The struts bracing the front wings to the radiator of this Voisin C23 evoke the marque’s aviation history; the full name of the company is in fact ‘Avions Voisin’.

The Voisin motorcars of the 1930s in particular have become true style icons. This too was a strong functional design, with no embellishment.

Nevertheless, Gabriel Voisin did appear to be influenced by the Art Deco movement which gathered momentum after 1925, as is evident from the C23’s distinctive upholstery. Voisin was in the habit of giving his chassis as well as his body styles rather unorthodox names. The designation for the chassis of this car was ‘Meltem’ and that of the body ‘Myra’.

The first Voisin car appeared in 1919 and was actually a Citroën design that had not gone into production. In 1921 Voisin launched a 7.2-litre twelve-cylinder as well as a 1.2-litre four-cylinder model. The C23 3.0-litre six-cylinder was new for 1931.

All the cars were fitted with Knight double sleeve-valve engines, built under licence, and Voisin modified them for high performance.