George Paulin: The Tragic Fate of a Boy Who Loved Drawing Cars

Georges Paulin was born in 1902 in Paris. As a child, he was passionate about drawing, a passion he had to abandon after his mother's death following the German bombing of Paris during World War I (1914-18).

He began working as a dental technician and resumed his studies with the aim of becoming a dentist.

However, his true passion remained drawing, particularly automobile design, although he was also capable of designing furniture, lamps, or jewellery. He invented mechanisms that soon allowed him to fully dedicate himself to his passion.

Among these mechanisms was a retractable roof that transformed a metal-roofed coupe into a convertible. Patented in 1931, this system, named "Eclipse," allowed the roof to disappear into the trunk thanks to a linkage system with elastic cords.

This coupe/convertible principle would reappear years later with the Mercedes SLK of 1996, or the Peugeot 206, 307, and 308 CC (Coupé Cabriolet) from the late 1990s and early 21st century, or in the Renault Mégane II CC of 2003.

Paulin created several models to showcase his invention and in 1933 partnered with coachbuilder Pourtout, with whom he produced a four-door Hotchkiss. A year later, this system was applied to the Panhard and Lancia Belna models, before Peugeot showed interest and incorporated it into their 401 and 601 models.

In 1933, Émile Darl'Mat, a Peugeot dealer in Paris, introduced Georges Paulin to coachbuilder Marcel Pourtout. This marked the beginning of a collaboration between the three that would gain international recognition mainly from 1937. At that time, the lion brand did not have its own racing department, and its representation in races was in the hands of a few private teams. Among them was Darl'Mat, who entered three cars in the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans, built on a modified 302 chassis, with roadster-style bodies and a modified 402 engine.

Named Darl'Mat "Special Sport," the three teams finished in 7th, 8th, and 10th place overall. And 2nd and 3rd in their class. A year later, the trio repeated their success, and Contet/De Cortanze achieved a commendable fifth place overall and first in their category with the 402 DS Darl'Mat. These results gave the Parisian distributor the idea to market a small series of 402 Darl'Mat that would be sold as roadsters, convertibles, or coupes.

The coachbuilder Pourtout and his designer Paulin would not only work on Peugeot chassis. Based on the Renault Primaquatre, they produced a small series of convertibles, coupes, and even coaches.

And at the 1937 Paris Motor Show, a Delage D8-120 Sport with a spectacular aerodynamic body designed by Georges Paulin was presented to the public. It was a hand-moulded aluminium body with steel fins, an example of pure elegance, bearing Paulin's signature.

The front featured a long bonnet with rows of ventilation grilles to cool the powerful inline eight-cylinder engine, topped by a uniquely designed radiator inclined backwards. On either side were the headlights, nestled between the spectacular teardrop-shaped front fenders. This car continues to amaze and captivate with its balance and beauty almost ninety years after its creation.

In 1937, banker André Embiricos commissioned Pourtout and Paulin to body a Bentley 4 1/2 Litre chassis he had just acquired. The result was an exceptionally aerodynamic car with high-level performance. A very light body and the engine, with power increased to over 140 hp, allowed it to reach nearly 200 km/h. It was a genuine success that generated great interest in the international press. Unfortunately, war was looming, and the planned participation in the 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans did not materialise. Subsequently, the car would be driven by its new owner, Soltan Hay, in the three post-war editions. Its best result was a commendable sixth place in 1949.

Its success inspired Bentley to commission a unique four-door Mark V with a similar aerodynamic style. A prototype chassis of the Mark V (14BV) was sent to France, where Bentley designer Ivan Evernden collaborated with Paulin in the Parisian workshops of Carosserie Vanvooren. The car, named "Corniche," was intended to be presented at the 1939 London Motor Show alongside other coachbuilders' proposals for the Mark V chassis.

But in August 1939, test driver Percy Rose had an accident in France, damaging the bodywork. With the outbreak of war in September 1939, the London Motor Show was cancelled, halting work on all versions of the Mark V. Meanwhile, the repaired body of the Corniche had been taken to Dieppe for shipment back to the UK, but it was destroyed during the bombing of the docks.

Historian Ken Lea and volunteers from the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation initiated a project to recreate the Corniche, which was finally carried out internally in February 2018 and completed in time for the centenary celebrations. Using the original technical drawings, the Mulliner team in Crewe rebuilt this unique Corniche with mechanical components from the Mark V and a completely new body and interior, identical in every detail to the original. It is finished in the period Imperial Maroon colour with a side stripe in Mottled Grey, while the interior was upholstered in the Vanvooren style with the original Connolly Vaumol leather and West of England cloth.

After losing a lawsuit against Peugeot over issues with the use of his retractable roof patent, Paulin accepted an offer from Rolls-Royce as a consulting engineer in late 1939. But in May 1940, the Germans invaded France, and Georges Paulin's fate was about to change dramatically.

He joined an intelligence network called Phill. His mission was to provide information about the Luftwaffe, allowing the British Royal Air Force, the RAF, to bomb, among other strategic facilities, the Renault factories occupied by the Germans. To cover his activities in the Resistance, Paulin resumed his work as a dentist. Among his patients were several German officers, as well as a French policeman who suspected him. But it was the denunciation of an acquaintance that led to his arrest by the French Gestapo.

Arrested and tortured for several months, he was finally executed by firing squad in March 1942: to keep him standing, they had to plaster his torso and neck. Thus tragically ended the life of that boy who loved to draw and who today is part of the history of great automobile designers.