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| The carrossier, Henri Chapron who before the war had built custom made bodies for marques such as Talbot-Lago, Delage and Delahaye turned his attention to Citroën. In 1955, he was commissioned to build a Décapotable for the French President based on a 15 CV Traction. | |||||||
| La Croisette Cabriolet | |||||||
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In
1958, he turned his attention to the DS, the first fruits of his endeavours
being the la Croisette Cabriolet.
This car is noticeable for employing the rear wings of the Berline and for covering the join between the wing and what would be the rear door of the Berline with an hideous vertical chrome strip. |
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| This conversion was undertaken without the approval of Citroën and Chapron was obliged to purchase complete cars rather than chassis and engines. | ![]() |
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| The la Croisette of 1959 also used the berline's rear wings but the join was covered by a far more elegant, angled chromed strip than hitherto. | The la Croisette of 1960 used a new, one piece rear wing which was also used in the Usine cabriolet. In fact its likeness to the Usine car meant that the La Croisette was dropped in 1962. | ||||||
| However,
public demand was so great that Citroën asked Chapron to build a cabriolet
based on Bertoni's design proposals.
The result was the Usine Cabriolet right and was included within the official range and sold through the Citroën dealer network. |
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| Concorde Coupé | |||||||
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Chapron meanwhile continued to offer his own variations on the DS theme - the Concorde Coupé above left and left was also available with a raised roof line above right. | ||||||
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| Le Dandy Coupé | |||||||
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| Above left, above right and right - the Le Dandy Coupé. | ![]() |
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| Le Caddy Décapotable | ![]() |
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| Right - Henri Chapron alongside a Le Caddy at the 1960 Paris Salon. | |||||||
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The Le Caddy received new rear wings in 1965. | ||||||
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