History Pre-Streamline Art Deco coachwork

1935 Derby Bentley, Park Ward Saloon. Weez' comments resonate with me. There are classic remnants here, however speed has become the dominant focus in Park Ward saloon styling here.

 

Something else I'd done:

I'd developed the basic concept before 1980, but have been redrawing it with various changes at intervals ever since. Here it is based on an MG.

 

I live on the HAMB and just found this thread! You guys really impress me with all the info on this topic. Now for some observations and questions. This Coupe on a Bugatti GP chassis no longer exists.................the owner converted it back to a standard GP body. Criminal? "It's his car to do with as he pleases", personally I'd like to find the Coupe body. Bob

 

Is this the former Ken Purdy Type 50, that was later part of the Bill Harrah collection? The current paintwork looks very nice. Bob

 

I wonder if this is the same Type 46 I worked on back in the late 1970's? At that time the body was rather rough, needed to be rewooded. The steel body had the belt moulding cut about two inches away, was chrome plated and welded back on. It looked fairly good when it arrived and the owner at the time was happy to just leave it alone. Bob

 

Like the lovely black 4½ SC Bentley fhc that was rebodied as just another Le Mans replica. More ambiguous is the "Xenia" Hispano: personally I prefer the original four-door body.

 

Any speculations on who the coachbuilder was on this one?

 

A quick image search reveals D'Ieteren of Brussels.

 

This one spent its entire life in holland until about 6 years ago. It did recently sell in the us

 

Great thread keep it going.

 

1932 Marmon V12 prototype

 

Art Deco is definately and inerpretation of Streamling, areodynamics, speed lines, and etc. To me the first time I saw the Phantom Corsair at Harrah's Collection in the 70's, that about did it for me. That thing is Art Deco personified!!

 

This car was restored by my old mentor Don Chapman. He is a outstanding body man and painter. Great company show car Doug the owner, was lucky too use this master.

 

The production Marmons weren't too shabby, either....

 

I'm looking for the "geometric" Deco that preceded the "streamline" kind in this thread. At first sight the Phantom Corsair doesn't qualify: but look at some of the details. The stacked-blade bumpers, the shape of the side windows, the headlights (faired Woodlites?), the licence-plate display-cabinet are all just the thing.

I also saw it at Harrah's in 1975, when I was 12. Who knows, perhaps we were there on the same day

 

Maybe! That had quite an effect on me. I must have studied and photographed it for an hour! The more you look at it, the more details you see.

 

Cord never owned the tooling. They were broke, and the Budd company built the tooling, and leased it to Cord, building the bodies in Detroit, and shipping them to Indiana. When ACD went belly up, they designed a new front end for it, and sold the bodies to Hupp. When Hupp went belly up, the did it again with Graham. One of the reasons Hupps and Grahams are so rare is the bodies were used to restore Cords in the 50s and 60s

 

Here's one I stumbled across to get Dawie's creative juices flowing - 1931 Alfa Romeo 1750 GT Compressore (supercharged) by Touring. Can't "borrow" the photos but here is the link. This is glorious....

www.cristianoluzzago.it/en/cars-inv...2-alfa-romeo-1750-gt-compressore-touring.html

 

Thanks Guido

Where there's a will there's a way:

I love the wooden sections in the bumpers.

 

In your case the ZA seems appropriate....

 

One company that did go in for the geometric style was the M P Moller company of Hagerstown Maryland. They made the Dagmar car in the twenties.

Some information on the company

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/moller_mp/moller_mp.htm

There were some "cubist" cars made in Europe in the twenties but I don't have any pictures. All cars were kind of cubist back then anyway.

 

Le Corbusier and his cubist Voisin Lumineuse, the Laboratoire race car and other cubist, art deco or art moderne styles by Voisin

http://simanaitissays.com/2013/01/28/les-autos-voisin/

 

I'd tend to characterize this as strangely Art-Nouveau, despite the rectilinearity. There is something C.R. Mackintosh about it. I've always liked that car, with its "military" fender treatment.

 

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Reminds me of the 1923 Mercedes 28/95 Targa Florio from the Petersen collection (formerly Don Ricardo Collection). Here are some pics I took of it prior to it's current maroon paint job...










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Have you any idea of the coachbuilder? The style is, I think, more American than German.

 

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Not sure of the designer but the car was commissioned by the American Mercedes Company.
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The Czech(oslovak) Wikov factory didn't make a lot of cars, it was specialized mainly for the agricultural devices. But some designs were quite interesting.
http://www.amcars.cz/?page=iAuto/1932Wikov40

 

And a Wikov "Kapka" (drop) I know this is streamlined, but it kinda doesn't fit the typical 30s streamlined design and the rear windows are a very interesting detail.

 

I like this one. I'd be interested to see it in colour. I think the contrasting edging make an otherwise rather German fender design something else entirely, together with the Ruxton-like beltline treatment.

Interesting bit of 19th-century eclecticism in the background, too.

Here is another Wikov, with a Bentleyesque dhc body:


Cool!:

 

Another like the first above:


Streamlined but not "Streamline", somehow: