Twenty years of unfinished business between two wars.
The Atlantic was one of the best-known bodies on the Bugatti Type 57S and 57SC. It was based on Jean Bugatti's 1935 Aérolithe concept, and the dorsal seam that began as a riveting method became its signature.
The Auto Union racing cars (Types A–D) were state-funded, rear mid-engine Grand Prix machines built from 1934 to 1939. Ferdinand Porsche designed the foundational P-Wagen Project, which Auto Union acquired in 1932. Their central fuel tank, forward driver position, and supercharged engines delivering up to 550 hp defined pre-war racing engineering — and established solutions still used in modern open-wheel cars.
The Talbot-Lago T150C SS Teardrop Coupe is a 1936 Figoni & Falaschi-bodied car commissioned by Antonio Lago to revive the Talbot marque. Its teardrop form was among the most aerodynamic of its era—and the most frequently specified for the Lago-SS. It established no new chassis or engine architecture, but it did establish a visual language for speed that resonated at concours and auction alike.
The Bugatti Royale is a large luxury automobile built by Bugatti from 1927 to 1933. Ettore Bugatti conceived it as a royal conveyance. It has a straight-eight engine derived from an unrealised French Air Ministry aero design.
The Cord 810/812 is a 1936–1937 American luxury automobile designed by Gordon M. Buehrig for Cord Automobile, a division of Auburn Automobile Company. It pioneered front-wheel drive with independent front suspension in the US. It introduced hidden headlights and replaced the radiator grille with horizontal louvres — earning the 'coffin nose' nickname. Its semi-automatic transmission sat ahead of the engine, eliminating the driveshaft and transmission tunnel. It omitted running boards. Total production was 2,972 units. The Cord 812 was recognised for its originality by the Museum of Modern Art in 1951.
The Borgward Isabella is a 1954–1962 two-door saloon built in Bremen. It uses a 1493 cc four-cylinder engine, front-engine rear-wheel-drive layout, monocoque construction, and swing axle rear suspension. It was originally planned as the Hansa 1500 but renamed Isabella due to internal and media preference. Though smaller and less powerful than its predecessor, it became Borgward’s largest commercial success—11,150 units were built in its first year, and 202,862 total by end of production. Its launch price was DM 7,265—higher than Opel Rekord and Ford Taunus, but lower than Mercedes-Benz 180. A launch road test recorded 130 km/h top speed and 8.4 L/100 km fuel consumption. Testers praised its wide cabin, large windows, effective brakes, cigarette lighter, and clock. Carl Borgward participated in detail in its design. It embodied American-type styling and chrome decoration with European compact dimensions.
The Bugatti Type 35 is the first holistically conceived, race-ready car sold as a complete system. It pioneered cast alloy wheels and won over 1,000 races between 1924 and 1930. Its design prioritised integration over adaptation—and succeeded globally, with factory and privateer teams alike.
The Chrysler Airflow is a full-size car produced by Chrysler from 1934 to 1937. It pioneered streamlining, unibody construction, full-steel body between the wheels, and innovative weight distribution for improved handling and ride. Despite its engineering breakthroughs, it failed commercially due to controversial styling and poor market acceptance.
The Duesenberg Model J is a luxury automobile made by Duesenberg, debuting in 1928 and offered for ten years. Gordon Buehrig, aged 25 and chief body designer for Duesenberg, designed it. Its 420 cu in straight-eight engine produced 265 horsepower in normally aspirated form, surpassing all larger-engined rivals. It achieved 116 mph top speed and 89 mph in second gear — making it both the fastest and most expensive American automobile on the market. It was intended to compete with the most luxurious and powerful cars in the world, launching the year before the 1929 stock market crash. Duesenberg Motors Company went bankrupt in 1937. Only the chassis and engine were factory-made; bodies were custom-built by third-party coachbuilders. Of 481 Model Js produced, about 378 survive.
The Tatra 77 is one of the first serial-produced, truly aerodynamically-designed automobiles, produced by Czechoslovak company Tatra from 1934 to 1938. It was developed by Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray, the Zeppelin aerodynamic engineer. Launched in 1934, the Tatra 77 is a coach-built automobile, constructed on a platform chassis with a pressed box-section steel backbone rather than Tatra's trademark tubular chassis, and is powered by a 60 horsepower (45 kW) rear-mounted 2.97-litre air-cooled V8 engine, in later series increased to a 75 horsepower (56 kW) 3.4-litre engine. It possessed advanced engineering features, such as overhead valves, hemispherical combustion chambers, a dry sump, fully independent suspension, rear swing axles and extensive use of lightweight magnesium alloy for the engine, transmission, suspension and body. Another one of his significant contributions to automotive design was the streamlined car body. Under him, Tatra brought the first mass-produced streamlined cars to the market. With his son Erich, who became chief designer at Tatra, Ledwinka and Erich Übelacker, a German engineer also employed by Tatra, designed the streamlined Tatra models T77, T77a, T87, and T97, all of which have rear-mounted air-cooled engines.
The Ford Model A (1927–1932) was Ford’s deliberate departure from the Model T. Edsel Ford led its body design with József Galamb. It introduced four-wheel mechanical brakes, a sliding-gear transmission, laminated windshields, and a water-cooled L-head inline-four. It sold 4,858,644 units between October 1927 and March 1932. It marked the end of the Model T’s dominance and the beginning of Ford’s driver-oriented era.