Architect-Designed Cars Part 3: Avions Voisin----Dreams From the Sky

In Part 2 of this series, we commented that no cars designed by architects other than the Citroen 2CV had ever been mass-produced, and later corrected that to read "practicing architects" after a bit more research on the subject.  Yeah, we know, that's cheating.  But it seems there were several designers and engineers trained as architects who decided to give designing cars a try. One of them managed to get a couple thousand cars built, a notable achievement considering they were mostly built by hand. His name was Gabriel Voisin, and he studied to be an architect but was distracted by the new world of aviation, became the first commercial airplane builder with his brother Charles in 1907, and built Voisin III and V planes for use in World War I, a time when he volunteered as a combat pilot in the nascent French Air Corps.  Metal-framed Voisins were more advanced than the wood-framed planes of that war, and a Voisin shot down a German plane in the first aerial fight of the conflict.

Demoralized by the destruction of war, Voisin turned to car manufacture in 1919 when it became clear that people did not share his futurist's enthusiasm for commercial aviation. Half a decade after its founding, the firm, still called Avions Voisins, produced the 1924 C5 above. The "C" preceding all Voisin model numbers was Gabriel's tribute to younger brother Charles, killed in an automobile accident in 1912. Note the sharp creases atop the fenders; most coachwork for Voisins was designed by Voisin and design engineer André Noel Telmont and built in the company workshops, an unusual arrangement at a time when most expensive cars were offered only as chassis for bespoke coachwork. The C11 shown below was built in 1927 and has wicker surfaces around the cockpit and on the doors.  Emphasis on light weight and balancing masses was derived from aircraft experience.  All Voisins used light alloy extensively and were powered by Voisin-built engines of 4, 6, 8 (a V8 prototype) and 12 cylinders (60 degree V12s but with one inline prototype) using Knight sleeve-valve patents.  An advantage of sleeve valves was that there were no valve springs, and the engines could sustain higher speeds in relative silence, an aspect Voisin valued.  A disadvantage was higher oil consumption owing to the reciprocating sleeves.  Voisin was also a pioneer in the adoption of hydraulic brakes and clutches, and devised a silent electric starting system.

During the Twenties, Voisin's architectural training met with his futurism in his plans for "Your House in 3 Days", a house built of engineered, prefabricated* components which could be assembled in short order.  In Voisin's view, the prefabricated system would be ideal to meet the housing needs of soldiers returning to civilian life, often in towns badly damaged by war. While several houses were built, the scheme met with opposition from France's construction trades as well as skepticism from the public, something that would greet other architects who proposed this idea in the US in the period after yet another great war.

It turned out that the Twenties was the golden era for Avions Voisins. The six-cylinder C14 model accounted for the majority of sales, nearly 1,800 cars. The Voisins parked in front of Voisin's prefabricated house were designed at a time of optimism and innovation. Voisin and Telmont had released their Laboratoire Grand Prix car in 1923, an early example of monocoque chassis design driven by engineer André Lefebvre to 5th place in the Tours GP. As the decade progressed they also aimed at lowering the center of gravity on their cars. Along with engineer Lefebvre (of future Citroen fame), they conceived of the C18 and C20 powered by 3.9 and 4.9 liter V12 engines, with low-slung chassis and angular coachwork reflecting Telmont's ideas. The close-coupled Scirocco 4 door Berline below was shown at Paris in 1931, and combines modernist chassis principles with traditional ideas of horseless carriage design, and echoes of the separate "elements of architecture" from Voisin's architectural training. Gabriel's friend and client, architect Le Corbusier* reputedly designed the hardware for these cars. Even the lightweight winged hood ornament shown in the top photo was riveted together from light alloy plates...

There was also a two-door coupé in the same style called the C20 Mylord Demi-Berline. This car survives, and was recently auctioned for an eye-watering price.  Back in the early Thirties, however, these complex, expensive extravagances were not in demand, and sales were so low that Voisin had to furlough his drafting staff, along with engineer Lefebvre.

An earlier V12 model, the C18 below, was re-bodied in handsome but conventional style by an unknown coachbuilder. The steeply-angled windshield recalls Jean Bugatti's T50 Profilée coachwork, while the hood and fenders would look at home on a Bentley.  Of the handful of V12 Voisins built, only two survive. The Bucciali TAV8-32*, a front-wheel drive low-chassis car by Voisin's fellow aviator Paul-Albert Bucciali which appeared the year after the Voisin C20, used the same 4.9 liter sleeve-valve V12 as that car.  

Voisin soon decided to introduce a smaller, lighter car with a new chassis design incorporating double wishbone front suspension and 3-liter 6 cylinder engine, a bit more in tune with the reality of the Great Depression. The C25 looked fairly sedate in side elevation, but the version below was equipped with a sliding metal sunroof with its own circular skylights, the rearmost of which would allow rearward vision when the sunroof was open...

The similar C26 below also features the encircling  bright metal running board / fender ledge, with more conventional bumpers above it for added protection.

The rear of the C26 shows the bright metal rails for the retracting, surface-mounted sunroof. Despite the new chassis and body innovations, sales of the C25 and C26 combined was less than a tenth of the C14 from the Twenties.

When other coachbuilders got a chance to work on Voisin chassis, the results were often spectacular, as on this yellow and black C27 roadster, bodied by Joseph Figoni in 1934. Figoni would be joined by Ovidio Falaschi the next year, and would soon be identified with swoopy teardrop bodies on Delahaye and Talbot Lago chassis, but many of the identifying marks are already here on this 6 cylinder, 3 liter Voisin, including the sweeping trim lines dividing contrasting colors...

...and the tapered tail with ridge running down the circular deck lid.  Sadly, this was the only Figoni Voisin, and one of only two C27s the factory built before moving on to the C28. 

The other C27 was a coupe bodied by Voisin. Note the bright, scalloped metal ledge encircling the base of the fenders, as on the C25 and 26 sedans.  This became a feature on all factory-bodied Voisins, along with the winged hood ornament flanked by diagonal braces running to the fender tops.

The V-shaped side window sills were an innovation, perhaps a place to rest your arm.  The cubist-influenced, Art Deco upholstery has the visual effect of de-materializing the interior surfaces. Sunroofs were one of Gabriel Voisin's favorite details...

After the departure of André Telmont and facing dire finances, Gabriel Voisin took over body design, and introduced the C28 in 1935, with the six-cylinder engine expanded to 3.3 liters and more aerodynamic bodywork of his own design. On Lane Motor Museum's 1936 C28 Ambassade sedan below, Voisin's unique detail for the metal sunroof is visible. The windshield has no header; this enhances the open-air feeling for the driver and passengers, but makes it more difficult to form a weathertight seal between glass and metal. This insensitivity to water intrusion issues may possibly be taken as proof that Gabriel Voisin was, at heart, an architect... 
                 

To introduce the C28 series, Voisin designed every detail of a luxurious grand touring coupé called the Aerosport.  Like the Czech Tatra it featured a futurist pontoon body style with flush sides sweeping from curved prow to tapered tail.  The headerless windshield and open metal sunroof can also be seen below.

By contrast with contemporary designs like the C27 Figoni roadster, the Aerosport has a heavy presence, as if it were machined from from a solid billet of steel. But appearances are deceiving. The body panels, like those on all Voisin-bodied cars of this period, are entirely aluminum, and the detailing reflects Voisin's structural concerns as well as concerns about the construction process. Only 3 or 4 Aerosports were built. One prototype with similar body design on a longer wheelbase was exhibited with tandem 6 cylinder engines, apparently owing to unavailability of funds for a new V12. 

The cockpit has a seriousness born of aircraft practice, and a timelessness born of a design philosophy that could be called "sense of machine."  Here the open feeling created by the headerless windshield and open sliding roof can be observed, along with the detail of the floating windshield wipers. Like Delahayes of the period, the Aerosport used a Cotal preselector transmission.

The rear seating area was cozy and cosseting, an impression enhanced by the high window sills and low roof. The cylinder forward of the rear window houses the motor for the electrically-controlled sliding roof. 

At least one C28 was bodied by an outside coachbuilder. The 1938 cabriolet below is credited to Saliot, a garage that specialized in repairing and maintaining Voisins but did not have its own body fabrication facility. Possibly subcontracted in the late prewar or early postwar period to a specialist, the body resembles Delahayes from Pourtout or Faget-Varnet more than the rigorously geometric Aerosport. It's one of the few Voisins not to feature the traditional radiator shape, but the winged mascot is there, and the designers have deftly concealed hinges and even handles; the push button forward of the door opening is a nice touch.

Considering the price, which exceeded that of Bugatti's Type 57, Voisin probably did well to sell sixty-one C28s, all body styles included. By the time a receiver took over Voisin's factory and issued a half-hearted C30 with side-valve American Continental six and Dubos coachwork, the clouds of war were again darkening the skies over Avions Voisin... 

In the period after World War 2, Gabriel Voisin returned to his interest in designing a car that would  serve as minimum basic transport, echoing a theme that had been explored before the war by his friend and client, Le Corbusier*. Voisin called the result the Biscooter, and powered it with a Gnome & Rhone single cylinder engine driving the front wheels.  Gnome & Rhone took over the Voisin firm by 1950, when the Biscooter was first shown under the Voisin-Gnome & Rhone banner.  Around a dozen prototypes were built.

                           

Then Gnome & Rhone licensed the design to a Spanish company, which built around 12,000 of the renamed Biscuters in car-starved post-civil war Spain.  By 1957, the Spanish Biscuter had substituted steel for the aluminum used in Voisin's design and added an electric starter, but kept the essential simplicity. The design was Voisin's last impact on the car industry.  After a lifetime of effecting change in the air and on the ground, Gabriel Voisin died on Christmas 1973; he was 93 years old. 

*Footnote:  For a look at the Voisin V12-powered Bucciali TAV8-32, see our post "The French Line Part 4: Jacques Saoutchik" from March 8, 2020.  The Lumineuse coupe Voisin built for fellow-architect Le Corbusier is shown in "Architect-Designed Cars Part I", posted on May 7, 2017, along with Corbu's design for a Minimum Car. "Architect-Designed Cars Part 2" appeared on May 21, 2017. Finally, we explored some ideas on prefabricated housing in the August 3, 2017 post entitled "Mobile vs. Prefab:  It It Can't Go Anywhere, Can It At Least Look Like Home?"

Photo Credits:  
Top & 2nd:  wikimedia 
3nd & 4th:  youtube.com
5th & 6th:   automobiles-voisin.fr
7th:  auta5p.eu (V12 Scirocco)
8th:  goodingco.com (V12 Mylord)
9th:  automobiles-voisin.fr   (C18)
10th:  topspeed.com (C25)
11th & 12th:  wikimedia (C26 sedan)
13th & 14th:  the author (C27 roadster by Figoni)
15th:  wikimedia (C27 coupé)
16th:  artfixdaily.com (C27 coupé interior)
17th:  lanemotormusuem.org (C28 sedan)
18th & 20th:  wikimedia (C28 Aerosport)
19th:  en.wheelsage.org (Aerosport)
21st:  patrimoineautomobile.com (Aerosport dash)
22nd:  en.wheelsage.org (Aerosport interior)
23rd & 24th:  automobiles-voisin.fr   (C28 Saliot cabriolet)
25th & Bottom:  wikimedia (Biscooter prototype & Biscuter wagon)