302 GB

Paul Bracq is a French automotive designer and artist highly noted for his automotive designs for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Citroën and Peugeot. Bracq’s design career started in the studio of Philippe Charbonneaux, where he produced designs for the Citroën French Presidential limousine. Subsequently he worked in 1957 for the Daimler-Benz Advanced Design studio (Sindelfingen) and from 1967 for Brissonneau et Lotz (France), where he worked on the interior designs of the TGV high-speed passenger train. In 1970 he became design director of BMW (Germany) and in 1974 joined Peugeot (France) where he oversaw interior design and designed personal transportation for the Pope. Bracq also designed the Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman, arguably one of the finest automobiles ever built, and the famous Mercedes-Benz 230 SL (W113). However, Bracq is even more well known as an artist and his illustrations, paintings and sculptures have been displayed in museums all over the world, including the Louwman Museum. This hyperrealist painting of a 1955 Jaguar D-Type ‘Long-nose’ Sports- Racing Two Seater could almost be mistaken for a photograph. The XKD 504, with original Edinburgh registration RSF 302 issued in January 1958, has been owned and raced by a highly respected list of former owners with a wonderful provenance. Malcolm Sayer designed the body for Sir William Lyons of the Jaguar Car Company, with the sole aim of winning the Le Mans 24-Hours. Between 1955 - 1957 it achieved a historic hat-trick of victories at the Le Mans 24-Hours.