Paul Bracq (born December 13, 1933,

Bordeaux, France Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

) is an automotive designer noted for his work at

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

, and

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

Career

Bracq's design career began in the studio of Philippe Charbonneaux, serving as his assistant in 1953 and 1954. During this period, the studio produced the designs for the French Presidential limousine built by

, a one-off

Pegaso Pegaso (, "Pegasus") was a Spanish manufacturer of trucks, buses, tractors, armored vehicles, and, for a while, to train apprentices, and have a good brand image, some sports cars. The parent company, Enasa, was created in 1946 and based in t ...

coupe, and other automobiles. Bracq served his mandatory military service from late 1954 through 1957. Subsequently, he worked for

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

, heading its design studio in

Sindelfingen Sindelfingen ( Swabian: ''Sendlfenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg in south Germany. It lies near Stuttgart at the headwaters of the Schwippe (a tributary of the river Würm), and is home to a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant. The current mayor ...

, a post he held for ten years. Upon joining the

styling department he created the distinct coupé and cabiolet variants of already designed W111 and W112 “Fintail” sedans. He also styled the Mercedes 600, 230SL ''Pagoda'' roadster, the W108/W109, W114/W115 series and its stablemate: the W114 coupé – all of the '60s. Upon his return to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1967, Bracq worked for

Brissonneau and Lotz Brissonneau et Lotz was a French locomotive engineering company that specialized in the production of railway locomotives and wagons. The company was also a supplier of rolling stock to the Paris Metro, constructing in 1951 the first metro trai ...

, where he worked on the design of the

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

high-speed passenger train led by Jacques Cooper. During this time, Bracq was also responsible for prototypes of a sports car based on the BMW 1600Ti and a coupé based on the

Simca 1100 The Simca 1100 is a series of France, French compact family cars – mainly C-segment hatchbacks, but also a Compact car, compact wagon and popular delivery vans – built for over 15 years by France, French car-maker Simca, from 1967 through ...

. In 1970, Bracq was appointed design director of

, where he succeeded Wilhelm Hofmeister ao. E9 series. Bracq was responsible for the initial designs of the BMW E12 5 Series, BMW E21 3 series, E24 6 series and the E23 7 Series. His 1973 "Turbo" concept car won "Concept Car of the Year" by the '' Revue Automobile Suisse'' that year; the car repeated the feat in 1992 in the Bagatelle

Concours d'Elegance Concours d'Elegance ( French: ''concours d'élégance'') is a term of French origin that means a "competition of elegance" and refers to an event where prestigious vehicles are displayed and judged. It dates back to 17th-century France, where a ...

. Bracq began with

in 1974, going on to design personal transportation for the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

and the interiors of the Peugeot 604 and the 505. He also worked on the 106, 205, 305 and 405 and runs a car restoration service (see external links) Bracq is also active as a judge in many automotive concours, including the

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is an annual automotive event held on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. It is widely considered the most prestigious car show in the world and it is the pinnacle ''Concours d'Elegance'' c ...

References

External links

Timeline of Paul Bracq's career
(archived)

an overview of automotive designers working for BMW (archived)
Paul Bracq's automotive restoration business
1933 births Living people People from Bordeaux French artists French automobile designers BMW designers {{Automobile-bio-stub