The Family Car: "We always liked the way it looked"

"We always like the way it looked," is all this photo's back said. 

A cousin sent me a picture and asked if I had any idea what kind of car this is?

I do, and I will tell you what I told her.

From the shape of the car, with its steel wheels, its pontoon front and rear fenders, we have the shape of a car that could have been built from 1934 through 1940.

What helps us narrow down the year of the car are its single panel, flat windshield - pre-two piece windshields that reigned from the mid thirties through the early 1950s,  its "low pressure" style tires - earlier tires were run at high pressure and had tubes inside the tires, and its raked but "V'd" front grille in front of the radiator.  This helps us narrow down the vehicle to pre-1936.

So we have gone from a decade, to six years, to two years.

It's headlights, however are the dead give away.  The are bullet shaped, but they are chrome bullet shaped.

And the only company that issued cars in the mid 1930s came out of Chrysler Corporation.

So why are the headlights so important?

1934 Chrysler Airflow.  Too extreme for the Depression weary public. 

In 1934 Chrysler introduced the Chrysler Airflow, the first car designed to cheat the wind by by being aerodynamic and remove any and all unnecessary features that could trap air.  They featured wider bodies, with more room for passengers, and they were stronger than any car built for the public to that point.  Add in better fuel economy and you would think you had a winner, right?

Wrong.

The public was divided.  They either loved them, or hated them.  But most were sure that they weren't safe, even though Chrysler did all sorts of things - like pushing them off cliffs, letting the fall hundred of feet, and then driving them off.

The car put Chrysler in serious financial straights - despite everything positive about the Airlflow, they were too strange looking.  So in 1935, Chrysler introduced a companion series - the Airstream.  Built along side the Airflow, the Airstream featured some of the Airlflow's breakthrough technology, packaged in a car that looked like every other car.  They were a hit.

The 1935 Airstream.  It looked more like a car.  Popular, because it didn't stand out.

But because the Airflow featured headlights built into the front fenders, the Airstreams reverted to traditional headlights (by 1939, practically every car had headlights that were being brought down and into the front fender line).  Unlike everyone else that used painted housing, Chrysler marketing wanted these headlights to stand out, so they were chromed.  Something only seen on more expensive makes at the time.

Compare the two images of the picture at the top, and the 1935 Airstream and you'll see that the grilles, wheels, side hood vent, windshield and headlights match.

The Airstream was a steal at $745 dollars in 1935. And better yet, it looked like almost every other car.