Citroën Rosalie 15 “Speedster Jean Daninos”

August 30, 2023

A recreation of the 1933 Rosalie 15 “Speedster” originally conceived by Jean Daninos.

Mr. Jean Daninos, creator of the Facel Vega, was noticed by André Citroën and joined Quai de Javel in 1928. He was twenty-seven. A specialist in the construction of all-steel bodies, he worked in collaboration with Mr. Raoul Cuinet, Director of Bodywork Studies. He traveled several times to the United States to Budd and Chrysler as Citroën had a keen interest in purchasing Budd’s massive presses to stamp body sections for the upcoming Traction Avant.

It was on these occasions that Daninos immersed himself in the American Chrysler style and interpreted it on the 1932 Citroën C4 Roadster of which 300 were produced.

Responsible for special bodywork, he produced three personal Citroën prototypes, the last of which was a 1933 Rosalie Speedster inspired by Chrysler Imperial 8.

André Citroën refused his presentation in the Concours d’Elegance on the pretext that the company would not sell any more of their Rosale 15 Cabriolets production models.

Mr. Jean Daninos is purported to have used it as a personal vehicle until 1934. He then sold it, in his words ; “to someone who did not know what he was buying, would have demolished it by using it off-road to finally end up in the scrapyard…”. No trace of the oiginal car has been found since.

This re-creation by Alain Lassalle of that one and only car was carried out between September 2007 (the start of the study), and June 2019 for its presentation at the Celebration of the Citroën centenary at La ferté-Vidame.

Alain Lassalle’s career spans more than 40 years in the automotive industry as an engine architect at Citroën, after-sales then MATRA Automobile pre-projects and concept-car architect at D3 Pininfarina.

With the help of documents from Citroën and the Amicale Facel Vega, and the drawings of Jean Daninos, an all-steel prototype as would have been done by Jean Daninos was built on a Figoni chassis. Over 5,000 hours have been devoted to the project.

Reconstruction was based on these identification numbers from vehicles of 1933:

Rosalie 15A n° 651.888 du 01/03/1933 for Title
Rosalie 15A n° 650.716 de septembre 1933 For body
châssis 10U12 n°186811 du 14/12/1933 équivalent to 15

This Rosalie 15 Speedster is built on the 10U12 “ladder” chassis with 1.42 m of track and 3.15 m of wheelbase, identical to that of the 15. Its elongated bonnet and its “C6” body line characterize its style. The monocoque body is made entirely of steel and bolted to the frame. The openings are equipped with side windows missing from the original. Body parts 15 are modified, lengthened, deployed according to the drawings of Mr. Jean Daninos… The steel trunk is independent of the body and has an opening hood.

The original “Speedster” was probably powered by a 2.7-liter side-valve Rosalie 15. This reconstruction is powered by a rare Rosalie 15 “Bernard Lyon” 3.4 liter carburetor version.

It is a 4-seater “Speedster” upholstered in imitation leather under a mechanical hood with three hidden arches in its cache when opened.

It has been displayed at the following shows :