1945 - the second world war finally comes to an end - but France is still in chaos. Louis Bionier, an engineer of the Panhard company, is a hard-working, discrete and secretive man. He is just finishing the design of an astonishing model of an aerodynamic car. He finds the inspiration of his research by studying the flight of birds and by observing the displacement of fish. Three years later, this revolutionary car made its first drive - the Dynavia.

This prototype highlighted the principles of a modern car and would make history in the car industry. The shaped body is made of light alloy, which makes it possible to use an aircooled aluminium engine of two cylinders with a displacement of 610 ccm and developing only 28 horsepower. This revolutionary car could cruise at the speed of 130 km/h (80 mp/h) and accomodating four passengers with a consumption of only 5 litre per 100 km (or 45 miles per gallon). The prototype of the Dynavia was so advanced, that the manufacturer decided to build one more. This second model was delivered by road to a Panhard dealer in Grenoble. It was a private individual of the area, who bought the second Dynavia for daily use. Afterwards, any trace of this astonishing car was lost.

The Dynavia on display at this year's RÉTROMOBILE is the property of the S.C.M Panhard and Levassor and is part of the National Museum of the Car of Mulhouse Collection Schlumpf.

In October of 1952, the visitors of the Paris Auto Show would discover an astonishing car with its shapely body hiding a gas turbine. At that time, the aircraft industry developed designs and construction schedules of turbojets and turbo propellers. The S.O.C.E.M.A (Company of Constructions and Mechanical Equipment for Aviation) exhibited several engines at the aviation show of 1949. The persons in charge developing the turbines are interested in the use on the ground as well. The idea to design a very compact gas turbine and to install it into a car had been born. The automobile part of this project was entrusted to a French engineer by the name of Jean Albert Gregoire. The prototype was made of aluminium cast. The manufacturing and the assembly of the body were done at Hotchkiss. For the transmission an electromagnetic Cotal was chosen. Given the fact, that a turbine does not generate any braking effect upon deceleration, an electromagnetic TELMA brake system was added to the transmission. The gas turbine used in this prototype had a weight of 130 kg (or 280 pounds), and - in theory - was designed to accelerate the 1300 kg (2800 pound) vehicle up to a speed of 200km/h (120 mp/h). The final development of the SOCEMA Gregoire - however - was far from being accomplished. The problems of temperature, consumption, and to the cost of constructing the turbine, one would have to add the design of a complex brake system. Shortly after its official presentation to the journalist and a test run of the protype, the futuristic project of the SOCEMA Gregoire was abandoned. The SOCEMA Gregoire shown here is the property of the Car Club of the West and is on display at the Museum 24 Hour of Mans in Sarthe.

1940 - Paris is under occupation. In the factory of Ste Mathis - located in the Parisian suburbs at Gennevilliers - under great secrecy work progresses on a car for the time after the war. The code name is VEL 333, which stands for Light Economic Car - 3 wheels, 3 places and 3 liters per 100 km. It is the aerodynamic engineer Jean Andreau who gave it his futuristic line. This revolutionary car - which body was built out of aluminium and weighted more than 380 kg - was propelled by a flat two-cylinder motor of 707cm3 cooled by water. The Mathis 333 has it's debut at the Paris Automobile Show of 1946. Unfortunately, only ten examples of this astonishing car were built.