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THE AGE OF THE CLASSIC CARS
The 1920s saw the emergence of the great European producers—Austin, Morris, Singer, Fiat, and Citroën. Universal motor transportation, that is, transportation for all, was a long way off, but the idea of the small car was made real in the Austin Seven and the Fiat Topolino. These two cars were modelled on the Italian Ettore Bugatti's tiny Bébé Peugeot of 1911, which was to have a very deep effect.
The decade 1925–35 was notable not only for the appearance of many new small automobiles but also for the building of many ultra-large ones. The years from 1925 to 1942 are remembered by collectors of automobiles as the classic years, a period that saw the rise of the luxurious fast motorcar to a peak it seemed unlikely to reach again.
The first name in this field was Rolls-Royce, founded in 1904. Most Rolls-Royce chassis are designed for limousine and large sedan bodies, but the firm once made a comparatively light car, called the Twenty, and it has throughout its history produced fast models in addition to its regular line—e.g., after World War II, the Continental, built under the Bentley Motors Ltd. label.
Other motorcars of this type included the Hispano-Suiza of Spain and France; the Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Hotchkiss, Talbot (Darracq), and Voisin of France; the Duesenberg, Cadillac, Packard, and Pierce-Arrow of the United States; the Horch, Maybach, and Mercedes-Benz of Germany; the Belgian Minerva; and the Italian Isotta-Fraschini. These were costly machines, priced roughly from $7,500 to $40,000; fast (90 to 130 miles per hour); as comfortable as the state of the art would allow; and limited in luxury only by the purse of the purchaser. The great custom coach (made according to the demands of the customer) builders of England who made bodies for Rolls-Royce machines, were able to meet any thing that their clients asked, and were prepared to satisfy any request, whether for upholstery in matched ostrich hide with ivory buttons or for a dashboard in rosewood.
The most expensive standard automobile of which there exists convincing record was the Type 41 Bugatti, produced in the 1920s by Ettore Bugatti, an Italian of extraordinary gifts who built cars in France, most of them racing and sports types, from 1909 to 1939. The Type 41 Bugatti, also called La Royale, was cataloged at a chassis price of 500,000 francs, about $20,000. Only six of the cars were built.