It was extremely unusual for car manufacturers to exhibit “concept” or show cars in the 1930s, so the appearance of this astonishing looking Peugeot four-door sedan at the 1936 Paris Salon caused a stir. It was presented as a vision of the family sedan of the near-future-1940 was the target-a risky strategy since it implied that […]

This car is the ultimate manifestation of speed as envisioned at the height of Nazi power in Germany. The monstrous six-wheeler was a pet project of racing driver Hans Stuck, who wanted Germany to assert its engineering supremacy by grabbing the world land speed record. Stuck had the ear of Adolf Hitler, who eagerly gave the

Traditionally associated with high-priced luxury, the Ford-owned Lincoln marque offered buyers its least-expensive model to date with the 1936 Zephyr. Featuring Lincoln’s first unibody construction-in all-steel-and powered by a new V12 engine, the Zephyr thrilled with its daring, sleek design. Launched at the 1936 New York Auto Show, the Zephyr became one of the marque’s

The beginnings of the best-selling single car design ever-21,529,464 were bought by the time manufacture ended in 2003-go further back than September 1939, when the car in its final form was revealed. The German “people’s car” (volkswagen) project was first announced at the Berlin motor show in 1934, after the Nazi government-backed German Automobile Industry Association officially

Wilhelm Maybach partnered Gottlieb Daimler in designing some of the very earliest cars, but in 1907 he went into business with Daimler’s son Karl. Their speciality was building engines for Count Zeppelin’s airships. After the Treaty of Versailles (which banned German companies from making aero engines), Karl turned to producing car engines. Maybach DS8 Zeppelin 1931 Customers

Even when Fiat tackled the low-price end of the car scale, it was incapable of building anything that didn’t exude character, verve, and speed “potential.” Italian printer and amateur racing driver Raffaele Cecchini, however, went further than most, to wring maximum performance from the Fiat 500, the 1936 car Italians nicknamed “Il Topolino” (little mouse). Fiat

Traction Avant is the French for “front-wheel drive,” one of the many innovations first introduced by Citroën on this charismatic and long-running car range. When first seen as the Citroën 7A in 1934, the four-door sedan was very modern. Citroën Traction Avant 1934 Its low-slung appearance came from having the entire drivetrain mounted ahead of the

These days, with rigorous prototype testing and computer-aided manufacturing, we take our cars’ reliability for granted. Carmakers have every confidence their products will last. It was very different in the early 1930s, when human error meant that few cars-and roads-could be entirely depended upon. In this environment, Citroën decided to prove the longevity of its products.

The Airflow today resembles a seminal example of motorized Art Deco. It was an extremely adventurous car for Chrysler but, sadly, a disaster in sales terms. Company founder Walter Chrysler had great faith in a team of consultant engineers nicknamed the “Three Musketeers” Carl Breer, Fred Zeder, and Owen Skelton. It was Breer’s fascination with aerodynamics that

Bluebird was not one single vehicle but a long series of cars and motor boats used to challenge world speed records. The 350bhp Sunbeam was just one of the early models. Bluebird was the “lucky” name of Sir Malcolm Campbell (and later of his record-breaking son, Donald), the descendant of a wealthy London diamond-dealing family who began