Description
1934 Chrysler Airflow CU
The Chrysler Airflow was a lightning flash of innovation in the midst of the wretched Great Depression. Its debut at the New York auto show on Saturday, January 6, 1934, made the newspapers around the nation, and its advancements in engineering and design foreshadowed almost every mass-produced car that followed, including the cars we drive today. The Airflow was soundly rejected by the buying public for the four short years of its existence.
Chrysler yanked it in defeat after the 1937 model year and turned its back on design flair for a generation.
The gregarious Walter P. Chrysler hired his so-called “Three Musketeers,” ex-Studebaker and Willys-Overland engineers Carl Breer, Owen Skelton, and Fred Zeder to create the car of the future.
Breer’s first step was to study how air flowed around a car, so he built the auto industry’s first wind tunnel. Orvil Wright (yes he crafted the very first aircraft) assisted with wind tunnel testing at the time.
Breer and his team began to imagine a car in which, as with a zeppelin, the mass of the body was moved forward to punch a clean hole through air that would then flow smoothly along the car’s side and off its tapered tail. But to execute the vision, the company would need an entirely new kind of automobile.
After studying and rejecting a rear-mounted engine, the team moved the engine forward between front wheels that were each supported by independent, coil-sprung suspension arms. Then the engineers pushed the entire cabin 20 inches forward so that its occupants would now be suspended between the axles. Thus, the ride comfort would improve greatly over contemporary cars, and there would be enough headroom for the rear passengers even as the roof sloped down toward the back.
Breer’s team built the first running Airflow prototype in September 1932.
Walter P. Chrysler was so smitten that he greatly expanded the plans for production, which originally had the Airflow model going solely to the company’s midpriced DeSoto division. Instead, there would be Chrysler, DeSoto, and Imperial versions of the Airflow. There would be four body styles, including a sedan, brougham, limo, and coupe, riding on four separate wheelbases. Two straight-eight engines would be offered in the Chryslers and Imperials ranging from 122 to 145 horsepower, the Imperial’s aluminum cylinder head claiming the highest standard compression ratio (6. 5 to 1) of any production car then sold. DeSotos got an inline-six.
For the time, the list of technical innovations was impressive and showed the influence of Owen Skelton’s powertrain expertise. A vacuum-operated automatic clutch, a push-button overdrive, and Lockheed vacuum-assisted hydraulic brakes were all options. Even the Airflow’s front seat was unusual. It looked like a davenport sofa cradled in chrome-plated steel tubes that provided firm handrails. Producing them proved a complicated business, employing an entirely new department at the plant with a crew of 150. The Airflow would slice through the Depression as well as the wind.
It was said the car could cruise comfortably at 70 mph and had a top speed of 90 mph, that the new type of chassis was so stiff and the suspension so supple that it provided a “floating ride” with no vibration at all. It was so aerodynamic, it was reported, that raindrops and insects were lofted by the wind currents up and over the car without ever touching it.
However, as buyers were cold to the car’s startling shape and especially its face, with its giant waterfall grille bracketed by droopy headlights.
Chrysler embarked on a futile three-year odyssey to save the Airflow. It redesigned the front end over the years, however, “the car was too far ahead of its time,” concluded Breer years later.
Though it was a market failure, the Airflow was enormously influential. By the late 1930s, most car companies had incorporated some elements of the design, if not the unitised chassis construction that would later become nearly universal.
This very rare 1934 Chrysler Airflow CU was from the first year of production, with its curved “waterfall” grille and is the purest expression of the design. The 1935 through ’37 models had a more vertical grille, designed give them a more conventional appearance. Today, the ’34 is especially prized for its resemblance to the famed streamline train, the Burlington Zephyr. Both the Airflow and the Zephyr were art moderne sensations at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair.
Serial number 6597577 was first registered in Florida. It was purchased from a museum and is in original condition.
A good candidate for a full renovation or left original. The 8 cylinder engine 122bhp runs and has very good oil pressure but needs new brake pipes (the master cylinder has been replaced). Parts ready available in the U. S.
An engineering marvel in 1934 and highly collectible today. A real piece of motoring history.
UK registered.
