29 luxury cars of the 1930s

The lap of luxury

The 1930s were strange years for the motor industry.

Most of the world was in a state of economic depression, and automobile manufacturers on the whole responded to this in an obvious manner, yet some, paradoxically, also produced models of previously unimagined luxury which still seem astonishing today, nearly a century later.

Here we take an alphabetical run through 29 cars designed for exceptionally wealthy customers in a period when many people could not afford a car at all.

1. Bentley 8 Litre

The last car introduced by Bentley in its days as a completely independent marque was powered by a development of the existing 6597cc straight-six engine, overbored to a capacity of 7983cc.

By the time it was introduced in October 1930, Bentley had won five of the first eight Le Mans 24-hour races, and the new model was certainly fast (‘on performance alone it stands right in the forefront as an equal, at least, of any other car in existence,’ said The Autocar) yet also unquestionably luxurious.

Despite a remarkable ability to accelerate from walking pace to more than 100mph in top gear, the 8 Litre (to use the British spelling) was unable to save a company whose finances had become untenable.

Bentley went into receivership only months after the car went on sale, and what might have been a very short, though dramatic, existence was extended only when Rolls-Royce took over in November 1931, by which time the 8 Litre was firmly a thing of the past.

2. Bugatti Royale

Possibly the most extravagant car of the entire decade, the Bugatti Royale was fitted with an enormous, 12.8-liter, straight-eight engine producing around 300HP, and cost an absolute fortune.

As its name suggested, it was aimed at royalty (or non-royal heads of state, if they were interested), but even those people found it difficult to justify buying one at a time of global economic depression.

Total production did not come close to double figures, leading the motoring historian Michael Sedgwick to describe the car in 1970 as a “splendid white elephant”.

The engine was far more successful, being used to power French railway locomotives well into the 1950s.

3. Bugatti Type 57

In general, the Bugatti Type 57 was a grand tourer powered by a 3.3-liter, straight-eight engine.

The S (lowered) and SC (lowered and supercharged) variants were rarer and more special than the others, and included the Aérolithe concept, and the Atalante (pictured) and Atlantic production cars.

All of these had swooping, curvaceous bodies, with only the stand-alone headlights and the famous vertical Bugatti grille diverting from the developing 1930s fashion for aerodynamic body styling.

4. Buick Series 60

On its introduction in 1930, the Series 60 sat at the top of the Buick range, and was powered by a 5.4-liter, straight-six engine.

A year later, it had dropped to second place behind the Series 90, and customer preference for straight-eights led to Buick fitting one of those instead.

Early versions were very much of ‘classic’ design, though as time wore on a certain amount of streamlining became apparent.

The Series 90 was replaced in 1936, a year in which Buick stopped using ‘series’ model names and, in this case, began using Century instead.

5. Buick Series 90

The Series 90 took over from the Series 60 as the top Buick in 1931, and was available right from the start with the new straight-eight engine.

Both related to and a rival of contemporary Cadillacs, the Buick Series 90 was normally supplied with bodies by Fisher, though customers could buy rolling chassis and commission bodies from independent coachbuilders.

As with the Series 60, the 90 was replaced in 1936 by a more streamlined model with a name rather than a number, being known in this form as the Limited.

6. Cadillac V-16

Following the conventional wisdom that four cylinders are twice as good as two, eight are twice as good as four, and so on, Cadillac reached new heights in 1930 with a car whose engine boasted no fewer than 16.

Remarkably, having persevered with the original V-16 from 1930 to 1937, Cadillac then brought out another with a different engine of the same layout, and built that until 1940.

Customer enthusiasm for such costly and thirsty cars (4mpg was spoken of in hushed tones) was understandably limited during the Depression era, but the V-16 could at least be thought of as an inexpensive alternative to the Bugatti Royale.

7. Chrysler Imperial

The first of many Chrysler Imperials was introduced in the 1926 model year, and was powered by a straight-six engine.

In 1930, Chrysler replaced it with a second-generation model which had a more fashionable straight-eight, and was available with many different bodies, some supplied by Chrysler itself and others by coachbuilding specialists.

The third Imperial, produced from 1934 to 1936, shared unibody construction and dramatic aerodynamic styling with the contemporary Airflow, and sent customers scurrying towards the welcoming arms of rival manufacturers to about the same extent.

Slightly more conventional styling was applied to the next Imperial, sold from 1937 to 1939.

8. Cord L-29

In terms of its appearance, the Cord L-29 was almost the emblem of North American inter-war luxury-car design.

Its considerable length was inevitable, given that its 5-liter Lycoming straight-eight engine was mounted behind the gearbox, which – uniquely in the US motor industry at the time – drove the front wheels.

Despite its beauty, the L-29 had many issues and failed to attract enough customers, limiting its lifespan from 1929 to 1932.

Cord returned four years later with the sensationally styled (and once again front-wheel drive) 810 and 812, which were even less successful.

9. Daimler Double-Six

Every Double-Six produced from 1926 to 1938 had a V12 engine which amounted to two of Daimler’s existing straight-sixes, but there were several variations.

The Double-Six 50 and 30 had sleeve-valve units with capacities of 7.1 and 3.7 liters respectively, and they were followed by the 30/40 and 40/50, whose motors were of a new, though similar, design, and measured 5.3 and 6.5 liters.

The final variation was a repeat of the 6.5-liter, but with conventional poppet valves rather than sleeves.

The magnificent Double-Sixes were within the reach only of particularly wealthy customers, one of whom was King George V.

10. Delage D8

The D8 name was applied to several Delages sold throughout the 1930s.

All of them had straight-eight engines, but there was a variety of chassis lengths, along with a very wide choice of bodies meant that a D8 could be almost anything from a sporty roadster to a grand luxury car.

Delage was taken over by Delahaye in 1935, and D8s produced later in the decade were essentially Delahayes powered by the Delage straight-eight.

11. Delahaye 135

Partly responsible for an upturn in Delahaye’s fortunes in the 1930s, the 135 is often referred to as a luxury model, but can equally well be described as a sports car.

All versions had a straight-six engine, initially measuring 3.2 liters, though a 3.6-liter version also became available.

Delahaye realized the publicity value of competing in motorsport, for which the 135 turned out to be very suitable.

Competition-prepared versions won the Rallye Monte-Carlo in 1937, shared overall honors with a Hotchkiss on the same event two years later (thereby making Delahaye the only manufacturer to win it one and a half times), and finished first, second and fourth in the 1938 Le Mans 24 Hours.

12. Duesenberg Model J

Duesenberg unveiled the Model J at the 1928 New York show, less than a year before the Wall Street crash.

More unfortunate timing would be difficult to imagine, but the Model J was so good that the few people who could afford to buy one continued to do so throughout the 1930s.

It was immensely luxurious, but also astonishingly fast thanks to a 6.9-litre, straight-eight engine with twin overhead camshafts and, from 1932, optional supercharging.

Although there were variations, Model Js were generally very large, the standard wheelbase being close to 12 feet (about 3.7m).

13. Franklin Series 17

It seems obvious, beyond the point of worth mentioning, that a luxury car of the 1930s would have a water-cooled engine.

Franklin, however, specialized in air-cooling, and used it for the 6.5-liter V12 fitted to its Series 17.

From 1932, supercharging was said to be available, but this turned out to be just a fancy way of describing extra ducting in the general direction of the carburetor.

Franklin was already in serious financial trouble (it collapsed in 1934), and this led to the promising Series 17 being not as good as, and far heavier than, might otherwise have been the case.

14. Hispano-Suiza J12

Also known as the Type 68, the Hispano-Suiza J12 was one of the very few cars spoken of in the same terms as the Bugatti Royale and the Duesenberg Model J.

Its V12 engine, described by journalist Ronald Barker as being ‘as quiet as a club library’, produced a claimed, and possibly understated, 190HP or 220HP depending on compression ratio in 9.4-liter form, and 250HP when its stroke was lengthened so that it measured 11.3 liters.

High speed was certainly possible, but not entirely the point; The Autocar described the version it drove as ‘unquestionably one of the world’s finest cars in both design and performance on the road’.

High-profile owners included Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.

15. Horch 8

This is a generic term for Horch cars, including the Type 350 pictured here, with straight-eight engines (the first from any German manufacturer) built from 1926, when Horch was still an independent company, to 1935, three years after it had become the most prestigious marque in the Auto Union conglomerate.

Capacities ranged from 3 to 4.9 liters, the last version exceeding the size of any engine produced by Horch in the 1930s other than a 6-liter V12.

According to Audi, today’s equivalent of Auto Union, the 8s accounted for 44% of sales of cars over 4 liters in Germany in 1932, rising to 55% six years later.

Including a short-lived V8, Horch is believed to have built nearly 70,000 eight-cylinder cars before it closed in 1940.

16. Lagonda V12

Shortly after buying Lagonda, Alan P Good (who had managed to outbid Rolls-Royce at the age of just 29) reportedly told his new employees, “We are going to build the best car in the world, and have just two years to do it in.”

The car in question was named after its engine, a V12 with a relatively small capacity of 4.5 liters but notable for its high power output and quiet running.

There has been criticism of its braking (due to its considerable weight) and lack of power at low revs, but it could comfortably exceed 100mph in standard form, and finished third and fourth at Le Mans in 1939.

Most of the V12s, and indeed most Lagondas of the time, have been described as sports cars of one sort and another, but the range included a small number of long-wheelbase limousines.

17. Lincoln K Series

The first of the K models by the formerly independent Lincoln – by now (as it still is) Ford’s luxury division – was a V8 introduced in 1931.

The following year, Lincoln launched the mighty KB, which was powered by a 7.2-liter V12, the V8 later returning for use in a smaller version called the KA.

The capacity of the V12 would vary over the years, and there was a major styling change in 1937, when the headlights retreated into the front fenders, but the K remained an imposing (and very heavy) car through its production run.

This ended in 1939, though some examples did not find buyers until 1940.

18. Marmon Sixteen

After Cadillac, Marmon was the second American manufacturer to put on sale a car with a V16 engine.

Measuring 8 liters, the unit was quite a behemoth (if not by Bugatti Royale standards), but it was also surprisingly light, since almost all of it was made of aluminum.

Marmon devised a V12 by removing four cylinders from the V16, but it was never fitted to a production vehicle.

Financial troubles brought the whole operation to a halt in 1933, and that was the end of both Marmon and its magnificent Sixteen.

19. Maybach Zeppelin

The Zeppelin story begins in 1929, when Maybach introduced a model known variously as the DS 7 (DS standing for doppel sechs, meaning ‘double six’) or more simply the 12, which was powered by a 7-liter V12 engine.

The Zeppelin, or DS 8, arrived a year later, with a version of the same unit whose greater bore increased the capacity to 8 liters and raised the maximum power output from c150 to c200HP.

Each of them, but especially the Zeppelin, was what the Germans called a Represaentionswagen, a term which has been translated as ‘a car which will make the biggest possible impact at the embassy, the opera or the country club’.

In a period when luxury cars generally had gearboxes with only three forward speeds, or occasionally four, the Zeppelin was available with eight, plus another four for going backwards.

20. Mercedes-Benz 770

The first Grand Mercedes, revealed at the Paris motor show in 1930, had a 7.7-liter straight-eight engine which produced 150HP in standard form or 200HP with supercharging, an option taken up for 104 of the 117 examples built until 1938.

The replacement 770 launched in that year had supercharging as standard, along with a more modern chassis, more sophisticated suspension, still more power (up to 230HP now) and a five-speed gearbox.

In total, 88 of the second-generation cars were built before production stopped in 1943, around half of them in 1939 alone.

In both cases, armor plating was available for particularly sensitive customers.

21. Mercedes-Benz Nürburg

From 1928 to 1939, motorists who wanted a luxury Mercedes but were unable to afford a 770 could settle instead for the Nürburg.

It was named after the Nürburgring race circuit, but while this might be taken to suggest high performance, it was in fact a reference to the fact that a prototype had covered 20,000km (c12,400 miles) there in 13 days during testing.

This was the first Mercedes with a straight-eight engine, designed under the watch of Ferdinand Porsche and measuring either 4.6 or 4.9 liters.

Sometimes known as the Nürburg 8, the car was available with a choice of two wheelbases and several bodies, some supplied by Mercedes itself and others by the independent companies Erdmann & Rossi, Neuss, Papler, Gläser and Voll & Ruhrbeck.

22. Packard Twelve

Packard led the first wave of American cars with V12 engines in 1916, and was its only survivor in 1923.

The company returned to the layout in 1933 with a car known at first by the old name of Twin Six, though it was soon rechristened Twelve.

The new engine initially measured 7.3 liters but was enlarged to 7.8 liters in 1935, the same year that Packard adopted rounder body styling to meet the fashion of the day.

Also in 1935, and in an act of diplomacy deemed appropriate at the time, US president Franklin D Roosevelt presented a Twelve to Russian leader Joseph Stalin, who was fond of cars in general and Packards in particular.

23. Pierce-Arrow Model 41

Along with Peerless (which collapsed in the early 1930s) and Packard, Pierce-Arrow was one of the ‘three Ps’, a triumvirate of grand but otherwise unconnected US car manufacturers, though before the period we’re looking at here it had been taken over by Studebaker.

Its Model 41 was introduced in 1931, and had a 6.3-liter, straight-eight engine sitting in a 147in (3734mm) wheelbase chassis.

The price could be as high as $6250, an astonishing amount considering that the smaller Model 43 could be had for a far more modest $2685.

24. Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow

A year after the launch of the Model 41, Pierce-Arrow brought out a V12 engine which was, at 7.6 liters (the highest of several available capacities), the largest of its type made by an American manufacturer in the 1930s.

The most startling car it appeared in was the 1933 Silver Arrow, a striking if not exactly beautiful machine whose body foreshadowed the upcoming trend of aerodynamic design.

It was intended as a show car, but Pierce-Arrow made it available to customers at the staggering price of $10,000.

Only five were built, which gave the Silver Arrow the unusual distinction of being even rarer than the Bugatti Royale.

25. Rolls-Royce 20/25

Motorists who sought the luxury of the larger Rolls-Royce but were unable to afford them had the option of several ‘junior’ models.

The first was the 20hp (also known as the Twenty), launched in 1922, and it was followed by the 20/25hp, the 25/30hp and the Wraith, whose production was cut short by the outbreak of war.

Manufactured from 1929 to 1936, the 20/25 was on sale for longest, and Rolls-Royce sold nearly 4000 in that time, making this one of the marque’s most popular cars.

The Twenty’s straight-six engine was enlarged from 3.1 to 3.6 liters for the new model and was given a power increase in 1932, one of many improvements made during the 20/25’s run.

26. Rolls-Royce Phantom II

Introduced in 1929, the Rolls-Royce Phantom II used more or less the same 7.7-liter straight-six engine fitted to the original Phantom launched four years earlier, though this now had a crossflow cylinder head for the first time.

There were more significant changes elsewhere, including a new chassis, revised suspension, and an engine and gearbox bolted together rather than mounted separately.

The Continental models were usually based on the shorter of the two available chassis, and were somewhat sportier than the regular Phantom IIs, though undoubtedly still luxurious.

27. Rolls-Royce Phantom III

The Phantom III was the last full-size Rolls-Royce introduced before the Second World War, and the only car the company produced with a V12 engine, in this case with a 7.3-liter capacity, until the end of the 20th century.

The company also used independent front suspension for the first time, and paid more attention than ever before to taming the evil trio of noise, vibration and harshness.

In all, 710 examples of the Phantom III were built before Rolls-Royce temporarily suspended all car production in 1939.

28. Stutz DV-32

Motoring historians speak in hushed tones of the Duesenberg Model J’s engine, but the 5.3-liter straight-eight in the Stutz DV-32 demands similar respect.

Astonishingly for the 1930s, it had twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, and produced an exceptional 156HP without supercharging, far in advance of the single-cam version’s 113HP.

The car as a whole was reviewed in glowing terms, but Stutz was in terrible financial trouble, and after being introduced in 1932 the DV-32 was gone by the middle of the decade.

29. Tatra T77

Although it wasn’t apparent during the post-war Communist era, the former Czechoslovakia has a long history of building luxury cars.

Perhaps the most remarkable was the Tatra T77 of 1934, which combined amazingly aerodynamic bodywork with a rear-mounted V8 engine of first 3 liters and, from 1936, 3.4.

As well as being a very high-class vehicle, the T77 was both fast and economical, and was said to ride so well that it could be driven quickly with two wheels on the roadside verge.

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