One of the fascinating aspects of the classic car world is becoming obsessed with unearthing additional history on characters who are known primarily for one thing.
Take Henri Chapron. He is a household name (well, in my household anyway), but ask most enthusiasts what he did beyond his hand-built and highly desirable DS Décapotable and pretty soon they fall silent.
They might know a bit more than that – more than likely his SM Présidential, Opéra and Mylord for example – but that is still just the tip of the iceberg.
By the time these cars came out – and the CXs that the Chapron company produced after Le Patron's death – the vast majority of his career was already behind him.
This encapsulated restrained yet classy coachwork for all the great Continental pre-war marques including Hispano-Suiza, Talbot-Lago, Delage and Delahaye.
One of the beauties of Rétromobile is that it is precisely the sort of place where fascinating nuggets of Chapron history turn up around every corner and, as you walk the halls, you soon find a 'theme' developing.
Inevitably, on Lukas Hüni's huge homage to the DS, there was a Concorde, a notchback DS curiosity in a dreadful state (the fascinating story of which will be told elsewhere!).
