Unsuccessful sales-wise in its day, the Chrysler Corporation Airflow continues to fascinate the design community, and not just automobile stylists. Books and exhibits dealing with "Moderne" or "Art Deco" can include photos of Chrysler or DeSoto Airflows to help establish an early 1930s mood.
Books and web sites dealing with automobile design history -- including this one -- ignore Airflows at their peril. For example, as of the time this was drafted, I'd featured Airflows here and here, as well as having another Airflow post besides this one written and awaiting future publication.
Airflow design was wind tunnel tested at the instigation of Carl Breer, a leading engineer who had the ear of Walter P. Chrysler. Chrysler's styling section had been established in 1928, but was under the thumb of body engineering. According to Lamm and Holls in "A Century of Automotive Style," stylists seemed to have been involved mostly with decorative aspects of 1934 Airflows: the design was essentially engineering-driven.
I want to focus here on the styling of the front end of the original, 1934, Chrysler Airflow. It seems to have been a factor in the car's disappointing sales. That's because Airflows for 1935 and succeeding years received more prominent, elevated grilles more in line with mid-1930s customer tastes. For example, the second link, above, deals with the case of DeSoto Airflows and how Chrysler stylists tried to deal with problems created by the 1934 models.
Below are some photos I took a while ago at the National Automobile Museum in Reno Nevada. It is what remains of the huge Harrah collection.
Another 1934-vintage photo, this of the front end of the same car. The dark rectangle is the opening to the radiator. All those thin, vertical chromed bars serve to largely conceal the opening when viewed from other angles. Now for my photos:
The subject is a 1934 Chrysler Airflow 5-Passenger Coupe wedged between a 1939 Mercury and a 1933 Studebaker.
Even from this nearly head-on angle, the opening cannot be seen -- though the black body color helps to camouflage. Headlight assemblies are placed on the aerodynamically shaped nose of the car. The Studebaker at the right of the image shows the sort of frontal designs potential Airflow customers were familiar with: the differences were shocking to many.
When not supported by sheet metal, the grille bars are attached to roughly horizontal metal frames at the upper and lower edges of the opening, allowing them to span the gap.
Chrysler symbolism included wings and a blue ribbon (first prize winner) enhancing the name badge. The grille bars are attached to connective bits. This is more evident in the photo below.
Closer view of the wings and badge.
