In the 1930s, the streamlining design movement emerged as a magical language that challenged cultural, social, and economic differences with an easily readable aesthetic. Developing almost simultaneously both in the United States and in Europe, it was undoubtedly a choice dictated by functional reasons, but also by the need to give the means of transport - cars, planes, or trains - a more elegant and enticing appearance. As early as the 1920s, various schools of thought aimed at applying fundamental aerodynamic principles to design had been established; these American-based concepts were rooted in the work of visionaries such as Buckminster Fuller and Norman Bel Geddes.
Streamliner car design: automobiles traveling on the wings of the wind
When the pursuit of style is a function of speed: the interwar period bequeathed us some of the most beautiful cars ever. Browse the gallery and discover 5 key models.
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- Federico M. Fabbri
- 25 August 2022
Bel Geddes used to say that “today, speed is the cry of our era, and greater speed one of the goals of tomorrow”; Fuller’s theories, on the other hand, were very simple and relied on the idea that to achieve greater speed a vehicle had to reduce, if not eliminate altogether, its aerodynamic drag. Increasing the power of a vehicle was a good solution, but also a vain practice unless it featured a design that made it efficient in its uniform rectilinear motion. This age-old need for speed - which had already manifested itself in the 1910s with Futurism - soon led to a convergence of new styles that appeared, leaving everyone astonished, at motor shows on both sides of the Atlantic, producing iconic cars with timeless shapes. They seemed to be sculpted by Aeolus and, to this day, still inspire the new model concepts of the Style Centres of car manufacturers all over the world.
Aerodynamics, also relying on the invention of the first, rudimentary wind tunnels, made its way into design, radically transforming means of transport, making them more like torpedoes than everyday vehicles. Sinuous one-piece shapes with rounded corners and smooth, pot-bellied metal surfaces were almost standard practice. Streamlining turned curved shapes into straight lines, fused chrome with colour, and put nautical and/or aeronautical details that were used as decorative elements, for the first time, on the bodies of cars destined for public roads. In doing so, they resembled elegant spaceships from a parallel galaxy, with proportions stretching into the future, inspiring power and speed: wings of all shapes and sizes, as well as conical, curved, or teardrop-shaped forms - mimicking a swooping peregrine falcon - became stylistic features with which to shape almost anything. Among the multitude of designs that flourished at the time, we have chosen five that best represent the streamlining movement applied to cars. Here it is, then, in a sort of Art Deco automotive kermesse of elegance and aerodynamic efficiency, the 1932 Stout Scarab, the 1936 Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic Coupé, the 1938 Phantom Corsair, the 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia, and the more recent 1945 Saab Ursaab.
The Stout Scarab made its first appearance in 1932, introducing - fifty years ahead of its time - the world’s first minivan. It was the brainchild of William Bushnell Stout, an automotive and aeronautical engineer, who reinterpreted the Dymaxion Car, a concept created a few years earlier by the aforementioned Fuller. The idea was to create a self-propelled office and the appearance of the Scarab, designed by John Tjaarda, resembled an aircraft fuselage. An eight-cylinder Ford engine was placed in the rear while the steering wheel and instruments were placed in the front, thus resulting in an extremely spacious cabin that you could enter through a single side door. The second-row seats turned up to 180 degrees, there was a practical fold-down table, and, thanks to the use of aluminium, the bodywork only weighed 1,400 kg.
The Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic Coupé was marketed between 1936 and 1938 and only four of these cars were created. The first disappeared during the Second World War, the second was destroyed by a speeding train during an accident in 1955, the third is now owned by fashion designer Ralph Lauren and the fourth - built for banker Victor Rothschild - is now kept at the Mullin Automotive Museum. The side windows are “bean-shaped” the arched tailgate boasts a spare tyre well - so well matched to the rest of the car as to be barely visible - and the bodywork features a longitudinal seam that cuts the rear window and windscreen in half. It is considered by many to be the first supercar in history: thanks to its eight-cylinder engine set up in an inline fashion, it could reach speeds of up to 210 km/h.
This Phantom Corsair, unfortunately, remained a concept due to the sudden death of Rust Heinz - heir to the Heinz condiment family - who had designed the car together with Maurice Schwartz. Today it is on display at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. Among the special features of this model are the steel and aluminium body completely free of protrusions, the doors that open electrically using push-buttons located on the exterior and the instrument panel, and the interior padded with cork. The chassis comes from that of the Cord 810, as does the 190 hp Lycoming V8 engine mated to a four-speed pre-selector gearbox. Due in part to its extremely aerodynamic silhouette, the Corsair could reach speeds of up to 185 km/h.
It is a one-off luxury car made in 1938 by the Spanish brand Hispano-Suiza for André Dubonnet, French racing driver, and father of the leading arm independent front suspension and steering system that bears his name. The Xenia was built on the chassis of the H6B, and was powered by an 8-litre straight-six engine - a fraction of an aeronautical V12 - mated to a four-speed gearbox, unlike the H6B which only had three gears. It reached speeds of up to 180 km/h thanks to its bodywork designed to cut through the air like a spindle. Today, the Xenia is owned by American collector Peter W. Mullin and is part of the collection of the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California. It has won numerous Concours d’Elegance, including Pebble Beach in 2000 and Amelia Island in 2001.
UrSaab, also known as 92001 and X9248, was the first of four prototype cars built since 1946 and officially presented to the press by the Swedish carmaker on 10 June 1947. A few years earlier, Saab AB, which specialised in aircraft production, had put together a team led by engineer Gunnar Ljungström and designer Sixten Sason to produce an original, high-quality passenger car. The UrSaab featured front-wheel drive, was powered by an 18-horsepower DKW two-cylinder two-stroke engine, and was equipped with a three-speed gearbox. This prototype anticipated what would become the first production Saab in history: the Saab 92. The characteristic C-pillar design would become a distinctive feature of subsequent Scandinavian brand cars. The only surviving UrSaab example is jealously guarded at the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan.