Шаппе и Жессален: История французской кузовостроительной компании

Chappe et Gessalin is the short form of the name of French coachbuilder "Carrosserie Chappe Frères et Gessalin". The company built automobile bodies and did contract assembly for other automobile manufacturers. It was also the parent of Automobiles CG, a French automobile maker founded in 1966 which built and sold complete cars under its own name.

The story of Chappe et Gessalin began in 1932, in the commune of Saint Maur des Fosses near Paris. In that year the Carrosserie Chappe was founded by Jean Chappe. Working with him were his three sons, Abel, Albert and Louis and an apprentice, Amédée Gessalin. The shop did bodywork in both wood and steel. The Second World War interrupted the company's activities for a time but they resumed at the end of hostilities. In 1946 Jean sold the carrosserie to his three sons. By that time Amédée was also a part of the family, having married the Chappe's eldest daughter Marie Louise. The brothers added his name to the masthead and the company became "Carrosserie Chappe Frères et Gessalin". On the death of Amédée his son Jean took his father's place in the company. The new company's work included commercial vehicles, a specialty being the construction of firetruck bodies on truck frames produced by Delahaye. They also carved out a niche doing more specialized work, such as bodywork in duralumin for Talbot and repairs on the Delahaye 135, 136 and Talbot T26 racing cars owned by Charles Pozzi, who would become a major dealer in Ferrari and Maserati cars.

Before his death Amédée Gessalin taught his son how to draw and plan vehicles. Jean, an admirer of great Parisian designers Chapron and Figoni, worked on honing his own skills by attending evening classes taught by these men. Another project that Chappe et Gessalin were involved with was the SCVS DB specials. These cars, given chassis numbers 1065 and 1066 by Renault, were initially a project of Renault dealers Jean Rédélé and Louis Pons. The cars were built by the small French firm of Deutsch Bonnet with aluminum bodywork by Chappe et Gessalin. Power came from a Renault 4CV engine. One of the cars appeared at Le Mans in 1953. In the early 1950s Chappe et Gessalin began experimenting with Fibre reinforced plastic, (specifically Fiberglass). Using resins and techniques imported from the United States they started producing lightweight automobile bodies for sportscars and racing cars from a succession of independent fabricators and small manufacturers. Deutsch Bonnet themselves became a client of Chappe et Gessalin, who started by providing plastic noses for DB's monomil single seaters and bodywork for other racers and would go on to build 200 copies of DB's "Le Mans" road car. Even when the founders of Deutsch Bonnet, René Bonnet and Charles Deutsch, ended their partnership in 1961 and established separate car companies (Automobiles René Bonnet and CD), they both continued to use lightweight fibreglass bodywork supplied by Chappe et Gessalin. René Bonnet went to them to develop bodywork for his new Djet. For Charles Deutsch Chappe et Gessalin produced the body of the Panhard powered racing CDs and built 160 of the Panhard CD road cars. The company also worked with less well known companies such as Camille Martin's UMAP (1957 1959) and Raymond Gaillard's Arista. Apart from the SCVS DB cars, throughout the 1950s Jean Rédélé was involved in several automotive projects, including several Rédélé Spéciales, the Marquis, PlastiCar, and others. Rédélé crossed paths with Chappe et Gessalin often and would in time become their most famous client of all. As a young man Jean Gessalin drew a small coupé based on Renault 4CV mechanicals as a design exercise for himself, which design he left behind while away performing his compulsory military service. On his return he discovered that his drawing has been turned into a car by his family. In 1960, just as production of the A106 ended, Chappe et Gessalin moved their operations to the commune of Brie Comte Robert, still near Paris. Eventually the A108 was in turn replaced by the A110, but this time Chappe et Gessalin would only be doing bodywork, upholstery and paintwork for the A110 GT4 2+2. Final assembly was done at the Alpine works in Dieppe, although the car carried CG badges on its flanks.

In the early 1960s, the staff at Chappe et Gessalin had grown to around 40 people. With Renault committed to Alpine and with Peugeot and Citroën (with Panhard) declining to participate, Automobiles CG turned to the Simca company and their pool of production mechanical components to supply its needs. Parts for the first CG came from a wrecked 1000 provided by Simca dealer Roger Civet. Since Jean Gessalin had designed what would become the very first Alpine, it was no surprise that the first CG bore a strong resemblance to its cousin from Dieppe, right down to the exposed hinges on the car. The car received positive reviews for its appearance and the high level of fit and finish, but drivers were unimpressed by the produced by the engine and the high price. CG later offered a high performance version of the same engine that had been tuned by Michel Tapie from Rodez with power boosted by 50 percent to
In 1972 the third and final major CG model entered production, the CG 1300. Power was now provided by the same engine found in the Simca 1000 Rallye 2. This model also received many upgrades to its body and trim.

Even though the first CG cars debuted in 1966, it was not until 1970 that an official emblem was designed for them. The image was based on the "Coq Gaulois" (the Gallic Cockerel). While "Coq Gaulois" and "Chappe et Gessalin" shared a common monogram, the image was also related to the company's address in Brie Comte Robert, which was on the "Rue du Coq Gaulois". The designer of the emblem was Albert Uderzo, who is primarily known as the artist responsible for the Astérix comic series.

The CG 1000 Spyder was unveiled at the 1966 Salon de l'Auto in Paris. The compact convertible had a fiberglass body mounted on a steel chassis with a deep "U" centre backbone and tube and sheetmetal outriggers. The chassis was designed by CG. Power came from a 944 cc inline 4 cylinder Simca Poissy engine. This motor had a cross flow aluminum cylinder head and a cast iron block with 5 main bearings. It was mounted in the rear of the car, canted over at 15 degrees from vertical and drove the wheels through a 4 speed transaxle that used Porsche style synchronizers.

CG type A1000 (fewer than 30 units)CG type B1200 (about 280 units)CG type C1300 (95 units) Spider 1000 Sport 1000 Sport 1000/1000 S Coupé and Spider 1200 S Coupé and Spider 1200 S 1970 model Coupé "548" Coupé 1300 Coupé 1300 95 hp Displacement 944 cc 944 cc 1118 cc 1204 cc 1204 cc 1204 cc 1294 cc 1294 cc Bore x stroke (mm) 68 x 65 68 x 65 74 x 65 74 x 70 74 x 70 74 x 70 76.7 x 70 76.7 x 70 Power @ 5400 rpm @ 5400 rpm @ 5600 rpm @ 6000 rpm @ 6200 rpm @ 6200 rpm @ 6000 rpm @ 6400 rpm Torque @ 3400 rpm @ 3400 rpm @ 3600 rpm @ 4500 rpm @ 4500 rpm @ 4400 rpm @ 4560 rpm Weight Top speed Standing Kilometre 37.0 s 35.6 s 31.5 s 31.3 s 27.0 s 31.5 s 30.5 s Price (year) 16 900 F (1967) 14 990 F (1967) 18 990 F (1968) 21 480/21 980 F (1968) 22 726/23 255 F (1970) 35 000 F (1971) 27 500 F (1973) 30 232 F (1973)