The Shape of Speed: Streamlined Automobiles and Motorcycles, 1930–1942

The Portland Art Museum is pleased to announce The Shape of Speed: Streamlined Automobiles and Motorcycles, 1930–1942, a special exhibition featuring 18 rare streamlined automobiles and motorcycles.

The concept of streamlining has fascinated people for generations. Beginning in the early 1930s and extending until the outbreak of World War II, automotive designers embraced the challenge of styling and building truly streamlined cars that were fast and fuel-efficient. They were encouraged by the confluence of aircraft design with the sleek shapes of fast railroad locomotives; new advanced highways such as the Autobahns; and events like the 1939 New York City World’s Fair, which showcased futuristic design.

The Shape of Speed presents a select group of rare automobiles and motorcycles that demonstrate how auto designers translated the concept of aerodynamic efficiency into exciting machines that, in many cases, looked as though they were moving while at rest.

The Museum will display 16 cars and two motorcycles—the best of that era’s streamlined offerings—from Europe and the United States. Engineering drawings and period photographs will show some of the aircraft, railroad, ship, and yacht designs that influenced the automakers. [...]

A few of the automotive marques featured in The Shape of Speed include Mercedes-Benz, which has restored one of the carmaker’s Stromlinienwagens (streamlined cars) from 1938, along with Porsche, Bugatti, BMW, Bentley, Voisin, Talbot-Lago, Adler, Cord, and Chrysler. In addition, The Shape of Speed includes two motorcycles: a radically streamlined Henderson KJ and a BMW concept R7 motorcycle that was developed in the mid-1930s, lost for decades in a missing crate, recovered in 2005, and completely restored.

The latest exhibition in the Portland Art Museum’s design series, The Shape of Speed is guest curated by Ken Gross, former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Gross previously curated the Museum’s 2011 exhibition The Allure of the Automobile, which enthralled visitors with its lavish presentation of automobiles as kinetic art—a form of rolling sculpture. With this new exhibition, the Museum opens the door to another fascinating exploration of automotive design.



Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website 

Chrysler Thunderbolt, 1941. Photo: Michael Furman. With its smooth, aerodynamic body shell; hidden headlights; enclosed wheels; and a retractable, one-piece metal hardtop (an American first), this stunning roadster hinted that tomorrow’s Chryslers would leave their angular, upright, and more prosaic rivals in the dust. Dramatically modern, the five Thunderbolts built were critically-acclaimed, but a high price tag deterred buyers. Some of the Thunderbolt’s advanced features found their way into post-WWII production Chryslers.