The Voisin C25 of 1934 is the best known of Gabriel Voisin’s streamlined cars. In Aérodyne form it has a rounded tail, enclosed rear wheels and a low underslung chassis, and it is one of the most celebrated French cars of the Art Deco era.
Voisin C25 at a glance
| Maker | Avions Voisin, Issy-les-Moulineaux |
|---|---|
| Production | 1934 |
| Body | Aérodyne, streamlined |
| Chassis | underslung, very low |
| Engine | Knight sleeve-valve, company range |
| Style | Art Deco, streamlined coachwork |
| Concours | Best of Show, Pebble Beach 2011 |
| Auction | $1,925,000 on 18 August 2013 |
| Related model | Voisin C26 of 1935 |
No Wikipedia article exists for the C25; this page is based on the Avions Voisin company article in English and French, and is based on one source.
History of the Voisin C25
The C25 was introduced in 1934, at the very end of Avions Voisin’s independent life. Gabriel Voisin’s company had been building luxury cars at Issy-les-Moulineaux since 1919, and by the early 1930s its cars had acquired the low underslung chassis that made them, in the words of the English Wikipedia article, strikingly low. The C25 took that layout and clothed it in the most extreme body the firm ever produced: the Aérodyne, a streamlined shape with a rounded tail, enclosed rear wheels and a sweeping roofline that owed much to the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne taste of the period.
The Aérodyne was as much a statement about Gabriel Voisin’s design philosophy as a car. Voisin had studied at the Fine Arts School of Lyon and counted Le Corbusier among his friends and clients; his coachwork, developed with André Noel, favoured light aluminium panels, central weight distribution and angular lines over the ornamental radiators of his rivals. The C25 Aérodyne carried those rational ideas into pure aerodynamics, and the result was unlike anything else on French roads in 1934.
The model’s reputation has grown with every concours appearance. A 1934 C25 Aérodyne owned by Peter and Merle Mullin won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2011, and a 1935 example was auctioned at Pebble Beach on 18 August 2013 for $1,925,000. A C26 of 1935 was derived from the same design. Production of the C25 itself lasted only a year, but it remains the image most people have of a Voisin: low, aluminium-bodied and utterly individual.
Design and features
- Aérodyne body: a streamlined shape with a rounded tail and enclosed rear wheels.
- Underslung chassis: the very low layout of Voisin’s 1930s cars.
- Aluminium coachwork: light panels in the rational Voisin tradition.
- Art Deco style: Streamline Moderne proportions influenced by Le Corbusier and the taste of the era.
- Concours success: Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 2011 and a $1,925,000 auction result in 2013.
Voisin C25 versions
- C25 Aérodyne (1934): the streamlined closed body and the model’s signature form.
- C26 (1935): a derivative of the C25 design.
- Concours cars: the Mullin C25 Aérodyne and the 1935 car auctioned in 2013.
The C25 followed the V12 Voisin C20 and preceded the Voisin C28. More cars are in the Voisin collection.
Video: The Voisin C25 Aerodyne
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Avions Voisin, English Wikipedia: company history, concours and auction record
- Avions Voisin, French Wikipedia: coachwork, Art Deco style, Le Corbusier
