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By Gijsbert-Paul Berk
From the VeloceToday Archives, April 2014
Since the mid-thirties, when he had developed the body of the Dynamic, Bionier had been interested in aerodynamics. He loved to watch birds in the air and fish in aquaria. Their movements and shapes fascinated him. During the war years he had studied and even made some scale models to determine how the postwar Panhards should look.
‘Like in an airplane.. the Dyna will make you free from the harshness of the ground and its resonances’ is a free translation of the text in this Panhard publicity folder.
By Gijsbert-Paul Berk
From the VeloceToday Archives, March 2014
In Part 1 of his look at Panhard’s remarkable Louis Bionier, Gijsbert-Paul Berk described how Bionier designed the Panoramic and Dynamic Panhards in the 1930s. In Part 2, we learn how the post-war Dyna X was developed.
Was the Panhard Dyna an automotive cuckoo’s egg?
There are some mysteries concerning the origin of the postwar Panhard Dyna. Was it designed by Jean-Albert Grégoire (as some French experts claim on Wikipedia) or by the duo Louis Delagarde, Louis Bionier at Panhard & Levassor? The story of the gestation of this interesting car was extensively described in the review by Peter Vack of the book ‘Panhard, the flat twin cars 1945-1967’ by David Beare on VeloceToday of 8 August 2013 but if you want to refresh your memory we must take you back to the prewar years.
Panhard-Dynamic by artist Alexis Kow.
From the VeloceToday Archives, March 2014
Who is Louis Bionier? Gijsbert-Paul Berk explains the great French engineer
It is well known that Panhard et Levassor, founded in 1886, was one of the French pioneers as manufacturers of automobiles. Panhard et Levassor constructed their first ‘motorcar’ in 1891. Many are familiar with the names of the great designers that shaped the coachwork of French automobiles in the years before and just after WWII. Still, it would not be surprising if only a few can place Louis Bionier and his work.
Panhard-Dynamic by artist Alexis Kow.
Who is Louis Bionier? Gijsbert-Paul Berk explains the great French engineer
It is well known that Panhard et Levassor, founded in 1886, was one of the French pioneers as manufacturers of automobiles. Panhard et Levassor constructed their first ‘motorcar’ in 1891. Many are familiar with the names of the great designers that shaped the coachwork of French automobiles in the years before and just after WWII. Still, it would not be surprising if only a few can place Louis Bionier and his work. [Read more…] about Louis Bionier, French Designer Part 1