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Postwar European Auto Design: In Praise of Cars With Real Curves

2 minute read
Maserati, 1947.
Maserati, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
By Ben Cosgrove

In August 1947, LIFE magazine shared with its readers a whole new world of car design taking shape in postwar Europe. “It is exciting in Europe,” LIFE wrote of the creative ferment on display at car shows in places like Paris and Rome, “but only promising in the States.”

The magazine then went on to discuss the ways in which European designers were outpacing their American cousins—a state of affairs largely unfamiliar to carmakers and consumers, alike:

Once again in a few favored places throughout the world [LIFE proclaimed] a man can ogle a new, well-turned fender and sniff the heady redolence that a new automobile’s paint, metal and upholstery distill. After six carless war years and two years of uninspired “face-lifting” some really new cars are on display. Mostly they are European. The top Continental cars shown in Paris and Rome last month were lavish, beautiful and original in design. Although far out of reach for most of the people who viewed them, they nevertheless might well be an inspiration to U.S. manufacturers. So far in America only five real postwar cars have appeared: the Hudson, Packard, Studebaker, Kaiser and Frazer. The long-awaited new cars of the Big Three, GM, Chrysler and Ford, are still subjects of nationwide curiosity.

Here, in this gallery, we present a number of the “lavish, beautiful and original” creations that greeted the curious and the covetous eight decades ago.

Maserati, 1947.
Maserati, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A new Bugatti, 1947.
A new Bugatti, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The interior steering panel and steering wheel of the Italian Isotta Fraschini, 1947.
Caption from LIFE. The interior steering panel and steering wheel of the Italian Isotta Fraschini, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
LIFE Magazine December 8, 1947
LIFE Magazine December 8, 1947LIFE Magazine
A French woman smiles proudly on an orange Delahaye with natural leather upholstery whose fenders would command the respect of any truck driver.
Caption from LIFE. A French woman smiles proudly on an orange Delahaye with natural leather upholstery whose fenders would command the respect of any truck driver.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The Czechoslavakian Tatra features a third headlight, 1947.
Caption from LIFE. The Czechoslavakian Tatra features a third headlight, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A view of the Italian Isotta Fraschini's engine, 1947.
A view of the Italian Isotta Fraschini's engine, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Isotta Fraschini, 1947.
Isotta Fraschini, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
LIFE magazine, December 8, 1947.
LIFE magazine, December 8, 1947.LIFE Magazine
A French Talbot, 1947.
A French Talbot, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Maserati, 1947.
Maserati, 1947.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Custom-bodied French Talbot, poised elegantly in Place de la Concorde, has sweeping, chrome-accented lines, was priced at $21,000 at the Paris Auto Show.
Caption from LIFE. Custom-bodied French Talbot, poised elegantly in Place de la Concorde, has sweeping, chrome-accented lines, was priced at $21,000 at the Paris Auto Show.Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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