This Rare 1935 Avions Voisin Brought Art Deco Design to the Road. Now It Could Fetch $2.5 Million.
Back in 1934, if you craved the ultimate in Art Deco design, aircraft-inspired technology, and some truly jaw-dropping features, you bought yourself—at great expense—an Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne. This French automotive wonder was the creation of Gabriel Voisin, an architect, an airplane builder, and all-round Renaissance man. The engineering visionary built his first car in 1919, but it was the C25 Aérodyne, introduced at the 1934 Paris Salon car show, that set a new benchmark in luxury automobile design.
Among its standout features is its aerodynamic body, with that sweeping arched profile, flowing fenders, and hidden trunk. Then there's that flat, frameless windshield. Add to those, a whisper-quiet, sleeve-valve inline-six engine mated to an electromagnetic gearbox, the latter being introduced with this model. Yet the car's most remarkable feature is arguably its retractable metal roof that is opened and closed by an ingenious two-cylinder pneumatic-suction motor located in the trunk. Sliding on metal tracks, the top features four porthole-style windows to add light to the interior when the roof is closed.
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In total, just eight examples of the exotic Aérodyne sedan were built between 1934 and 1935, each costing roughly the same as Cadillac's V16 flagship or a Rolls-Royce Phantom. Today, just three C25 Aérodynes are known to exist, one of which is headlining Gooding & Company's Amelia Island Auctions, being held March 6 and 7.
"It's a red-letter day when one of these magnificent machines is offered for sale," David Brynan, senior specialist at Gooding & Company , tells Robb Report . "The C25 Aérodyne is widely regarded as among the most significant of all Voisin automobiles, a masterpiece of Art Deco industrial design, and one of the most advanced and thought-provoking automobiles of the '30s."
This 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne is one of the lots on offer at Gooding & Company's Amelia Island Auctions, being held March 6 and 7.
Little to nothing is known of the auction car's early life, only that it survived World War II and was painted somber black. In 1963, the Voisin—chassis No. 50023—resurfaced and was bought by noted French collector Henri Browne de Kilmaine, who kept it for more than 45 years.
He showed the Voisin regularly, including the prestigious 100 Years of Motoring exhibition held at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1984. After his death, the cars in his collection were given new homes in 2008, and the prized Aérodyne was sold to noted British collector Jon Hunt, who immediately sent the car off to U.K. restoration specialists Blakeney Motorsports for a total nut-and-bolt restoration.
The cabin is defined by distinctive, abstract-patterned fabric and blue-leather upholstery from Hermès Paris.
The restoration project included returning the car to a two-tone color scheme—with a full repaint in elegant midnight blue and gray—and giving the vehicle a complete mechanical rebuild. The interior was also retrimmed using fabric from the mill that originally supplied Voisin. The work was completed in 2012, just in time for the car to debut at that year's Windsor Castle Concours d'Elegance.
In 2013, with Hunt reportedly focusing on building his world-class Ferrari collection, he put the C25 Aérodyne up for auction at Gooding & Company's August Pebble Beach sale , where it fetched $1.925 million. The buyer was said to be Seattle telecommunications mogul Craig McCaw, who had already recently bought a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO—once owned by Stirling Moss —for $35 million. At the time, that Ferrari purchase was reportedly the most expensive automobile sale ever recorded. As for the Voisin, it joined the 400-car collection McCaw had amassed with his brother Bruce.
The car features a sleeve-valve inline-six engine mated to an electromagnetic gearbox, the latter being offered for the first time with this model.
The McCaws eventually sent the car back to Blakeney Motorsports for a second, equally exhaustive restoration, returning it to what was believed to be the original 1935 color scheme of black and soft yellow with bold orange striping.
Inside, the cabin was completely reupholstered in funky Art Deco-style blue fabric and bright-blue leather created by the artisans at Hermès Paris. In that power-sliding roof, the original rectangular panels were replaced with more iconic circular porthole-style glass, similar to those on the two other surviving C25 Aérodynes. With the restoration completed in 2022, McCaw presented the car at that year's Pebble Beach Concours where it was awarded the coveted Vitesse Elegance Trophy. According to Brynan, the Voisin has not been publicly displayed since.
Four porthole-style windows add light to the interior when the ingenious sliding-roof panel is closed.
"This car checks so many boxes. It would be welcomed at any of the world's top car shows, it is completely turn-key and ready to go with no need for any lengthy restoration, and it has immense rarity. And you cannot overstate what a magnificent piece of automotive design it is," says Brynan.
As to the car's current value, Brynan points out that one of the other two Aérodynes, a 1935 Type C from the now-liquidated Merle and Peter Mullin Collection sold last summer (at Bonhams' Quail sale) for a record $5.1 million. Like the Gooding car, it had been meticulously restored, but had the added prestige of being awarded Best in Show at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance as well as sharing Best in Show honors at the Amelia in 2023 . In the case of the example soon to cross the block through Gooding, it is estimated to fetch between $2 million and $2.5 million.
Click here for more photos of this 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne.
The 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne being offered through Gooding & Company.
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