History Chrysler Airflow: One tough car!

I love the lines of an Airflow, but then I also love anything Art Deco. I know everyone that had a helping hand in building and designing Jack White's Barrett-Jackson record setting 1936 Chrysler Airlfow, which sold for $550,800 and now resides in Ron Pratt's collection. The Tudor Sedan Airflow was one of four, and fully restored when the boys here in Spokane customized it.




The original Airflow wheels of Jack's '36 ended up in the hand of H.A.M.B.er DoubleTubTrouble who is now running them on his '24 Ford Touring. In my opinion they make bitchin' hot rod wheels, that's if you can find them.



And finally, there's still Airflow's out there, just waiting to be customized by a H.A.M.B.er. This one been sitting in the same location for decades in Washington.

 

Cool illustrated Airflow identification chart here:

http://www.airflowclub.com/How to Identify an Airflow.htm

 

This is my 34 Desoto Airflow that I grafted a 1948 Chevy Fleetline back half to.I have had a blast with this car.I get many smile per gallon cruzin the highway. HAVE TOP WILL CHOP.COM

 

OOPS that photo was too fuzzy and small.

 

When I was a kid, (and we're talking 1966 here, so not recently) we used to ride our bikes up to the top of Maclay Ave. in San Fernando Ca. right up next to the mountains, and there was a crazy man up there that had a bunch of Chrysler and Desoto Airflow cars. He was waiting for the next car shortage like the one during WWII. Meanwhile the goats had path's across the tops of the cars. It was quite a sight. He had a mostly complete '36 Desoto Airflow 4-door that I was interested in. He wanted $550 which was crazy money then. Nothing else was for sale except the most degraded tired looking Model A coupe I ever remember seeing. Springs were flat and the whole car just sagged. It was sad, and he wanted $200 for it when that money would get you a lot of decent Model A's.

Just wondered if anyone else remembers anything about those cars. There was like 14 Airflows up there. I wonder if they eventually got turned into Toyota's.

 

so according to that link thats a 1934 "SE" sedan according to the grill and side panels. but the rear doors and large headlights make it look like an "CW" body. wheelbase measurement will tell you for sure.

according to my books. if thats a CW sedan, there was only 17 ever made!! and if it was a town sedan still only 28 made!! wow.... and there it sits getting beat on by some jerkoffs....

 

the tail lites(lens and bezel only in a pod) I had mentioned earlier were like this custom done versions target type lense only ... wonder what they really were from?

 

This one is in france since new...

 

This appears to be a 1934 CU buy the pictures.It has the dealer installed 1935 hood design.You can tell by the hood which is 1934 only.People who did not like the waterfall grill could get the local dealer to graft on a 1935 grill onto the 1934 hood for free.There are pictures of the conversion in the Airflow Club.

 

So many things wrong in the world.....and this is one of them.

 

The French one is the prettiest airflow I've ever seen, but this.........this.........it's a Chrysler GG1

 

You mean like a PRR GG1? Those are also beautiful machines.

http://www.modelrailforum.com/reviews/Trix-GG1/clip_image002.jpg

 

Yes, I think Raymond Loewy must have seen this Chrysler and copied it for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Actually both marques appeared the same year, and both were equally ahead of their time.

 

A rare Airflow coupe at the Dayton Concourse.

 

This is a pic of my mom and I in front of dads Airflow, around 1950. I guess I'm lucky enough to have rode in one, but don't remember. It appears to have a cloth top, but I don't think so, must be dull paint. I remember my dad talking about the car, claimed it was fast, and always wished he had kept it. I sure as hell would love to have it with a new Hemi drivetrain.

 

my granddad raced one dirttrack modifed in the 50's now its like his unicorn, want ones back, hes only found a few and were rustbuckets for 5 to 10 thousand.....

 

Other ones from france:

its a desoto airflow? and for sale but i dont go there because of the strange seller (the nacked woman)...

 

They were a super cool breed of car with a factory chop top. How cool is that? My dad bought one after WWII and had it for a few years, he said it was a good car.

Bob

 

1st time i saw the Airflow was in old Life magazines my aunt had
there were many issues from the 30's and 40's it was fun going through them

In one issue a Airflow caught my eye, the design the interior many things so i piled up the ones with Airflow's i was hooked now

In 2000 went to Speed Week at Bonneville to watch the 53 Studebaker's run mainly
while walking through the pits came across Dozier & Hegarty's World record holder Desoto # 404 talked to the crew and bought this shirt


just one more surprise out on the salt, finally seeing a Airflow very cool
after that i found a couple of Airflow's in a junk yard in Rapid City SD

 

The archives about the Airflow say it was a unibody car with a cage built in .I have had a bunch of people say it is a unibody car,LOL. Mine had a full frame (chassis ) under it from the factory that i unbolted but didn't use due to all the new suspension I used.It was kind of light duty rails that depended on the cage built into the body for strength.When I chopped the body it did have a cage built into it from one end to the other with oval holes through out. Mine was a 1934 Desoto Airflow (Chrysler bought out in mid 34 ) and changed the name to Chrysler.The car was way ahead of it time and the first car designed in a wind tunnel using a small scaled down balsut wood model reshaping it untill the airflow was perfected. I didn't care for the back end design of mine so I cut it apart and grafted a 48 Chevy fleet line to it and did extreme modifcations to make it all flow together.It may be ugly to some but I like it,LOL.

 

I saw your other pics.....................Have you got a good, straight on side shot of that thing?????

 

A year earlier I was rootin' through a junkyard near the drag strip in San Fernando and came across an Airflow with a Merc flathead in it. As I recall the car looked pretty complete and wasn't stacked on. Wonder what ever happened to that one.

Always thought this was a natural pairing....

 

that pic of the airflow in the junkyard is at the antique auto ranch in spokane.everytime i go to spokane i look through that yard.amazing secret out there those boys have...nothing rusts...ever

 

Volvo made a "copy" of Chrysler Airflow













The car were called Carioca The model is Volvo PV 36.
The production numbers of this car were 500 four door car and 1 convertible
they was made 1936 to 39

 

gosh.. i love those old commercials.. i love the bit with the baseball player.. so all the companies are doing retro cars now.. I would love to see a retro commercial too... hey Chrysler are ya listening?

 

I always like those too. The one on the right is a 38 Studebaker...President ?, I believe.

 

The best shots I now have available of the car are on my web sight. HAVE TOP WILL CHOP.com

 

WOW that Volvo copy of the Airflow is pretty dam close.Looks much smaller.

 

Airflows, very KQQL.

 

I have always liked the grills on those cars.