1934 British Chrysler (DeSoto) Airflow

The Chrysler Airflow is well-known to automobile buffs such as myself and, I suspect, most readers of this blog.  However, some aspects of the car don't show up on Airflow articles' radar.  One such is Airflows assembled outside the United States.

Some Chrysler Airflows were assembled in Canada -- a not very surprising practice in the 1930s.  More unusual is the fact that they also were assembled in England.  According to this snippet from Brightwells' auction site:

"This particular car is an especially rare example that was assembled at the Dodge-Chrysler factory in Kew in order to avoid the punitive 33% tax duty levied on complete cars imported to Britain from overseas.  Being a 1934 model, it retains all the charming idiosyncrasies of the early cars that were sadly diluted on later models in a vain attempt to bolster sales amongst a conservative public."

For me, the most interesting aspect of the 1934 British Chrysler Airflows was that they were not American-style Chrysler Airflows.  Instead, they were DeSoto Airflows with a few items of Chrysler trim.

Besides the import duty advantage of assembly in England, there might have been a horsepower tax advantage for basing Chryselr Airflows on DeSotos. The latter used six-cylinder motors, whereas American Chrysler Airflows had eight-cylinder engines.  British tax-horsepower ratings would have been about 27 and 34 respectively.  These were high numbers, and as best I can discover on a Google search, cars were taxed at the rate of a pound per horsepower.  Correct this in Comments if I'm wrong.

(Canadian-built 1934 Chrysler Airflows also were DeSoto-based, but used more Chrysler trim than the British version. That might be a subject for a future post.)

Below are images of the car Brightwells auctioned along with comparative images of a 1934 Chrysler Airflow and some 1934 DeSoto Airflows.

Gallery

1934 Chrysler CU Airflow 4-door sedan - factory photo
The CU sedan was by far the best-selling '34 Chrysler Airflow model.  Its wheelbase was 123 inches (3124 mm), whereas DeSoto Airflows had a 115.5 inch (2934 mm) wheelbase.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow 4-door sedan - factory photo
The wheelbase difference yielded a stubbier section forward of the cowling / A-pillar.  Stylistic differences include the grille, headlight assemblies, hood louvers, and bumpers.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo

1934 Chrysler Airflow 4-door sedan, UK version - via Brightwells auctions
This car is almost identical to the '34 DeSoto in the previous image, even down to the hood ornament.  The differences I note are chromed headlight surrounds and the American Chrysler Airflow bumper.

The chromed strip on the backlight window divider was found on DeSoto Airflows as seen above, but not Chryslers.  Again, the bumper is American Chrysler Airflow.  The other American Chrysler Airflow detail is the word "Chrysler" on all the hubcaps.  Tail light details can be ignored because this car had to be made street-legal in England post-1934.  The same might be true of the small lights atop the front fenders.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow 4-door sedan - via The Henry Ford (museum)

Side views are essentially identical.

This is really an example of minimalist "badge engineering."