The French make Peugeot pioneered the retractable hardtop in the early 1930 ties by selling Éclipse bodies, made by coachbuilder Marcel Pourtout, on their 301 and 601 chassis. The concept of the Peugeot 402 Éclipse was also based on Georges Paulin’s patent. But this model, introduced in October 1935, was built in Peugeot’s own factory. Between 1936 and 1940 some 580 units were produced.
In the next three weeks, Gijsbert Paul Berk will detail the lives of three important Frenchman who had a tremendous influence on automobile design: Georges Paulin, Marcel Pourtout and Emile Darl’mat, the three Musketeers. Much of their combined work evolved around the development of the disappearing hardtop as conceived by Georges Paulin. To give us a further insight into how clever kinematics conquered the auto industry, Gijsbert-Paul sent us this history.
By Gijsbert-Paul Berk
In the previous decades nearly all the major car manufacturers have introduced retractable hardtops in their popular or premium convertible models.
Opel had them on the Tigra TwinTop, Ford on their Fiesta and Focus models, Renault provided a glass paneled ‘see through’ hard top on the Megane CC, Volvo on the C 70 and BMW on the type 4 cabriolet. There even exist Ferrari California and Ferrari 458 Italia Spider versions with a retractable top. [Read more…] about Top Acrobatics: The Saga of the Disappearing Hardtop