Between the two world wars there was a golden era of industrial design
when the benefits of streamlining were realised, allowing for reduced
wind resistance, faster transportation and a more efficient economy. The
Art Deco-influenced style was also a huge public relations exercise in
the glamour-obsessed 1920s and 1930s. Its most obvious manifestations
were on the railways, with beautiful streamlined locomotives in daring
colour schemes on prestigious named expresses, especially in Europe and
North America. They included the Fliegender Hamburger diesel train in
Germany, the American Mercury trains and of course Sir Nigel Gresley's
A4 Class, on which the streamlined casing and internal streamlining
allowed Mallard to break the world speed record. The idea of
streamlining made even more sense in the air, where the great airships
were crossing the Atlantic, and aircraft like the Douglas DC3 cut
through the air more easily than anything that came before. Meanwhile,
on the world's roads, buses and cars lost their perpendicular looks and
marques like Cord and Bugatti led the way with increasingly aerodynamic,
wind-tunnel-tested profiles. Designers like Raymond Loewy, as well as
designing streamlined locomotives, began to apply the same style to
products for which wind resistance was irrelevant, such as buildings,
refrigerators and even pencil sharpeners. This book tells the story of
the streamline era - its designers, its successes and failures, its
inspiration and its legacy.
