Panhard et Levassor X19 Labourdette Skiff-torpedo

Boat shaped bodies on cars were very popular before the Second World War, and this is the car that set the trend. It has what is known as a skiff body.

Boat shaped coachwork on cars was very popular before the Second World War, and this is the car that set the trend. It has a so called skiff body, built by Jean Henri Labourdette: "In 1912 I built my first skiff body on a Panhard Levassor chassis." In the 1970s the Louwman Museum acquired a neglected 1912 Panhard & Levassor and decided to reconstruct the skiff body on this chassis according to the original design. The work was to be carried out by a Dutch shipyard that still possessed the craftsmanship to build a hull from mahogany planks. It then turned out that Jean Henri Labourdette was still alive; by now he was in his eighties and in poor health, but he was more than willing to give advice. None of his creative skills had been lost, and especially when it came to fitting the bodywork he provided valuable support. Sadly, he did not live to see the final result. He died shortly before the car was completed.