Museum Classics: 1934 DeSoto Airflow & 1938 Peugeot 402 – Take A Sad Car And Make It Better

We’re back at the Toyota Automobile Museum and we’re going to sink out teeth into the main event of the Streamliners section here. We’ve seen a number of the exhibits already, but there were two cars that seemed to rule the roost: a brown DeSoto Airflow and a green Peugeot 402. The Airflow is a true milestone of streamlining, but also a complete sales dud. The Peugeot was a straight-up Airflow copy, but with a few astute ameliorations, it turned into a success story. Let’s look at both of these exceptional cars, as they really are two peas in a teardrop.

Let’s start with the original – the infamous Airflow. Developed by Chrysler chief engineer Carl Breer since 1931, there really was nothing like it in the world when it was launched in January 1934. There had been a few aerodynamic cars prior to that date of course, but this was the first time a heavy-hitter like Chrysler were putting out something so advanced.

The Airflow wasn’t just one car. It was a full range of models, spread across two marques. For 1934, Chryslers had a dramatic “waterfall” grille (above) flanked by stacked quad headlights.

The sedans came in five different wheelbases and coupés in three. Chryslers were fitted with a 4.9 litre straight-8; DeSotos, which made do with the shortest (115-inch) wheelbase, had a 3956cc flathead six producing 100hp.

The rarest (and most expensive) Airflow was the CW, also known as the Custom Imperial. It The 1934 model seen here was distinguished by its quadruple bumper, but had the same grille as other Chrysler Airflows.

The DeSoto’s bumpers and front end was quite different, with a painted grille and very different headlamps. The three louvres under each headlight is where the horns are located.

All Airflows used a sort of hybrid unit-body construction mated with a subframe for the engine compartment – another avant-garde solution that would come back to bite the carmaker in the back bumper. The rounded front end was a product of actual wind tunnel testing, as were the rear wheel spats.

No external trunk on the ’34 DeSoto Airflow. This would later change, as would quite a number of other details, once Chrysler noted how difficult the car was to sell. Though to be entirely fair, not all the Airflows ordered for MY 1934 were delivered — Chrysler had production issues even back then.

Chrysler were justly proud of their patented “floating power” engine mounts, which dampened vibrations and significantly improved passenger and driver comfort. Furthermore, as noted by Paul Niedermeyer in the comments section, the engine was moved forward over the front axle, allowing the whole passenger compartment to also be moved forward, improving interior space very substantially (interior width was drastically improved; the first true 6-seaters), and ride quality was also enhanced, as the rear seat was no longer over the rear axle.

Alas, the first 2-3000 Airflows assembled in early 1934 had fatally defective engine mounts, leading to extreme and sometimes dangerous vibrations at speed. Early Airflows, being complex and novel machines, were often prone to these kinds of assembly mishaps.

The Airflow did not set any sales records in its short initial model year. The Chrysler marque had (wisely) kept a couple of non-Airflow models alongside the revolutionary car, allowing for some sales to be salvaged.

That was not the case over at DeSoto dealerships, unfortunately: the marque was all-in on the streamliner, warts and all. And for that initial year, DeSoto Airflows did outsell Chrysler ones. It was the only silver lining: DeSoto’s 1934 sales showed a 47% decline compared to 1933.

One major issue buyers had with the Airflow was its looks – especially that odd front end. But with its unit body construction, the Airflow’s looks were pretty much gelled. A minor facelift gave the ’35 cars a much more ornate grille (DeSoto shown above), but the general shape was what it was and could not be significantly altered.

Chrysler soon realized they had innovated a step too far. The buying public were not convinced, new grille notwithstanding. DeSoto resuscitated their “normal” car range to staunch the bleeding in 1935.

The Airflow ghosted DeSoto’s range after model year 1936, only sticking around as a Chrysler for 1937. In total, about 55k Airflows were made, roughly 25k of which were 6-cyl. DeSotos.

It was an industrial disaster for Chrysler, and the repercussions of the Airflow would be felt for many years in the firm’s risk-averse philosophy.

On the other hand, few car designs were as influential as the Airflow. It could be argued that some domestic carmakers (Lincoln, Hupmobile, Nash) learnt a lesson or two from the beleaguered Chrylser, but the ones who straight up copied it were foreign.

The very first car produced by Toyota, the AA, clearly had a lot of Airflow in its looks – the mechanicals were admittedly more GM-influenced. These were made in small quantities, along with the AB soft-top, between 1936 and 1942; a similar AC model (with a split windscreen, bottom picture) took over from 1943 to 1948 with a grille that was even more Airflow-esque.

The 1935-38 Volvo PV 36 Carioca showed its Airflow genes even more blatantly. It was Volvo’s first all-steel body. But neither the Toyota nor the Volvo were manufactured in huge numbers: at most 2000 Toyota AA/AB/ACs and fewer than 500 Cariocas were made. Small fry compared to the original, as well as to one mini-Airflow that made it big: the Peugeot 402.

By the early ‘30s, Peugeot had structured their range in a novel and rational way, with their models all denominated with a zero in the middle. The larger the car, the bigger the first number, so the 601 was the big 6-cyl. Pug, followed by the family-sized 401, the compact 301 and down to the 201 subcompact. But the -01 generation was starting to look a tad stale, what with all them new-fangled streamliners. In late 1935, the new generation 402 was unveiled – and it was an immediate sensation.

The Airflow influence was as clear as could be, but the Peugeot designers managed to avoid a number of pitfalls that had befallen Chrysler. The most important of these was the front end: the Airflow’s face was difficult to like for a number of reasons, yet the shape was integral to the design.

In a genius move, the Peugeot designers populated the large space created by the round nose with a carefully-shaped grille that included the headlights within it. In one fell swoop, this gave the Peugeot its own character and it solved the headlight problem without needing to make specific stampings in the fenders.

In the back, the Peugeot provided access to its trunk from the outside. Originally, the car would not have had the small reflectors near the bumper; rear lighting was all situated on either side of the license plate.

This is the standard four-door berline, the most commonly seen model. Here too, the 402’s proportions were much improved over the Airflow. Compare that sleek silhouette to the dumpy DeSoto. The Peugeot’s lack of running boards also helps a lot…

Unlike Chrysler’s fumbled launch, the 402 was, in the Peugeot tradition, fully functional from the off. There were still a number of innovations, including all-metal bodies, independent front suspension and a new 1991cc OHV 4-cyl. engine producing 55hp and mated either to a 3-speed manual or the optional 4-speed Cotal electro-magnetic gearbox. The suboptimal location of the headlights (from a lighting point of view) was at least partially offset by Peugeot’s use of 12-volt electrics.

Brakes remained of the Bendix cable-operated type and the construction was body-on-frame, which was available in two wheelbase lengths. And you still had a hole for the starting handle in the front, but then French cars kept those for a good long while. Great way to use that zero-in-the-middle gimmick…

The 402 was almost immediately given a bewildering variety of bodies, beyond the regular saloon.

A host of two-door variants appeared, including a roadster, a four-seater soft-top, a coupé and the famous “transformable” power-operated tin-top. These were available in regular and LWB form, too. An eight-seater limousine and other LWB options were also available.

In 1936, a smaller 302 model (with a 1.8 litre engine) was added to the Peugeot range, replacing the 301. It was essentially a reduced 402 in size, displacement and price. The last piece of the puzzle came in 1938 with the launch of the 1100cc 202.

Peugeot did the sensible thing and created the 402 Légère, i.e. a 302 body with a 402 front end and engine, for MY 1938. In 1939, the Légère was given the even smaller 202 body; the 402’s engine that year grew to 2142cc and 60hp, turning the standard saloon into the facelifted 402 B.

Said 402 B included a genuine hardtop coupé in its lineup, by the way.

There were plans to go further, including a 3.2 litre V8-powered 802 planned for 1941 and the sensational Andreau streamliner, seen here on the Peugeot stand at the 1937 Paris Motor Show. A handful of these wild machines were actually built on 402 chassis and sold. A fully automatic transmission was also developed and successfully tested (in 1936!), but would have cost twice the price of the car to manufacture. Peugeot also made a number of 402 Diesel prototypes – those might have been good for taxi service by the early ‘40s.

Creature comforts were also part of the package, including velour upholstery, a dash-mounted shifter to unclutter the floor, an optional radio set and a heater / defroster, alas not included in this particular car.

With a 315cm (124-inch) wheelbase, the 402 was a big car for its segment. This was excellent for legroom, but it did mean that performance was a tad limited – the LWB models, with an extra 15cm, were even heavier. Hence why the Légère versions were created.

Oddly enough, the 402 even inspired the creation of a limited run of sports cars. These were designed by Georges Paulin, bodied by Pourtout and available via Darl’Mat, a major Peugeot dealer in Brittany, from 1937 to 1939. Three variants were available – roadster, cabriolet and coupé – and quite a few were actually raced, including at Le Mans.

But then came the German occupation in 1940, putting a stop to nearly all car production in France. The very last 402 saloons trickled out of Sochaux by mid-1942, never to reappear after the war. The 202 was the only Peugeot model when the heavily damaged factory was partially reopened in 1946.

In its category, the 402’s only real domestic rival was the Citroën Traction Avant, which was less reliable and far more austere. For a relatively large pre-war French car, it sold extremely well: just over 75k from late 1935 to the war, to which one could add the related 302 (1936-38, 25k units). The 202, while related styling-wise, was a significantly smaller and cheaper car.

There you have it: the pioneer that tested the limits of acceptability and the copycat that tweaked the recipe just enough to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. The Tatra 87, the ’38 Cadillac Sixty Special and the Lincoln Zephyr we saw recently from this room were all significant milestones in automotive history. These two are the very essence of mid-‘30s streamlining: creative yet awkward, derivative yet attractive.