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Topic starter
23/05/2024 6:09 pm
Do I have your attention? Well, any day now the Perfex 1:43 model of the 1938 Hotchkiss by Chapron will appear on my doorstep. So here’s how a car came onto the 1940s scene to promote the scandalous bikini…
(Sourced from the internet) Louis Réard is considered the inventor of the bikini, which he presented to the public on July 5, 1946. His slogan was "Smaller than the smallest swimming costume in the world.” His competitor Jacques Heim had presented the smallest swimming costume shortly before - in May 1946 - and called it "Atome.” At the time, nuclear tests were being carried out by the French on the Bikini Atoll. To counter his competitor Heim, Réard quickly named his invention 'Bikini'.
To promote the bikini, Réard commissioned coach builder Henri Chapron to construct an eye-catching advertising vehicle that looked like a street yacht. The design created by Chapron was absolutely stunning with a real bow, a boat cabin with portholes, and a stern deck with the mast of a boat where the mannequins showed the bikini to the public. Originally, this very special body was built by Chapron on the chassis of an 866 Hotchkiss, but the engine was not powerful enough for the heavy car. The Hotchkiss chassis was therefore replaced in 1950 by that of a 1937 Packard Super Eight.
Réard's bikini was controversial because it was the first swimming costume to reveal the belly button. In many countries, the bikini was even banned on beaches and in public places under penalty of law. It was only when film stars started wearing bikinis in films that they were slowly integrated into the beach culture.
23/05/2024 6:13 pm
Wow! Where did you find it, Randy?
John Kuvakas
Warrenton, VA
Jack Dodds and John Merritt reacted
23/05/2024 8:04 pm
A very cool automobile and model ! It certainly is a conversation-starter. The two 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests were actually American tests Able and Baker, done partially to test the nuclear effects on naval ships, formations and with animals standing in for human sailors.
23/05/2024 8:14 pm
Very cool.
John Merritt
South Lyon, Michigan - USA
Jack Dodds and John Kuvakas reacted
23/05/2024 9:15 pm
A very cool automobile and model ! It certainly is a conversation-starter. The two 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests were actually American tests Able and Baker, done partially to test the nuclear effects on naval ships, formations and with animals standing in for human sailors.
My late father, a career naval officer, witnessed at least one of those tests and later boarded the damaged ships to inspect the result. Minimal if any radiation protection but he lived to tell about it to age 93!
John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
Topic starter
24/05/2024 6:29 am
@jkuvakas Momaco.fr is a French website with all sorts of oddball goodies. I bought mine from a French seller who has access to their supply.
24/05/2024 4:44 pm
Love the car and the story Randy. Thanks for sharing.
Randy Rusk and John Kuvakas reacted
25/05/2024 12:18 am
Reard source from Wikipedia
" As a further booster for sales, Réard commissioned carbody specialist Henri Chapron to build an extravagant "road yacht" by converting a Packard V8 car into a mock luxury cabin cruiser complete with cockpit, portholes, anchor, signal mast and other nautical regalia. The car went on advertising parades and followed the Tour de France cycliste in the early 1950s, with a crew of bikini clad girls, causing quite a sensation in period parochial France.[18] ".
