier (

) * Binder (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

) *Blanc & Barral (Paris) *Blesser (Paris) *Blois (Toulouse) *Boneberge (Lyon) *Bonneville & Chabrol (

) *Gustave Borde (

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...

) *Boré ( Saint-Lô) *Boschet (

Saint-Brieuc Saint-Brieuc (, Breton language, Breton: ''Sant-Brieg'' , Gallo language, Gallo: ''Saent-Berioec'') is a city in the Côtes-d'Armor Departments of France, department in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. History ...

) *Bounet (Toulouse) *Bouteiller (

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

) *Brandone (

) *Bruand (

Chaumont Chaumont can refer to: Places Belgium * Chaumont-Gistoux, a municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant France * Chaumont-Porcien, in the Ardennes ''département'' * Chaumont, Cher, in the Cher ''département'' * Chaumont-le-Bois, in the C ...

) *Henri Bretonniere (

, Brittany) *Gratien Calmettes (

) *Candelaresi (

) *Carrier (

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil. Argenteuil is the sec ...

Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is fi ...

) *Chabrol (Toulouse) *Candelarési (Lyon) *Carde & fils (

) *

Chappe et Gessalin Chappe et Gessalin is the short-form of the name of French coachbuilder "Carrosserie Chappe Frères et Gessalin". The company built automobile bodies and did contract assembly for other automobile manufacturers. It was also the parent of Automobile ...

, (

Brie-Comte-Robert Brie-Comte-Robert () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Brie-Comte-Robert is on the edge of the plain of Brie and was formerly the capital of the ''Brie française''. "Brie" com ...

) * Chapron (Levallois-Perret) *

Philippe Charbonneaux Philippe Charbonneaux (18 February 1917 – 4 June 1998) was a French industrial designer, best known for automobile and truck design, but also known for other products such as television sets. Many of his works are now exhibited in places su ...

*Chatellard (Toulouse) *Chaussende (Lyon) * Chausson ( Asnières, Gennevilliers) *Chéreau (

Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period ...

) *Chicot (Levallois) *Chilbourg (Paris) *Clabot ( Alfortville) *Clochez (Paris) *Cluzeau ( Bergerac) *Cottard (

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient province of Bresse ( frp, Brêsse, links=no). In 2018, ...

) *Crouzier frères ( Moulins) * Currus (Paris) * Darl'mat (Paris) *Declerq & Cordonnier (

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

, Roubaix) *DeCostier (Boulogne s/Seine) *Decultil & Cie (Lyon) *Victor Delassale (Paris) *Delaroche & Turquet (

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

) *Delaugère (

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Pantin) *Desvaux (Rueil) *Di Rosa (La Garenne-Colombes) *Drouet & Gaucher (Courbevoie) *Maurice Dumas (

) *Louis Dubos (Neuilly) *Dubos (Puteaux) *Duhamel et Compagnie (Paris) *Duvivier (Levallois-Perret) *Ehrler (Paris) *Ehmgard et Delbenque (Paris) *Esclassan – Tôlerie automobile et industrielle (Boulogne s/Seine) *Facel Vega, Facel-Métallon (Dreux) *Faget & Varnet (Levallois) *Faurax (Paris since 1808, later

) *Faurax & Chaussende (since 1920, Lyon) *Felber frères (Puteaux) *Hibbard & Darrin, Fernandez & Darrin (Paris) * Figoni et Falaschi (Boulogne s/Seine) *Firmin (Paris) *Fleury (Thonon) *Floquet (Saint-Amand) *Forrler (Strasbourg) *Fournier (

) *Fournier (Suresnes) *

(Levallois-Perret) *Frugier (Toulouse, Limoges) *Gallé (Boulogne s/Seine) *Gangloff (Colmar) *Garros (Toulouse) *Gaudichet & Turquet (

) *Henri Gauthier (Villeurbanne, Beaulieu-Audincourt) *Gilotte (Courbevoie) *Girardo frères (

) *Grange frères (Valence-sur-Rhône) *Gras (

) *Gruau (Laval, Mayenne, Laval) *Grümmer (Clichy) *Guérard (

) *Guetting (Paris) *Guilloré (Courbevoie) *Guilloux (Châlon-sur-Saone) *Guldener (Marseille) *Hamet (Limoges) *Léon Hanovre (Paris) *Hénon (Albert, Somme, Albert) *Henry (Nancy, France, Nancy) * Heuliez (Cerizay) *Hibbard & Darrin (Paris) *Jamet (La Guerche, Berry) *Jeanteaud (

) *L. Jean (Versailles) *Jouan, carrosserie de cuirs (Clichy) *Jousse & Parsy (Montargis) *Justrobe (Toulouse) *Kellner (Paris) *Kelsch (Levallois) *Klapper (Toulouse) *Kraemers fils (Paris) *Labarre (Evreux) *Labbé (Lamballe) *Henri Labourdette (Paris) *La Carrosserie Industrielle (

) *Lacoste frères (Toulouse) *Lagache & Glaszmann (Montrouge) *Lagogué (

) *Lamplugh & Cie (Levallois-Perret) *Langütt (Besançon) *Laporte (Toulouse) *Le Bastard (Rouen) *Leffondré (Groslay) *Letourneur et Marchand (Neuilly) *Le Vieux (Paris) *Lourtioux (Montluçon) *Mamy (Besançon) *Mandement (Toulouse) *Manessius (Puteaux) *Maron-Pot (Levallois-Perret) *Massias (Toulouse) *Mercier (

) *Meulemeester (Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, Clichy) *Michel (

, Marseille) *Mignot & Billebault (Boulogne s/Seine) *Million Guiet (Levallois) *Léon Molon (Le Havre) *Mouche & Cie (

) *Monjardet (Besançon) *Montel & fils (Marseille) *Morel (Paris) *Morin (Parthenay) *Morin (Rennes) *Mühlbacher & fils (Puteaux) *Nicolas (Angoulême) *Ottin (

) *Philippe Mühlbacher (

) *Pelpel (Noyal s/Vilaine) *Petitprez & Verschure (Tourcoing) *Pezet (Toulouse) *Phaetonia (

) *Société Phocéenne (Marseille) *Pichon-Parat (Sens) *Henri Pique (

) *Plante (Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pau) *Poinsenet (Epernay) *Pourtout (Rueil-Malmaison) *Pralavorio Simon (

Montplaisir) *Privat (

) *Maurice Proux (

) *Pruneville (

) *Radovitch (Reims) *Rambert & fils (Clermont-Ferrand,

) *Raquin (Montrichard) *Rasp (Paris) *Ravistre & Martel (

) *Repusseau & Cie (Levallois-Perret) *Rétif (Sancoins, Berry) *Rheims & Auscher, La Carrosserie Industrielle (Levallois-Perret) *Rieucros (Cognac) *Georges Rigier (Neuilly) *Alexis Robert (Paris) *Rothschild, later Rheims & Aucher (Levallois-Perret) *Rotrou (Verneuil sur Avre) *Rousseau (Montargis) *Rungette (Levallois-Perret) * Saoutchik (Neuilly) *Soulé (Toulouse) *Spinnewyn (Tourcoing) *Surirey (Flers) *Tassé (Pontchâteau) *Benjamin Thibaut (Toulouse) *Baptiste Thomas (1820–1877, Paris) *Tirbois (Niort) *Tizot & Viguier (Marseille) *Tremble (Puteaux) *Tual (Tredion) *Vallas (St-Just en Chevalet) *Van den Bussche (

) *Van den Hende ( Roubaix) *Carrosserie Vanvooren, Vanvooren (Courbevoie) *Vedrine & Cie (Courbevoie) *Verplancke ( Roubaix) *Veuillet (Fleurieu-sur-Seine) *Vidal (Toulouse) *de Villars (Courbevoie) *Vilotte (Toulouse) *Vinet (Neuilly) *Visse & Haf (Levallois) *Vivez (

) *VOG (Chartres, Neuilly) *Wanaverbecq (Lambersart) *Wantz (Meaux) *Warengehm (

) *Weymann Fabric Bodies, Weymann (

) *Widerkehr (Colmar) *Willy van den Plas (Paris,

)

Germany

* Ambi-Budd *Auer *Autenrieth *Karosserie Baur, Baur *Binz (vehicles), Binz *Buhne *Karl Deutsch GmbH, Deutsch *Dörr & Schreck *Drauz *Erdmann & Rossi *Friederich *Gläser-Karosserie, Gläser *Glüer *Grümmer (Aachen) *Hebmüller *Ihle *Karl Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke, Kässbohrer * Karmann *Kathe *Keinath *Kellner *Konigsberg *Kruse (Husum) *Kühlstein *Kühn *Johann Michael Mayer (München) *Mengelbier (Aachen) *Neoplan *Neuss *Nowack *Papler *Plenikowski (Hartha) *Rembrandt *Reutter *Rometsch *Setra *Spohn *Styling Garage *Szase *Voll & Ruhrbeck *Weinberger, Karl *Weinberger, Ludwig *Weinsberg *Wendler

Indonesia

*Adi Putro *Laksana (coachbuilder), Laksana *Morodadi Prima *New Armada *Tentrem

Italy

* *Carrozzeria Allemano, Allemano * Bertone *Bizzarrini *Felice Mario Boano, Boano *Carrozzeria Boneschi, Boneschi *Carrozzeria Castagna, Castagna *Cecomp *Sergio Coggiola, Coggiola *Carrozzeria Colli, Colli *De Simon *Stabilimenti Farina, Farina *Carrozzeria Fissore, Fissore * Frua *Carrozzeria Garavini, Garavini *

*Giorgetto Giugiaro, Giugiaro *I.DE.A Institute, I.DE.A *Italdesign Giugiaro, Italdesign *Carrozzeria Francis Lombardi, Lombardi *Maggiora (manufacturer), Maggiora *Carrozzeria Marazzi, Marazzi *Manifattura Automobili Torino, MAT *Morelli (company), Morelli *Rocco Motto, Motto *Neri and Bonacini, Nembo *Officine Stampaggi Industriali, OSI *

*Cesare Sala, Sala *Carrozzeria Scaglietti, Scaglietti *Carrozzeria Sports Cars, Sports Cars (Drogo) *Studiotorino * Touring *Carrozzeria Varesina, Varesina *

Vignale Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.Zagato Zagato is an independent coachbuilding company and total design centre located northwest of Milan in Terrazzano, a small village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. The company's premises occupies an area of 23,000 square metres (250,000 sq ft)- 11,000 ...

Japan

*Mitsuoka

Spain

*Abadal *Ayats *Bettla *Blancou *Capella *Carrizo *J Farré *Forcada *Fiol *Galo Mateos *Herrero *Hijos de Labourdette *Irizar *Lucas Industries, Lucas *Molist *Reynés *Roqueta *Serra *Vert *Vidal

Sweden

*Hoflageribolaget *Nordberg *Norrmalm

Switzerland

*Beutler *Gangloff *Geismeister *Graber *Graber, Hermann Graber *Carrosserie Worblaufen, Ramseier *Carrosserie Worblaufen, Worblaufen

The Netherlands

*Akkermans *Bronkhorst *Bij 't Vuur *Dolk *Donderwinkel *Egbers *Garstman *Gips & Jacobs *Hermans *Hover & Tiwi *Hulsman *Jac Met *Kimman *Lathouwers *Van Leersum & Co *De Ley *Van Lijf & Co *Mudde *Muller *Mijnhardt *N.A.M. (Nederlandsche Auto-Maatschappij) *Nederlandsche Carrosseriefabrieken *Oostwoud *Pennock *Van Rijswijk & Zoon *Roos *Schutter & van Bakel *Smulders *Soudijn *Spyker *Jean Stegen *Teulings *W J Van Trigt & Zoon *Vandenbrink Design *Verheul *Veth & Zoon

United Kingdom

*Abbey (coachbuilder), Abbey *E. D. Abbott Ltd, Abbott *Alexander Dennis (formerly Walter Alexander Coachbuilders) *Aston Martin *Barker (coachbuilder), Barker *Carbodies *Carlton Carriage Company, Carlton *Crayford Engineering *Charlesworth Bodies, Charlesworth *Corsica Coachworks, Corsica *John Croall & Sons Edinburgh, Croall *Cunard (coachbuilder), Cunard *Gordon England (coachbuilder), Gordon England *Flewitt *Freestone and Webb *Grose *J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited, J Gurney Nutting & Co *Thomas Harrington Ltd, Harrington *John Hatchett (London) *Holmes (London) *Hooper (coachbuilder), Hooper *Jarvis of Wimbledon *Jensen Motors, Jensen *John Charles *Chalmer & Hoyer, Hoyal *Lancefield Coachworks, Lancefield * Martin Walter *Arthur Mulliner *H. J. Mulliner & Co. *Mulliner Park Ward *Mulliners (Birmingham) *Nu-Track *Optare *Park Ward *Harold Radford *Rippon Bros *Salmons and Son, Salmons *Swallow Sidecar Company, Swallow *Tickford *Thrupp & Maberly *

*Vince & Son *Walter Alexander Coachbuilders *Wesleys Newport Pagnell *William Vincent Ltd. (coachbuilders), Vincent of Reading *Windovers *Abbey (coachbuilder), Wingham Martin Walter *Wrightbus *James Young (coachbuilder), James Young

United States

*Alex Madjaric Body Works *Abbot-Downing Company, Abbot-Downing *Biddle and Smart (Amesbury) *Bohman & Schwartz * Brewster * Briggs *Brunn & Company, Brunn * Budd *Coachcraft *Darrin of Paris *Demarest *Derham Body Company, Derham *Dietrich Inc. *Harley Earl, Earl Automobile Works *Fisher Body, Fisher *Albert Fisher (Detroit) *Fleetwood Metal Body, Fleetwood *Holbrook Company, Holbrook *John B. Judkins Company, Judkins *KEM Motorworks *LeBaron Incorporated, LeBaron *Locke *Walter M Murphy Company, Murphy *Murray Corporation of America, Murray *Rollston#Rollson Inc, Rollson *Rollston *Rubay *Studebaker *Towson *Walker Body Company, Walker *Waterhouse Company, Waterhouse *Widman *Willoughby Company, Willoughby *Wilson Body Company, Wilson

Survivors of the unibody production-line system

*Coway *Jankel *Jubilee *MacNeillie *Overfinch *Wilcox *Woodall-Nicholson

Notes

References

External links

Coachbuild.com: Encyclopedia of worldwide Coachbuilders from past to presentEncyclopedia of American CoachbuildersGoldarths: The Fine Art of Coachbuilding
by Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erickson. Details Jacques Kellner and George Paulin involvement in the French Resistance. {{Authority control Coachbuilders,