Homage to Jeancart - French & American Curves

A fabulous post Steve with so much to think about and lovely cars to ogle over the weekend - and weeks to come. My first reaction is to be careful about the Amelia Island blurb: there are perhaps more than two existing Paris Salon Delahaye and depending upon how much one values one's sanity, one should take care. There is the present Chassis Nº48666 associated with Jacques Harguindeguy.  There is the bare chassis of the original Paris Salon Chassis Nº47247 which may since have been rebodied as original?

There is Chassis  Nº48667 (left) and  Chassis Nº49150 from the now-closed Mullin Collection (thanks Harv' Goranson)

And another who's chassis number I do not have to hand that has outboard, chromed Marchal headlamps, but is definitely Paris Salon. There is the minefield of repainting to negotiate as well!  

Regarding the mystery of streamlining's source, I have heard it most often credited to 1920s race planes driven by competition between Italy, France, Britain, and the United States. Races such as the Schneider Cup (though that was a floatplane competition) drove designers to smoothen-out every surface of engine cowl and other resistance, such as wheels prior to retractable undercarriage. Automotive designers in both Europe and the United States were watching attentively. There is also an interesting thread here on the Shark-nose Graham that sheds unusual light on the matter - sadly I don't have time to search at present.

A 1924 Hispano Suiza, for the sake of discussion, Steve.......

Love your post Steve. Your collection of European and American curvy car models is sensational. I have several but not as many as you. When I lived in St. Louis, I used to visit Mark Hymans dealership frequently just to see historic cars from around the world.

Steve, I have been out and about on my daily routine, thinking about your 1931 Cord by Philip O Wright and it occurred to me that so many of the Auburn / Cord / Duesenberg models - especially for Hollywood stars - were very early examples of streamlining, as you point out.  I am reminded that Harley Earl was coachbuilder to the stars too, prior to being wooed by GM.  It seems there is much to explore there and I do not know of a book on Hollywood stars' cars in the '20s and '30s. I shall look through your beautiful models and explore each one - starting with Philip O Wright!  Thanks for a great post.

1 minute into my search and I find Philip O Wright designed Pierce Arrow's iconic Silver Arrow !

@bob-jackman I used to do the same at Coy's of Kensington, London, who used to have stunning classic European cars lined-up in a string of windows, down a secluded mews. But sadly they closed in 2020.

A 1/43 Lalique  - just wow!  😎 

everything with curves interesses me....  

just love the French curves! beautiful cars, models and great factual info. Thanks to all!

Wow! Great images and discussion. Thank you especially to Steve and Charles for a great post and discussion.

There are so many lovely models that Steve has shown, it would be nice if we could vote on our favourite 3. Mine would be the '32 Delage (which I've been after for some years) the '34 boattail Packard with full disc wheels, and the 1931 (?) Chrysler Imperial.

Posted by: @karl

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A 1/43 Lalique  - just wow!  😎 

Posted by: @charles-rockett

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There are so many lovely models that Steve has shown, it would be nice if we could vote on our favourite 3. Mine would be the '32 Delage (which I've been after for some years) the '34 boattail Packard with full disc wheels, and the 1931 (?) Chrysler Imperial.

Posted by: @charles-rockett

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Regarding the mystery of stream lining's source, I have heard it most often credited to 1920s race planes driven by competition between Italy, France, Britain, and the United States.

Charles, Will respond to several of your points with some pictures.   1st with some aircraft.

1932 Boeing F4B with non faired wheels

1935 Boeing P26A Peashooter with nicely faired wheels added some speed

1940 Grumman F3F-2 with exposed retractable wheels, was better

1944 P51 Mustang with fully enclosed landing gear, was best

There was also the reference to racing aircraft

The R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy race, even the fuselage was tear drop shaped, 294.38 max mph

The Macchi Castoldi MC72 held the world speed record for all aircraft for five years. In 1933 and 1934 it set world speed records for piston engine-powered seaplanes; the latter still stands. (440.682 mph) How is it that sea planes with those big floats and struts are considerably faster than those with little faired wheels?

Charles, you also teased me with the fairings on the 1924 Hispano-Suiza, tulipwood racer's wheels which I love.

• Inarguably the most famous Hispano-Suiza in the world
• Commissioned by aperitif heir and gentleman racer André Dubonnet
• Raced by Dubonnet in the 1924 Targa Florio and Coppa Florio, finishing 6th and 5th overall, respectively
• Stunning lightweight mahogany coachwork, a masterpiece of craftsmanship

A curious fact: The flying stork mascot on the copper plate in front of the radiator had a pair of big balls placed between near the rear of the wings just to emphasize Dubonnet's own, and his racing determination. (shown to me by a docent but I don't remember where or when)

Then I remembered Frank Lockhart's piece of creative ingenuity, the 1928 Stutz Black Hawk, also with faired wheels.

The "married" 3L V16               Note the small size of the Black Hawk compared to other LSR racers. The White Triplex directly competed with the Black Hawk with it's 3-Liberty aircraft engines, 8.2 L with 1200 - 1500 BHP.

However these faired wheels were not attached to the body as the curvey cars were.

     1931 Alfa                                                                                                                     

   The 1931 Cord

Thank's to all of you who contributed to this post and especially to Charles Rockett who started us down this lovely road.   I really appreciate and learn from all your contributions.

@stewil 

Thanks for the airplane pictures.

Streamlining? They knew about that in 1899!

And by 1902 the force of air resistance was further diminished (in an electric car, no less).