- Offered from the collection of Jack Dunning
- Very rare survivor of the “baby” Airflow
- Well-maintained restoration in fine condition
- A highly advanced design, and a wonderful tour car
Walter P. Chrysler expected the streamlined, futuristic Airflow models of 1934 to take the nation by storm. Far ahead of its time, it featured a hood extended past the front axle, fully skirted rear fenders, and more advanced styling, including faired-in headlamps, a rounded radiator grille, and a modified vee’d windshield. Its body was styled in a wind tunnel, the first American production car so designed, and built partially in unit with the chassis. Because all passengers were seated within the wheelbase, they enjoyed a fine ride, and the handling was also considerably more modern than other automobiles of its time.
In the inaugural year of production, 1934, the Airflow design was used both for most Chrysler products and for all DeSoto models. It failed to move buyers, many of whom were unprepared for such a new design, and accordingly was not a sales success. For 1935 a more conventionally styled SF-Series DeSoto debuted and would outsell the last of the original SG-Series cars by a factor of over three to one. For 1936, the DeSoto Airflow was gone for good.
The Airflow sedan offered here, one of the more recent additions to the Dunning stable, is a high-quality body-on restoration, equipped with the rear-mounted spare, driver-side mirror, rear fender skirts, and artillery-style wheels mounted with factory hubcaps and wide whitewall tires. Both the paint, in colors similar to the factory Bellevue Beige and Columbia Beige, and the houndstooth cloth interior remain in very good condition, and the car is reported by Mr. Dunning to be a fine driving example, capable of running nicely at 50 mph.
This is a thoroughly charming example of that great rarity, the DeSoto Airflow, one of the most misunderstood, advanced, and enjoyable mid-priced cars of its time.
