Precious Metal at The Peterson Automotive Museum is a special exhibit focusing on the luxurious use of silver for the creme de la creme of cars. These gorgeous beauties above were my favorites of their collection.
The 1938 Hispano-Suiza was custom built by Andre Dubonnet, heir to the Dubonnet aperitif fortune. Dubonnet, a French flying ace and race car driver, built this to showcase a new suspension of his own design called the Xenia. The avant-garde tear drop body was designed by Jacques Saoutchik and features an aircraft inspired interior. I must point out how stunning the chrome tipped exhaust is, as well as the hinged drivers door windows that open outwards.
The 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan was an extraordinary car for it’s time, and has undoubtedly withstood the test of time. Built for the 1933 Century of Progress exposition with the sole goal of outclassing every other car then available, it featured sleek Rollston coachwork with a staggering price of $20,000 at the height of the Great Depression. Todays equivalent would be a price point of $359,000. That said, current auction records put this stunner at a value of about $1,410,000. If you had ‘Twenty Grand’ in 1933, this would have been a great return on your investment.
The 1937 Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet by Voll & Ruhrbeck has to be one of the sexiest, and also one of the most elegant cars of it’s era. Its proportions are both streamlined and voluptuous with extraordinary chrome details. Horch merged with DKW, WAnderer and Audi in 1932 to form the Auto Union conglomerate, whose four-ring emblem can be seen on both this car, as well as the modern Audi.
My next post will feature the glamorous Delahaye’s of the Peterson, more elegant cars from the late 1930’s.
Precious Metal at the Peterson Automotive Museum