1934 chrysler airflow hubley manufacturing company

#1934 chrysler airflow hubley manufacturing company full#

He was preoccupied with the rising speeds of the increasingly more powerful cars that were coming out-and with gazing skyward one day in 1927 at a formation of Army planes circling over his summer house at Gratiot Beach on Lake Huron north of Detroit. Chrysler loved.īreer’s mind was churning. The trio instantly meshed as a unit Zeder was the salesman, Skelton was a disciplined powertrain expert, and Breer was the dreamer, the guy who had the kind of crazy schemes that Walter P. Breer and Zeder had known each other since their apprenticeship days, and they met Skelton while at Studebaker. He immediately hired his so-called “Three Musketeers,” ex-Studebaker and Willys-Overland engineers Carl Breer, Owen Skelton, and Fred Zeder. Chrysler ran out of the house fire that was Willys-Overland and, after a few false starts, in 1925 incorporated Chrysler atop the bones of the ailing Maxwell Motor Company. A constant gyre of talent and ideas and investor cash saw companies rise and fall and merge and die seemingly overnight. The auto industry of the 1920s resembled freewheeling Silicon Valley in the 1990s. What a thrilling place to work the newly formed Chrysler Corporation must have been in its earliest days.

#1934 chrysler airflow hubley manufacturing company full#

Though the auto industry’s dustbin is full of pioneers that were doomed to be unappreciated in their moment, the Airflow is one of its most illustrious residents. Chrysler yanked it in defeat after the 1937 model year and turned its back on design flair for a generation. The Airflow was also a flop, soundly rejected by the buying public for the four short years of its existence.

Its debut at the New York auto show on Saturday, January 6, 1934, made the newspapers around the nation, and its advancements in engineering and design foreshadowed almost every mass-produced car that followed, including the cars we drive today. The Chrysler Airflow-it was also called the Airflow Chrysler, the Airflow Imperial, and the DeSoto Airflow-was a lightning flash of innovation in the midst of the wretched Great Depression. Now we have the first real motor car in history.” “We had the horse and buggy,” enthused Walter P. Then he drove from New York to San Francisco in the same car, averaging 18 mpg and spending just $33.06 on gas. Indy veteran Harry Hartz set 72 speed and distance records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in one, driving 97.5 mph over the flying mile. Babe Ruth had one, as did actor Dick Powell. George Brown of Honolulu complained of being harassed by onlookers wherever she parked hers downtown. Do check out my other auctions this week for similar eclectic bits of Automobilia and Americana.The first one in Oregon rolled into Medford behind a state police escort. Condition is excellent in every way and this Airflow will certainly be a stand-out in most any Chrysler Collection! Like all my auctions, item is an ABSOLUTE SALE, sells AS-IS, and in this case is offered with a MODEST RESERVE, commensurate with it's rarity and value. These are becoming harder to find in today's toy scene.

Body was refinished in a matching original Red and the resulting Airflow has been in my collection ever since! Car measures 6 and 3/8 inches in length and is one of the mid-size Hubley Airflows. Charles, IL, and at the same venue I purchased a new nickeled frame and 5 NOS White rubber tires from Julian Thomas (Thomas Toys). I acquired the excellent bare body in the mid-1980s at the Kane County Toy Show at St. IF YOU OPT FOR THE BUY IT NOW, I WILL SHIP FREE! This Red beauty is a 1988 restoration by my good friend, Don Rice of LaHarpe, IL. NOTE: THIS IS A RELIST-BOTH RESERVE AND BUY IT NOW HAVE BEEN LOWERED-NOTE ALSO: A SHORT 3 DAY AUCTION. You are bidding on a Cast Iron 1934 CHRYSLER AIRFLOW 4-Door Sedan Model by the venerable US Toymaker, HUBLEY of Lancaster, PA.