LeBaron Incorporated (originally LeBaron, Carrossiers Inc.) was an American design business from 1920 and also a

coachbuilder 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 ...

from 1924 until 1953. LeBaron was one of the many prominent coachbuilders in the 1920s to provide bodies for luxury cars. Until World War II most of the great prestige automakers like

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 ...

Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Th ...

would readily supply only a running chassis which wealthy buyers would have fitted with custom bodywork. Automakers like

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 ...

and

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

only supplied a running chassis. LeBaron Incorporated eventually became part of

Chrysler Corporation Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...

LeBaron, Carrossiers Inc

LeBaron, Carrossiers Inc. free-lance design consultants was founded in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1920 by American designers Raymond H. Dietrich (1894-1980) and Thomas L. Hibbard (1898-1982) who had met while working for Brewster & Co. Dietrich and Hibbard remained among the Brewster personnel so they invented a new name ''LeBaron, Carrossiers'' from a list of French words that could be easily pronounced but still sounded impressive. Within twelve months Brewster learned what they were doing and ended their Brewster & Co business relationship. They found more work and Hibbard offered the LeBaron administrative jobs to his friend, Ralph Roberts, who had just gotten his Bachelor of Science degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. Most design work came to LeBaron through dealers.

Hibbard & Darrin

Hibbard met fellow designer, Howard A. "Dutch" Darrin (1897-1982) in 1923. Hibbard and Darrin decided to go to Paris, initially to try to sell LeBaron designs where manufacturing costs were lower but once in view of the opportunities decided to set up their own business in Paris and founded

Hibbard & Darrin Carrosserie Hibbard et Darrin was a French coachbuilder which operated from 12 Rue de Berri, 75008, Paris, just off the Champs-Élysées. Owned by two Americans, Hibbard and Darrin it built bodies for the most luxurious chassis. Hibbard and Dietric ...

. Hibbard resigned from LeBaron in 1923.

LeBaron Inc.

Dietrich and Roberts continued operating LeBaron with a new illustrator, veteran

Roland L. Stickney Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

. LeBaron took over the Blue Ribbon and Bridgeport Body companies thus becoming body builders as well as designers and changed name to LeBaron Inc.

Dietrich Inc.

Dietrich received a lucrative offer from Murray Corporation, one of Ford's and Lincoln's main body builders, in 1925 and resigned from LeBaron to start Dietrich, Inc. With both founders gone, LeBaron could have been in trouble. But Roberts continued to run the company and orders kept coming in. Walter O. Briggs began talks with Roberts in 1926 to buy LeBaron and move it to Detroit, setting up operations at Mack Avenue Stamping (Old Mack Factory).History of Mack Avenue factories
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Briggs Manufacturing

LeBaron was purchased by

Briggs Manufacturing Company Briggs Manufacturing was an American, Detroit-based manufacturer of automobile bodies for Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and other U.S. and European automobile manufacturers. In 1953 it was bought by Chrysler Corporation without its fo ...

of Detroit in 1926 and operated as a subsidiary. Briggs was already supplying bodies to nearby

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, Ford, Hudson, and Overland. As a Briggs subsidiary, LeBaron handled special custom work, provided design ideas for the main business, and supplied exquisite custom bodies for various car companies such as

's luxury

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

line,

, and

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...

. In 1932, for example, they built 28 Imperial Custom Convertible Coupes, Chrysler's top model, which rode a 146-inch wheelbase and used a 384.8 cubic-inch straight-8 engine. Thomas L. Hibbard became design director at Ford in 1947. Raymond H. Dietrich was hired by Chrysler in 1932 to become the first official Chrysler stylist. Briggs Manufacturing was purchased by Chrysler in December 1953.

Gallery

Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A S LeBaron Boattail Roadster.jpg, Isotta Fraschini 1928 Duesenberg 1929 at Gilmore Car Museum 2011-11-11 02-54-52.jpg, Duesenberg 1929 1931 Pierce-Arrow by LeBaron.jpg, Pierce-Arrow 1931 Marmon 16 Cylinder - Flickr - Stradablog.jpg, Marmon 1932 1932 Chrysler Imperial.jpg, Chrysler Imperial CH 1932 1936 Packard Custom Convertible Victoria - LeBaron - fvl.jpg, Packard 1936 1938 Lincoln K V-12 LeBaron Convertible Sedan - fvl.jpg, Lincoln 1938 1941 Packard 180 LeBaron Limousine - Silver French Gray Metallic Duco & Barola Blue Metallic Duco - fvl.jpg, Packard 1941 1941 Packard 180 LeBaron Sport Brougham - fvr.jpg, Packard 1941 1941 Newport.jpg, Chrysler Newport 1941 1941 Chrysler LeBaron Thunderbolt - rvl.jpg, Chrysler Thunderbolt 1941

References

External links

{{Commons category, LeBaron Coachwork
Coachbuilt: Briggs Manufacturing Co. - 1909-1954Conceptcarz: Chrysler LeBaron news
Coachbuilders of the United States Design companies established in 1920 Defunct companies based in Connecticut Companies disestablished in 1953 Companies based in Bridgeport, Connecticut 1920 establishments in New York City 1953 disestablishments in Connecticut Chrysler