In the 1920s and 1930s, Art Deco flourished, a movement that permeated multiple areas, from painting to architecture, including sculpture, interior design and industrial design. Today, original art deco furniture is highly appreciated for its very personal style and high quality.
In the automobile sector, until the 1930s, it was normal for chassis to leave the production center without a body. The client bought the car and then commissioned a custom design from a coachbuilder, practically unique in the world. While it is true that complete, standard models were also offered, the aristocracy – whether economic or title – wanted something much more personal.
After World War II, life picked up from where it had left off just before the conflict. For some it was getting back to doing what they knew how to do. For others, erasing a dark era by recovering what they once enjoyed.
Obviously, the automotive world was not left out of this trend. These were years in which the automobile began to become popular, but the big brands, at least in their most prestigious models, offered the possibility to their wealthiest clients of being able to mount an exclusive body.
What today is considered a ‘one-off’ version or the ‘ultra limited’ series of less than a dozen copies, which are seen as something very capricious if not eccentric, only available to a few collectors.
It was much more normal then. They were the years of the great coachbuilders. The fact that monocoque chassis had not spread, the structures were not as sophisticated as now and the legislation did not impose as many measures, made their work easier.
The cars had the most powerful engines available at the time and their bodies seemed molded by the wind. The best possible aerodynamics were sought, but focused on achieving the highest top speed. And that gave rise to increasingly more elaborate shapes, more rounded in shape and with immense tails.
The elegance and balance of design, the harmony of lines, still arouse admiration. The best proof of this is that they usually win prizes in elegance contests. In fact, some models were created at the time, precisely for this purpose, to compete in the elegance contests, popular then and recreated now.
They are models that acquire the value of ‘living work of art’. The lucky owners of these examples have them completely restored, identical to the originals, and in perfect working order. And they fetch incredible prices at auctions.
Los Castagna, Saotchik, Figoni
One of the first cars of this trend was the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Touring Fly Start. An Alfa 6C, one of the best sports cars from the early 1930s, commissioned from Touring by Josette Pozzo, a millionaire of the time, an essential model and figure at any social event. In fact, she commissioned this model with a clear purpose: to win the Villa del Este Contest of Elegance in 1931.
Bertone, one of the great coachbuilders in history, began in 1953 the presentation of a family of ‘concepts’, the Alfa Romeo BAT, which still attract attention today.
Today, many of these art deco cars inspire current concept cars. The Bugatti Atlantic and Atalante were famous in their day. In 1995, Chrysler presented a spectacular concept inspired by them and that even shared their name: Atlantic.
