Portrait of Paul Magès in Ramatuelle, "the Professor" and "saviour of De Gaulle"

In this document

This is an article from the local newspaper Ramatuelle, bearing the handwritten date "Thursday 29 June 1989" p. 1, dedicated to Paul Magès, then retired in Pampelonne.

Portrait of the man

The article describes him as "physically small and thin", observing "his interlocutors attentively with his grey eyes" with "a slight smile despite his reserved attitude" p. 1. He lives surrounded by his wife, "holder of the gold medal of the French family" p. 1.

Municipal life in Ramatuelle

The text specifies that he was elected municipal councillor and then re-elected "with an overwhelming majority", becoming deputy mayor "in charge, among other things, of major works and especially sanitation problems" p. 1. He is also described as a "faithful administrator of the 'La Fleur de l'âge ramatuelloise' club" p. 1.

Career at Citroën

The article traces a career path: former student of the Arts et Métiers in Marseille, "simple draughtsman" then engineer, he worked "on the braking system, the suspension, and finally on hydraulics" p. 1. He is presented there as the designer of "a variable suspension, soft at low speed, hard at high speed and adjustable" p. 1, then of a height correction system using an electric switch acting on an electromagnet and a hydraulic distributor, applied to a "traction" p. 1. The article then links this invention to the DS, "the car of the Vth Republic" p. 1, and to the episode of the Petit-Clamart attack, where the system allegedly allowed the car to be controlled "despite two flat tyres" "at over 100 km/h" p. 1.

The text, signed "R. and D. A.", concludes by suggesting that Magès, already "holder of the Order of Merit", would deserve the Legion of Honour p. 1. The article is illustrated with a photograph credited "(Photo D.A.)" with the caption "Mr. Paul Mages, 'the professor'..." p. 1. At the bottom of the page is an unrelated local box, entitled "POWER CUT" p. 1.

Context

This presence of Magès in Ramatuelle and his involvement in local municipal life can be explained by his retirement from Citroën, taken in September 1974 after a 49-year career (Photographs of Paul Magès' retirement (1974)), which led him to settle in the Var, where he became a municipal councillor in 1977 then 2nd deputy mayor in 1983 (Ramatuelle Municipal Council (1983): Paul Magès, 2nd Deputy Mayor), and where he was nicknamed "the Professor" (portrait of Paul Magès in Ramatuelle).

The connection between the hydropneumatic suspension designed by Magès and the Petit-Clamart attack (22 August 1962) is an anecdote widely repeated in the history of Citroën and the DS: General de Gaulle's car, riddled with bullets, was able to continue driving thanks to the stability provided by this system, although accounts vary on the exact technical details. The magazine Auto Plus, cited in the article of 19 April 1989, had apparently devoted an article to this same episode, although the content of this is not known here.

Archivist's perspective

This local press portrait, published a few years after Magès's active professional death, illustrates how his public image was built around two figures: the discreet engineer "the Professor" and the indirect hero of the rescue of De Gaulle. It seems that this article contributed, as the national press would do upon his death on 22 September 1999, to crystallising this legend of the Petit-Clamart, which is found developed in the obituary article "Paul Magès is no more".

The human portrait — municipal life, family surroundings — also provides a rare insight, outside the strictly technical framework, into the final years of Magès in Ramatuelle p. 1.