1935 Voisin C28 Aerosport

Voisin’s cars were all characterized by extraordinary riding comfort and exceptional silence of operation – a silence paid in part by clouds of burnt oil left behind by the sleeve-valve engine. Voisin was early in moving the passenger compartment forwards into the wheelbase, a trend accelerated by the Chrysler Airflow in 1934. Because of their cosseting qualities, the company’s cars were favoured by the French president and the government ministers, although their custom was not enough to prevent its failure by 1937. Built to uncompromising standards, voisin cars, like those of many other quality manufacturers, were simply not suited to the strictures of the global economic depression that began in 1929 and ravages the car industry, leading to the severe consolidation that took place thirty years later all over the world.

These extracts are taken from Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design by Michel Zumbrunn, text by Robert Cumberford which was published in October by Merrell