Thursday, October 12, 2023

1934 One-Year-Only Airflow Brougham

Aside from some very expensive Custom Imperial sedans, the rarest Chrysler Corporation Airflows of model years 1934-1937 were the 1934-only Broughams (2-door sedans).  Only 828 were made: 306 Chrysler CUs and 522 DeSoto SEs.

Before the 1934 model year was over, it became obvious to Chrysler management that Airflows were not selling nearly as well as expected.  So changes were made, mostly in the form of redesigned Airflow grilles and the addition of the conventionally styled Airstream line.

Another change was dropping Broughams from the model lines.   Coupes did better than Broughams in 2-door car sales, but not much better.  Nevertheless, Coupe production continued at low levels until the Airflow was abandoned even though killing that style after 1934 was probably economically justified.

Based on Internet searches at the time this post is being drafted (August 2023), only one Airflow Brougham appears to exist.  It is pictured below.

Gallery

1934 Chrysler CU Airflow Brougham - advertising art
This is the only image of a Chrysler Airflow Brougham in my database.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - factory photo
One of the DeSoto Airflow Brougham publicity images in my database.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - publicity
The other such image.  One of my reference books refers to DeSoto 2-door sedans as Broughams, though my publicity material, probably created in time for the Airflow's launch, uses "2-door Sedan" as shown here.  "Brougham" seems to have been applied later in the model year.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Coupe - Worldwide Auctioneers photo
Now to compare Airflow Broughams to other body types.  Here is a DeSoto Coupe with its fastback profile.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow 4-door sedan - publicity photo featuring actress Ida Lupino
This shows the 4-door sedan profile.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - Pat Durkin photo
The Brougham's profile is the same as the sedan's, but doors and windows differ.  The Brougham seems to share the Coupe's door.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - via AutoRestorer

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