A Model Dose... Tuesday 4/18/23

Beautifully filmed!

chances of a "good guy" driving this car in a noir-ish film are quite slight......thanks for the great pics John  

as a real design and social history of the car enthusiast this was a must have for me. Some fabulous detail, including the grille and interior, yet they 'moulded on' the wipers!

Wonderful pics as always John, thank you.

@perrone +1.

The Chrysler Airflow!  Seems all the years I've been enamored with old cars, this is a car that has come up in many conversations.  Most who have followed my posts here over the last couple of decades know that for the most part, I've only been interested in cars that were on the road when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's growing up.  This meant that in the 50's it was a normal sighting for me to see cars from the late 40's to whatever age I was at any given time during those years. 

So when my serious collecting of "model cars" began, I set self-imposed collecting limits on the years of cars I'd add to my collection.  Because as a kid, I'd once in awhile see '40 Fords and I really liked their look, 1940 seemed the logical year to be my oldest model.  As a teenager in the 1960's, I enjoyed the Muscle car era that was at its peak in 1969 and 70, so model year 1970 was on the other side of the spectrum, meaning I'd collect cars from 1940 to 1970. 

This made it easy for me, as if an American car was within that 3 decade of years, the model was added, with the exception of Corvette's.  Not sure why, but they just never interested me.  Okay, so there were the guidelines.  But guidelines always leave the door open to fudge a little bit, and that brings me to the Chrysler Airflow.  Hey it was a 1934, and I'm quite certain I've never actually seen a real one, ever.  And then as I mentioned there is the history and lore of that car that seems to transcend time, so I had to add it to my collection. 

For what it's worth, I don't find the car attractive in any way, but history of it trumps the looks, and it's on my shelf.  P.S. I've over the decades made three other exceptions to my 40 to 70 guideline.  They are the '37 Studebaker Dictator, the '39 Ford Coupe (because it closely resembles the '40), and a '71 Oldsmobile Cutlass (because it's an Oldsmobile, no other reason). 

GREAT PICS JOHN of as history shows of a GREAT CAR!

@georgeschire 

Excellent outlook George. Stick to your guns and collect what interests you, as should we all. If you're going to break "your rules" in collecting to include this model, good choice. It is a significant car in automotive history. I have been fortunate enough to have seen at least a dozen or more these wonderful cars including a couple DeSoto coupes similar to the Airflow model here. My photo collection includes Airflow cars from 1934-1937, and in person they are very impressive. Especially the Airflow Imperial C-10 Sedan. Chrysler made a bold move in introducing such a radically designed car, it wasn't a good move in relationship to sales, but that decision has left us with magnificent examples to enjoy.