HENRI CHAPRON’s history

Henri Chapron was an artist, a man of honor, a perfectionist who only lived for the constant improvement of his work, which he started in 1919 on Ford Ts left on the French soil by the American Army at the end of the First World War. He was lucky to be married to two grand, noble and supporting women who have both helped him fulfill his dream. His business survived the economic depression, the Second World War, and the difficult economic conditions the French firms had to face after the war. Proud artist, Henri stood up for what he believed in. The automation of the automobile industry, the tighter technical requirements, the tighter competition he had to face, the lack of cooperation from the Big 3 French automobile firms did not help much his business the second part of the XX ème century. His second wife, Françoise, gave up her career to come and help Henri continue his dream with his business in 1968. Despite the economic crises, the economic conditions making it very hard for small businesses to survive, especially in a sector of the economy so labor intensive, she was able to find the necessary funding, new prospects, to keep the business alive, for almost 20 years.

Now, his widow is dedicating the rest of her life to keep Henri’s name alive and respected. We are ready and open to suggestions to help the people who would like to contribute as well. In order to do so, we are licensing the name, authorizing only the best coachbuilders to build a car carrying Henri Chapron’s name. In order to follow the tradition, we decided to give a number to each work done. So far, Vincent Crescia is the only one to have built, under licence, a third SM Presidential style carrying the Chapron number 7659. Vincent does beautiful work, and we could not think of anyone more qualified to perpetuate Henri Chapron’s work on a Citroën base car. You can visit Vincent’s website if you are interested in having your Citroën restored or having an Henri Chapron’s model built under licence agreement.