1934 Voisin Type C-27

Gabriel Voisin was a successful aviator and builder of airplanes. He is considered to be one of the principal pioneers of aviation; some have even said he had built a flyable airplane before the Wright brothers. In 1907 Gabriel Voisin and his brother, Charles, designed the first planes to fly in France. Charles was killed in a car in 1912, but Gabriel continued to build planes, eventually producing over 10,000 aircraft.

After the First World War, the demand for airplanes began to subside so Voisin turned his attention to the automotive world. Voisin had a great deal of technical and engineering expertise but lacked sufficient knowledge of automobile techniques. He started by buying rights to Citroen models, using designs that had undergone testing, rather than starting 'from scratch.' The 1918 18 CV model came equipped with a 4-cylinder, 4-liter engine. A new 4-cylinder engine was designed by Voision producing 44 CH at 4000 rpm, able to propel the car to 113 km/h. The vehicle featured servo-drum brakes, like so many other vehicles of its time. Most had Knight-licensed sleeve-valve engines. Approximately 20,000 Voisin cars were built and less than 100 have survived.

Many of the designs of the vehicles were gathered from the aviation world. This meant the vehicles not only had to be aerodynamic but also light. The only downfall to this formula is that the vehicles were not always visually appealing. This undoubtedly led to poor sales. Most feature aluminum bodies and were scrapped during World War II.

The price of the Voisins was expensive. Hardly anyone could afford to buy one of these unique creations.

The Aerodyne C27 was a very aerodynamic vehicle. It resembled a tear-drop, much like other cars produced by manufacturers such as Delahaye, Bugatti, and Delage.

by Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2005