Voisin Album and other cars by aviators (Auto Review Album Number 168)

For some years we have wanted to tell the story of Gabriel Voisin in Auto Review. A famous pioneer aviator (along with his brother Charles, who died young), Gabriel turned to car manufacture after the Great War, when contracts for aircraft came to an end. With Noel Noel, a friend from his days as a student of architecture, he designed stylish Art Deco Voisin cars, and the pair shared amorous adventures with Parisian ladies. Gabriel’s profligate spending and lack of business acumen meant that he lost control of his company, then regained it, before the Second World war brought an end to the luxury car market. After the War Gabriel produced the spartan Biscooter, which found a home in the car-starved Spanish market. Voisin was not the only aviator to change direction and go on to produce cars, and others are described in these pages. Some, like Voisin, were forced to find other activities for their workforce after the 1918 Armistice, such as Blériot, Farman, Rumpler, Avro and Gloster. Others switched to wheeled vehicles after (or during) the Second World War, such as Saab, Bréguet, Piaggio and Caproni. German aircraft firms were in a particularly difficult situation; Heinkel, Dornier and Messerschmitt all produced microcars. In the USA things were different; well-known names like Curtiss and Beech tried car manufacture with little success. Bill Stout designed aircraft, the most famous of which was the Ford Tri-Motor, before turning to futuristic car designs in the 1930s. The most recent aviation company to move into car production was Matra, famed for its competition cars and later for the Renault Espace. All of these stories are told here, and more…