Manufactured in 1939 8 cylinders 3.3 litres 135 horsepower The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants (including the famous Atlantic and Atalante) was an entirely new design created by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore, and was named after the Col du Galibier pass in the Dauphiné Alps. Type 57s were built from 1934 through 1940,…
Read more
Manufactured in 1936 8 cylinders 5.4 litres 180 horsepower One of the most expensive cars before World War 2, the Mercedes 540K Was first presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1936 and was a marvel of technique and elegance. The Friedrich Geiger designed car was a development of the 500K, itself a development of the…
Read more
Manufactured in 1931 8 cylinders 4.1 litres 80 horsepower The Studebaker Commander is the model name of several automobiles produced by Studebaker. Studebaker began using the Commander name in 1927 and continued to use it until 1964, with the exception of 1936 and 1959-63. The name was applied to various products in the company’s line-up from…
Read more
Manufactured in 1930 8 cylinders 9 litres 100 horsepower In 1926 Charles Nash bought Thomas B. Jeffery Company, makers of the popular Rambler automobile, and renamed it Nash Motors. Profits came from focusing on one well-designed car in the upper medium price range. He bought several distressed companies in Wisconsin, merging them and installing advanced…
Read more
Manufactured in 1923 4 cylinders 3 litres 59 horsepower Hispano Suiza was a Spanish company of luxury and racing automobiles, also dedicated to the design and manufacture of aviation engines, military vehicles, and weapons. It was founded in Barcelona in 1904 by Mr Damián Mateu and the Swiss engineer Mr Marc Birkigt, and considered by many…
Read more
Manufactured in 1914 6 cylinders 14.5 litres 105 horsepower Founded in 1873 by Truxton Slocum LaFrance and his partners, the American LaFrance Fire Engine Company was one of the oldest fire apparatus manufacturers in the United States. With roots that go back to approximately 1832, the companies that went on to become American LaFrance built…
Read more
Manufactured in 1914 2 cylinders 12 horsepower Designed and built by British Royal Flying Corp pilot Barron Ackroyd, this cyclecar prototype was named “El Pampero” to evoke Argentina, a fashionable and exotic location at the time. It featured hand throttle, wire-and-bobbin steering, cantilever front springs, and a belt drive. Ackroyd was killed five years later during…
Read more
This ‘Coupe de Ville” provided the great and definitive foundation for Renault. It was adopted in the Belle Epoque by the educated and libertine French middle-class. In 1912, William Carter bought one and was planning to transport it from Southampton, England to New York City on the RMS Titanic. Carter was saved but the car sunk…
Read more
Manufactured in France in 1910 4 cylinders 22 horsepower 2400 cc Charron was a French automobile manufacturer, based in the Paris conurbation, and active between 1906 and 1930. Although the company Automobiles Charron Limited was established (with a large injection of British finance) only in 1906 (and registered in 1907), its origins date from a business…
Read more
Manufactured in France in 1910 4 Cylinders 14 horsepower 1400 cc “Mother-in-Law Seat” Delage was a French company founded by Louis Delage in 1905 that manufactured racing cars and luxury automobiles. This is a family car with it’s popular and uncomfortable dickie seat. The dickie seat was also known to the British as the “mother-in-law”…
Read more