Travelling in style - classic cars of the 1930s

The 1930s was the decade that motorised travel took a big step forward in terms of mechanical efficiency and, more importantly for us, style...

1933 Rolls Royce Phantom

In the United States, the era of Prohibition  ended in 1933, which left just enough time for us to picture Feds (or crooks) standing on these running boards, machine guns in hand, spraying lead as the car screeches round a tight corner...

1932 Duesenberg

But would it be a Dodge, a Buick, a Packard, a Plymouth, a Deusenberg or maybe even a Lincoln, if you had your choice of classic Americana?

1938 Buick

There's no denying that besides the increasing stylishness of the cars themselves, one of the added pleasures of motoring in 1930s had to be the comparative emptiness of the roads.  A modest Ford might only cost around $500, but a Cadillac might set you back six times that amount.  That said, for much of the decade, your Pound Sterling would buy you no less than five US Dollars.

That being the case, why not invest in something beautiful and Italian?

1936 Bugatti type-57SC Atlantic

But surely, the Talbot-Lago of 1938 (or thereabouts) expresses up the ultimate in Thirties motoring style:

Or could it be the spaceship-like Phantom Corsair?

Custom made for heinz food heir, Rust Heinz this sleek wonder also made a film appearance in 1938s The Young in Heart (starring Paulette Goddard and Douglas Fairbanks jr). How flattered Heinz would have been to hear his beauty referred to as the 'Flying Wombat' we'll never know (he died in a car accident in 1939).

Of course, style can overwhelm function when over-indulged (the front bumper of the Bugatti Royale might well have arrived at its destination before the rear one had even left home), but wouldn't you just love, just once, to ride in one of these all the way to that Movie premiere, or dinner in Monte Carlo?