1934 DeSoto Airflow Coupe

Chrysler's Airflow line of the mid-1930s was the first truly aerodynamic streamlined American car — it bored through the air, as Chrysler advertised, and they could prove it with extensive wind tunnel testing. Its steel, semi-unitized body was years ahead of the competition; Chrysler demonstrated its structural strength by pushing one off a 110-foot cliff and then driving it away. Fewer than 1,600 DeSoto Airflows were built in 1934, and only a handful are known to survive today.

This rare coupe body style — believed to be 1 of only 10 remaining examples — received a body-off-the-frame restoration within the last 12 years and wears an attractive period-correct silver exterior. Before being acquired by the Grand Rapids Classics Auto Museum in the fall of 2022, it resided in another Michigan collection for 10 years, amazingly accompanied by two other Airflows. An unmistakable and highly desirable streamlined, aerodynamic design, it is easily one of the finest from the Art Deco Era.