Georges Paulin

Georges Paulin (; 20 May 1902 - 21 March 1942) was a French Jewish dentist, automobile designer and coachwork stylist. He died a hero of the French Resistance during World War II.

Born 1902 in a working class section of Paris, Paulin was a pioneer of aerodynamic design and coachbuilding, with his most notable innovation being the world's first production retractable hardtop system, which he dubbed 'Eclipse'.

With support and collaboration of a friend who was a mechanical engineer, Paulin made his idea known, and applied for a patent in 1931, and despite the expenses and complexities of the French patent system, received patent number 733.380 on 5 July 1932. Being manually operated, the simple top could be manipulated, to raise or lower, by one man.

When Pourtout got an order in 1933, to build a custom coach on a Hotchkiss Coupé chassis, he saw the first opportunity to apply Paulin's Eclipse roof system. Until World War II, Paulin and Carrosserie Pourtout produced Eclipse versions of the Peugeot 301, 401, 601, 302 and 402, the Lancia Belna, and models from Hotchkiss and Panhard.

Richard Adatto, author of a book on French aerodynamic styling of the era, wrote:

"Paulin became the leading French stylist of the time... Everything he touched was designed with aerodynamics in mind. He was very conscious of fuel efficiencies and the aerodynamic efficiencies that could be created by the lines of the car. You could go faster, which meant you could put a smaller engine in the car and it could go faster even though it was a small car." and the Comet Competition.

Additionally, he designed one of the most significant pre-war Derby Bentleys, the Embiricos Bentley B27LE,

He was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance by the French government.