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The August 2, 1931 New York Times Motors and Motor Men column mentioned Auburn's hiring of de Sakhnoffsky as an outside consultant:

“Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky has been appointed counsel to the body design staff of the Auburn Automobile Company, according to Herbert Snow, vice-president in charge of engineering. For five years Count Sakhnoffsky was art director of the Van Den Plas Company, coach builders of Brussels, and during that time won five consecutive Grand Prix awards at Monte Carlo Elegance contests. He also won the Grand Prix at Bournemouth, England, for automobile body designs, and a special body designed by him for the Cord front drive car won the Grand Prix at Paris, Monte Carlo and Beaulieu in 1930.”

According to Griffith Borgeson, the well-known Cord historian, no vehicles resulted from the relationship:

"It should be noted in passing that, in August of '31, vice president in charge of engineering Herb Snow announced the addition of stylist Alexis de Sakhnoffsky as counsel to Auburn's body design staff. This no doubt was related to Sakhnoffsky's design of a striking coupe body for an L-29 chassis which he did for an independent body builder. We have been unable to identify any specific work done by him on Auburn's direct behalf."

Although no work was produced, de Sakhnoffsky's short tenure at Auburn provided him with one big benefit, Auburn successfully petitioned the Immigration Department to convert his status to one of a resident alien, which allowed him to stay in the country indefinitely. His change in status allowed him to pursue work as an independent stylist and during the next decade his freelance assignments made him a household name. Later in his career Sakhnoffsky worked with Auburn for a second time but the project was limited to illustrations for a 1935 Auburn ad campaign.

At about the same time (mid-1931) William Crapo Durant attempted to try and re-coup some of his stock market losses by building a small European –style car in an unused Lansing, Michigan factory. He decided upon the French-built Mathis and invited its manufacturer, Emile Mathis, to Detroit to see if a deal could be struck. The multilingual de Sakhnoffsky was hired to arrange a series of luncheons between the two men and to inject some humor into the discussions to help alleviate the language barrier. The meetings were memorable to de Sakhnoffsky, who fondly recalled them in his Classic Car articles:

"Monsieur Mathis was a highly opinionated individual, who came to America with the idea of -showing us a thing or two, and his feelings were very easily ruffled. He felt that his brain-child, an atrocious little vehicle with an over-sized stylized flame for the radiator cap ornament, had to be copied without any alteration. At the same time, smooth, soft-spoken veteran Durant knew that the car would not be acceptable here, even though the famous jeweler Cartier was responsible for the flame mascot. The situation came to an impasse, and I was retained as a combination interpreter-styling-moderator.

"I remember particularly one incident during a lunch at the old Olds Hotel. After a long session which resulted in a decision to build 'several samples of the US version of the Mathis car, he could hardly control his irritation, 'You Americans take such a long time to make a decision,' he cried. 'We do not work that way in France. We are straight shooters, we make one model and hit the goal. Viola!'

"I translated verbatim. The Americans did not like the remark, shook their heads and sharply questioned the French methods.

"Mathis realized that he may have gone a little too far and decided to temper his outburst with a little humor. 'All right,' he told me. 'Ask them, if they can shoot so straight why do they use rubber pads around their spittoons?'"

Needless to say, the meetings did not result in the building of an American Mathis. However, Emile Mathis' journey to Detroit laid the groundwork for a successful Continental joint venture with the Ford Motor Company. The firms joined forced in 1934 to produce the Matford, the Ford-engined successor to the Mathis, which was constructed in Mathis' Strasbourg factory from 1934-1940.

In January 1932, a little over three years to the day of his initial meeting with Packard Motor Co.'s Alvan Macauley, de Sakhnoffsky was hired by Alvan's son Edward as a styling consultant to Packard's styling department. The 3-month contract stipulated that de Sakhnoffsky would devote 2 days a week to Packard projects, at a salary of $800 per month. His role was to introduce newness to Packard styling, and to oversee the seamless integration of his own designs with that of the departing Ray Dietrich, who had recently moved on to Chrysler.

The result was de Sakhnoffsky's famous false hood, which was first seen on the 12-cylinder Packard 1108 Sport Phaeton introduced at the 1933 Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago. Additional de Sakhnoffsky touches include the slanted 'A'-pillar and the transfer of the spare tire from the fender-well to the rear of the car which won the 1933 best-in-show award at the Chicago Fair.

De Sakhnoffsky was not the only person working on a false or long hood treatment at the time, and historically the 1932 Chrysler Imperial was the first American production car to be fitted with the attractive feature. That car was the work of Le Baron's Ralph Roberts who, by his own admission, had 'borrowed' it from a design he saw at the 1931 Paris Salon.

In fact the 'false hood' predates the 1931 Salon, dating back to de Sakhnoffsky's tenure at Vanden Plas where he used it on a number of late 1920s Minervas, in particular a spectacular Convertible Victoria constructed in 1927 for Captain Featherstonhaugh, a well-known British polo player.

During his short stint at Packard de Sakhnoffsky designed the very un-Packard like coachwork that graced Packard's secret (R&V) front-wheel-drive 12-cylinder prototype of 1932.

De Sakhnoffsky worked as a styling consultant for Studebaker at about the same time, although what projects he contributed to – if any – are currently unknown.

He also worked for Chrysler, helping to revamp the firm's exhibits at the 1934 Century of Progress in Chicago. Although early orders for the firm's new line of Airflow automobiles which debuted at the 1933 national auto shows, were strong, within a few months they had trickled to next to nothing and Chrysler pulled out all the stops in an effort to revive interest in the car.

Much of the interior of the Holabird and Root-designed structure were restyled by de Sakhnoffsky and Barney Oldfield and his 'Hell-Drivers' were hired to drive various Chryslers around an adjacent quarter-mile banked oval, the end of each show highlighted by barrel roll though a sandpit to demonstrate the durability of the firm's all-steel bodies.

Automotive Industries reported that:

"Each niche of the Chrysler fair building, designed by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, was given up to major demonstrations of Chrysler car features from an engineering design view."

De Sakhnoffsky claimed to have been wiped out in the panic of 1933, but reports his income had returned to five-figures by the middle of 1934. A mid-summer 1933 visit to the West Coast was covered in the August 7, 1933 issue of the Oakland Tribune:

"STYLIST

"Count Alexis de Sakhnoffskv is one member of the Russian nobility who finds the revolution did him good. He turns his ideas of beauty into cash by designing styles for automobiles, airplanes, refrigerators, motorboats and women's gowns.

"RUSS COUNT IS STYLE EXPERT

"Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, whose father was a privy councilor to the Czar of Russia, and who fled his native land when a youth to become an 'engineering stylist' whose ideas of beauty find expressions in automobiles, refrigerators, motor boats, airplanes and women's clothes, thinks the Russian Revolution did him a lot of good.

"And he thinks the upheaval also was helpful to other of his class who fled from Russia the last of the Soviet.

"'It was the cry of Communism that the nobles were useless creatures wasting the wealth accumulated by the toilers.' Observed Count de Sakhnoffsky during a visit to Oakland today. 'But practically all the Russian refugees have carved out niches for themselves in commercial fields outside of Russia. They have proved their own worth.'

"MONEY VS. TITLES

"The Count, who makes no use of his title unless Americans insist, thinks it a bit amusing that so many wealthy Americans women should be willing to trade money for 'noble' husbands. Take, for instance, the Princes M'divani; Serge, Alexis, and David, who have been marrying and divorcing American heiresses, movie stars and divas for some years.

"'In their native Georgia anybody who owns a thousand sheep can be a prince,' commented Count de Sakhnoffsky. 'When Georgia was annexed to Russia, the people of the little country who were helpful to the Czar were made princes and became attached to the court. They were looked down upon somewhat, however, because of their ignorant and half-savage customs.'

"'As regards the three M'divani brothers America hears so much about their father became a prince after they were born – and their name, translated from the original tongue means secretary.'

"ESCAPED IN 1920

"The Count, who prefers to known as Alex, escaped from Russia in 1920, when he was 17, and made his way to Switzerland, where he studied engineering. Running out of money he went to Paris and in desperation began sketching gowns, and attempting to sell sketches to couturiers.

"'But a style designer can't get anywhere in Paris unless he can also cut and fit dresses,' said the Count. 'So I could get only 17 or 20 francs for a sketch, and even then didn't make a sale very often. So I turned to automobile designing.'

"Then he went to Belgium and met a girl who during the war had risked her life for her country in the intelligence service. She had a hatful of citations for her bravery – and also she had a pretty face and that indefinite something the stylist loves – 'chic'. So he married her – and even yet, after considerable years of matrimony, he designs her dresses and believes she does them credit.

"AUTO DESIGNS WIN

"Nowadays Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky designs bodies and ornaments for some of America's finest automobiles. His automobile designs have five times in seven years won the international competition for elegance at Monte Carlo. He designs motorboat interiors, the 'outsides' of refrigerators, airplane interiors – and, for a side-line, women's gowns. His next job, he expects will be the designs of a streamline car for the new type of speed train now being planned by various railroads."

In the summer of 1933 de Sakhnoffsky had the good fortune of joining the staff of a new upscale 'Quarterly Magazine for Men', called Esquire. The well-funded Hearst publication appeared on the news-stands in October of 1933 and included a number of technical illustrations by de Sakhnoffsky who was eventually given a permanent position as its technical illustrator. The magazine's debut proved so popular, that its January 1934 issue marked its debut as a monthly. To make sure everyone was aware of that fact the following press release was published in Hearst's newspapers during the first week of 1934:

"MAGAZINE TO BE ISSUED MONTHLY

"With the exception of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Esquire's most widely known and violently discussed contributor, and one or two others, the array of artists and writers who marked the debut of Esquire, the magazine for men, has returned in toto for the second issue, which marks the debut of the magazine as a monthly publication.

"Fairbanks was to do an expose on Hollywood's male stars, but missed the mail boat from London with his manuscript, while others who attended the inception of ESQUIRE but will not be found in the current issue, have been replaced by such luminaries as Paul Morand, Andre Maurois, Emil Ludwig, Westbrook Pegler, Jack Dempsey and others.

"Esquire, incidentally, has been enlarged to 160 pages, a third more, than were contained in the first issue, and 40 of these are in full color. Ernest Hemingway again is well up in the list, this time with a Spanish letter that has to do with bullfights, stranded American writers and the country in general. Other writers of "non-fiction" '(for the contents may best be summarized in departments) are Paul Morand, who prepares the world for the coming of the cocktail. Ex-President of France, Alexander Millerand and Owen Johnson, who very nearly come to blows on 'Two Sides of France.'

"Frederick Van Ryn, who collaborated with Grand Duke Alexander on his much discussed memoirs that created enough interest to make a sequel necessary, writes about America and its congressmen. Fred C. Kelly, Edward M. Harrows, Louis Joseph Vance, Louis Golding and Pitts Sanborn, among others, write of subjects ranging from bridge and exclusive clubs to London, music and real estate.

"Fiction is represented by Thomas Burke, Andre Maurois, Morley Callaghan. Pierre Mills and others.

"Regular features include Gilbert, Seldes, who writes of radio; Burton Bascoe, of books; John V. A. Weaver of the stage; Stuart Rose on etiquette, and Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky on the Illusion of Speed.

"George Ade, Montague Glass, Irwin S. Cobb, Geoffrey Kerr, Robert Buckner and Dwight Fiske make up the humor category with respectively, a one-act play, a discussion of marriage, a tale of fishing, a portrait of a butler, honor among the French, and Fiske of course with his riotous rendition of 'Mrs. Pettibone.'

"Under the heading, 'Personalities' come Emil Ludwig with a sketch of Charlie Chaplin as the first of a series to include Hitler, Stalin and the Prince of Wales. John Dos Passos tells the story of 'Speedy' Taylor - high mogul of production. Editor Arnold Gingrich, whose 'Poor Man's Night Club,' a treatise on the 'Walkathon' in the first issue, aroused considerable comment, repeats with the 'Bedtime Story Teller'.

"Westbrook Pegler, Jack Dempsey and Bobby Jones head the sports department list. Joseph Auslander and Audrey Wurdemann remain the only two writers of verse. Auslander with 'Night Court,' morbid sequel to his 'Down at the Morgue'; Miss Wurdemann with 'The Court of Anger,' second of the seven deadly sins. Incidentally, Esquire's poetry department has merged since the first issue, Miss Wurdemann, who hails from Seattle, and Mr. Auslander, who writes from Manhattan, having been married during the past month.

"Cartoons in color by John Croth, E. Simms Campbell, Wm. Staig. Howard Baer and D. McKay make Esquire colorful."

January 1934 also marked the debut of the 1934 Nash, whose design was a joint project of de Sakhnoffsky and Budd, its production body supplier. His 'Speedstream Styling' extended from the front grill to the spats covering the real wheels, about which MoTor magazine commented:

"Shields for the rear wheels, optional at small extra cost, constitute an innovation which should become popular."

It didn't, but the car was generally well-received, as evidenced by the February 6, 1934 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal:

"Streamlining Seen Even in Dignified Car

"Nash Designer Adds Style to Staid Cars

"Count Alexis do Sakhnoffsky, Russian nobleman and internationally prominent designer of things mechanical from fountain pens and radios to the new 1934 Nash models, has in the February issue of Esquire presented to the automobile public eye a modern and advanced conception of stream lining and illusion of speed applied to types which for years past, have been anonymous with cumbersome dignity and slow speed.

"'A type of vehicle always associated with slow motion, a dowager occupant and an old, old driver, is the chauffeur driven town car', writes Sakhnoffsky. 'Not the misnamed close coupled sedan called town car by sorne sales manager ignoring the traditional names of bodies, but the good old square two-passenger car with no roof over the driver's head.'

"Tools In Running Board

"'Almost extinct in the U.S.A. where it is seldom encountered even in the largest cities, it is still considered a smart vehicle in Europe, and every year quite a few of them are shown at the Paris Salon. And it is entirely erroneous to consider it solely a dowager car, because a lot of the young continental people use them as part of their line of cars. Our problem will be in incorporating the latest streamline features into this slightly antiquated model.'

"'The details which 'make' the design include new funnel type louvers in the hood, a racing type compartment with a V windshield and both are out for the elbow. A new type running board which was originated by H.M. Coachbuilders Barker and Co. and having an airfoil surface completes the streamline effect. The practical nature of this running board is that it brings out a side door hinged at the bottom, giving access to a spacious tool compartment.'

"Victoria Goes Modern

"'The courtesy light is sunk into the top portion of the rear running board and is illuminated when the door is open. Finally an opera light with the owners own color combination is streamlined into the front partition. Its individual color will help to locate your car in the long stream of automobiles at the Opera entrance.'

"'Another type of body apparently derived from one more old timer is fast becoming the most fashionable type of vehicle on the continent, but as yet is practically unknown here. The Victoria top which makes it so distinctive is a modernized version of a collapsible top widely used in the horse-drawn carriage days. When folded it is stowed away flush with the sides into a compartment back of the rear seats. The advantage to shit type of body is that an extension can be quickly fastened to the front of the top, joining it to the windshield. By winding up the door windows you obtain a regular five-passenger Victoria.'"

In an interview with stylist/historian Dave G. Holls, industrial designer (and one-time Nash stylist) Don Mortrude provided insight into the problems de Sakhnoffsky presented to Nash's body engineer, Nils Erik Wahlberg:

"Alex Sakhnoffsky came in and tried to woo Wahlberg. Sakhnoffsky was in there making drawings for Nash long before we came into the picture. He made all kinds of fancy drawings right there in front of Wahlberg and Wahlberg's eyes were bugging. Alex was just giving him the old Sakhnoffsky show. And then when Nash tried to build his stuff from just perspective illustrations—pencil sketches on black paper—why they had one helluva time trying to transpose those designs into reality."

Although Wahlberg and company where happy so see de Sakhnoffsky leave, the designs he created provided some much-needed traffic into Nash's showrooms, as well as an occasional mention in the national press as evidenced by the following item that was included in the April 29, 1934 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal:

"Nash Designer Sees Trend

"Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, Russian royalist and designer of the new 1934 Nash, gives, in the May issue of Esquire magazine, an insight into just what the trend in automobile streamlining tends to be in the very near future.

"Appealing directly to the modern Nomad, Sakhnoffsky pictures his conception of a highway cruiser formed by linking together a medium powered coupe and a palatial trailer. The vehicle combines the luxury of Pullman comfort but with total disregard for time-tables, and is large enough to accommodate a dozen people comfortably. Book-shelves, leather trimmed walls, serving as a protection from occasional bumps, radio, bright chrome window mouldings, a long rear light, and a large modern clock, are the useful and decorative details.

"An optional convenience is a complete bar which occupies the front end of the trailer and boasts of flat, square bottles fitting snugly into labeled compartments, a row of square decanters, and double beer taps.

Parabolic fenders coupled with rear wheel shields serve to unify car and trailer, an effect that is emphasized by the V-windshields and matching color treatment."

The Vollrath Co., a Sheboygan, Wisconsin-based cookware manufacturer, was another client of de Sakhnoffsky's at the time, his name being included in the firm's display advertisements as follows:

"The striking, modem, streamline beauty of "Kook King" Ware is the achievement of Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, a designer of international fame. Flavor Seal Rim on pots, pans and sauce pots retain the valuable food vitamins. Hollowsteel lifters on enameled covers, side grips on pots and pans, handles on sauce pans are shaped to fit the hand, and gas-welded —cannot come loose or burn. No grooves or crevices to catch water or grease. Many other distinctive features, and the famous Vollrath Quality guaranteed."

An article in the March 30, 1935 Twin Falls Daily News mentions his work with Vollrath:

"Pots 'N' Pans Go Streamline Under Count's Direction

"Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, famed engineering stylist, who turned away from a successful career in designing fashionable gowns to bring his ideas of streamline design to other fields, points to the kitchen as a place where women should receive the benefits of modern design.

"Count Sakhnoffsky, whose illustrations in Esquire magazine have gained wide recognition for the streamline design he fosters, has applied his ideas of style with notable success to such varied products as suspenders, automobiles, airplanes, women's dresses and foundation garments. It is his favorite contention that pots and pans should have the same sweeping beauty of design and illusion of speed that a woman appreciates in her automobile. To this end he already has designed an electric iron which looks forever as if it were about to take off on a speed night about the room. He also has drawn up plans for teakettles and other kitchen ware which are as handsome and practical as they are radical. Count Sakhnoffsky points out that the same elements of beauty and harmony of line which a woman instinctively seeks in her gowns, are just as important in her refrigerator and can contribute as much to her sub-conscious comfort."

Hearst had de Sakhnoffsky contribute items for its newspaper chain, an example - which was syndicated by Hearst in July of 1934 - follows:

"Next: Streamlined Humans

"By Madelin Blitzstein, Everyweek Magazine (a fictitious Hearst periodical)

"Since the Great God of our modern era is speed and ever greater speed, the result on every hand is what we call streamlining. Look at our most rapid automobiles, our swiftest trains, our most mercurial aeroplanes, our fleetest motorboats. All the very newest models suggest speed with ever-increasing emphasis, and succeed in giving the illusion of velocity even when they are standing still. But when we face ourselves in the mirror or look at each other, what do we find?

"The same old-fashioned body, head and limbs, the same ears that stick out like handles on a sugar bowl, the same protruding; nose that offers severe wind resistance, hair, that occurs in the wrong places and interferes with the best principles of design, coloring that is often diametrically opposed to the fundamentals of artistic ornament.

"And now an internationally famous engineering stylist steps forward with a twinkle in his eye to present a plan for bringing the human body up-to-date on the streamline principles which he has applied with phenomenal success to a host of inanimate objects. Look as if you, too, are going places and doing things in a speedy, 1934 way - that is the advice of tall, slender, Slavic Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky.

"Why, he asks, shouldn't men and women have their cars clipped to a torpedo raciness, get their trunks wind-curved, be equipped with a set of toe-less, graceful feet and possess a filtering device which will give them pure rather than germ-laden air?

"Not only has the count, who is to become an American citizen in a year and a half, and prefers to be called just plain Mister or, better yet, Alex, been thinking about what streamlined humans should look like. He has gone even further. He has put to paper his talented pen, from which have come designs for streamlined radios and refrigerators, and drawn concrete examples of the ideal form toward which he feels genuine moderns should be striving.

"Count Sakhnoffsky, though only 32, has already had an amazingly crowded and active career since his boyhood in Kiev, in southern Russia. When the war broke out, the count was too young to fight, but in 1920 he fought with the White Russian Army against the Bolsheviks.

"That same year he fled, with his mother and sisters, to Marseilles, and a little later he went to the Engineering School of the University of Lausanne, in Switzerland. It was there that the count was first inspired with the streamline idea. After three years of school he went to Paris, and before long he was working at the Vanden Plas auto plant in Brussels.

"Soon enough the young engineer's talent brought him the admiration of his superiors; he was asked to write for French and American trade magazines on the future shapes which automobiles would take; he made a mottled aluminum sports car for big-game hunting by order of the Prince de Ligne; and he advanced to the post of art director of the firm in a very short time.

"In that position he made designs for Rolls-Royce, Minerva, Hispano-Suiza and Bentley cars. In 1928 he came to the United States, and in 1930 an automobile of his design, the Cord, took first place at the same Monte Carlo competition.

"Since then the count has been hopping from place to place and object to object, putting his inimitable streamline touch on frying pans, tea pots, motorboats, aeroplanes, haberdashery, cigar lighters, jewelry and ice-boxes. But he thinks the most fascinating idea upon which he spends much thought is the possibility of streamlining human beings.

"'Perhaps people, will call me crazy,' said the count, 'but they will have to admit that I have plenty of imagination.'

"'Everyone will agree with me that the faster, accelerated tempo in which we work and play, eat and sleep, travel and fly today, needs and requires snappier reactions and simpler shapes.'

"'In the midst of all this advance, man remains the same as he always was. He is lamentably old-fashioned and I think it is time he were changed. Don't think for a minute that I advocate the robots visualized by cubists. Far from it. Nor do I hanker for anything bizarre or freakish.'

"'But I do think that a little foolproof functioning would go a long way. When a mechanic tears a motor apart, and sees what's inside, he often says to himself: 'I would not have put it together that way. I would have put the valves further apart and the spark plugs in a different place.'

"'When a surgeon opens a body, doesn't he often think to himself: "Some support should have been put under this floating kidney. Why was this appendix ever included?" That is the attitude with which I approach the old-fashioned, human body.'

"'I think it would be fine if we could make the air we breathe pass through some filtering apparatus before it reaches our lungs. Everyone knows that an automobile motor is fed with gas, oil, water and air scientifically purified.'

"'And yet we breathe microbes, pollens and other irritating and harmful substances. Something should be done about this.'

"'But health is not the only angle. If you think of the enormous number of people who patronize plastic surgeons and the depilatory industry, you will easily see how far from perfect we think we are. Why, people first realized this imperfection of the human body when they invented clothes.'

"'And now I say fearlessly that we are not 'up-to-date models. We need redesigning.'

"'Look at the feet. Toes . . . ghastly! I should lop off those abominations and streamline the feet so that there would be no left and right and shoes would be interchangeable.'

"'Is there anything more ugly than an ear? Why, they tape back the ears of Hollywood Adonises when they are engaged in the business of emoting. Ears should look more like racing car fenders if they are to add beauty and design to the human body.'

"'Our cumbersome body is an anachronism. We must trim it; push it in here and pull it out there until the whole has the appearance of being caressed into shape by a gentle breeze. The nose as well as the ears must be brought into the proper line, to look right.'

"'Then there is the matter of decoration. Coloring is often used effectively on bodies today, but. There are insufficient highlights. To produce good highlights, hair can be used decoratively. At present, hair is used without much method. It should be used only as ac cents like lipstick instead of profusely as it is now used on the human body.'

"'I favor the organization of a great committee or world-wide conference, to be located in the United States, the most advanced-country in the world today. To this conference, each country should send two delegates, one a distinguished surgeon, the other a famous artist.'

"'The chairman of the conference will say to the delegates: Let your imagination run loose. Suppose there are no barriers to the execution of your ideal. Don't drift too far. Start from the existing model which we urge you to improve.'

"'IMMEDIATELY suggestions will pour in. The committee will then have the job of picking out the best of all, combining them into a perfect human being, building it in tour dimensions properly described so as to avoid misinterpretations, copyrighting it for use on the Planet Earth only, other planets to pay royalty if wanted, and conveying it in a specially-built apparatus to the special heaven where man was designed so mysteriously, centuries ago.'

"'I know that my ideas on beauty and design are not the ultimate. But seriously I want to start the ball rolling in the interests of humanity, for I do feel that the old-fashioned human body can be made up-to-date by application of the principles of streamlining.'

"Count Sakhnoffsky believes that streamlining is not just a fashion nor a short-lived decorative scheme but something that, represents the requirements of the age we live in. He calls himself an engineering stylist for he believes that title is the modern equivalent of industrial designer.

"'In former days color was necessary for design, but today we redesign the object itself by developing new shapes,' the count points out, in support of his thesis."

It is estimated that de Sakhnoffsky divorced his first wife Madeleine, sometime during late 1934, the October 5, 1934 New York Times reporting on a trip to the Continent by the Count and Countess:

“Ocean Travelers

"The North German Lloyd liner Europa will sail tonight for Channel ports and Bremen. Among her passengers will be: … Mr. & Mrs. Alexis de Sakhnoffsky …"

As to which 'Countess' he was sailing with – Number 1 or number 2 - is a matter of conjecture, his marriage to number 2, the former Phoebe Ethleene Frasier, is reported to have taken place in New York during 1935 after a "fifteen-month romance". Perhaps he was returning number 1 (Madeleine) to Europe after which he would pick up number 2 when he arrived back in New York. The November 25, 1934 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal claims he was still in Europe studying:

"Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, who is 'technical fashion editor' of Esquire and is now touring Europe to study new developments in stream line, offers some novel suggestions in predicting the streamlined car you may expect for Christmas – 1935.

"'A narrow radiator effect,' Sakhnoffsky writes, 'is achieved by running the decorative chrome strips in two different directions, the vertical strips making the radiator look much narrower than it actually is.'

"'The fenders are of a parabolic shape, streamlined into the side of the body. Strips of Chromium are used to give added protection, as well as to enhance the decorative value, of this expensive sheet metal effect.'"

De Sakhnoffsky's visit to the 1935 New York Automobile show was mentioned in the January 8, 1935 New York Times:

"PRODUCTION GAIN SEEN FOR AUTOS; Show Official Says Revived Public Interest Indicates Better Year Than 1934.

"The first full day at the automobile show yesterday brought capacity crowds to Grand Central Palace to view the 200 or more models of new cars displayed on three floors of the building. Before the doors opened at 10:30 A.M., more than 400 persons waited in two long lines at the Lexington Avenue entrance…

"It was Artist’s Day yesterday and a number of painters, illustrators and others in the profession visited the exposition. Among those listed by the show committee were Wallace Morgan, president of the Society of Illustrators, a member of the new Municipal Art Committee created by Mayor LaGuardia; Dean Cornwell, Bradshaw Crandell, C.D. Williams, Russell Patterson, Helen Dryden, Walter Dorwin Teague, Lynn Bogue Hunt, Peter Helck, McClelland Barclay, Ray Greenleaf, Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, Denys Wortman, Clayton Knight, Frank Godwin, Lejaren a Hiller, Ethel Plummer, Arthur William Brown, John La Gatta, Willard Fairchild and Ernest Lynn Stone."

Between 1929 and 1934 De Sakhnoffsky gave his address as Grand Rapids, which was followed by a 5-year residence in Philadelphia, the 1940 US Census providing a 106 N. State St., Chicago address. Ethleene's stated age is 31-yo, Alexis' 40-yo and his occupation auto designer.

In 1934 de Sakhnoffsky was hired as a styling consultant by the Gruen Watch Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. They were about to introduce their Curvex watch and wanted the Count's input on the design of it dial and case. He had nothing to do with the revolutionary movement which was designed by Bienne, Switzerland's Emile Frey and dates to a patent he originally applied for in 1929. On April 26, 1932 he was awarded U.S. patent No. 1855952 which he assigned to Gruen. The Curvex claimed to be 'the world's first truly curved wrist watch' and was sold using the catchphrase 'your curved wrist deserves the world's only truly curved watch'.

Numerous men's and women's Curvex were produced during the coming decade and de Saknoffsky's original 1934 design served as the basis for the models introduced during the thirties which included the two most popular styles, the long, thin calibre 311 of 1935 and the 330 of 1937. Period ad copy mentioned the Count as follows:

"Styled by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, that genius of industrial design, built to exacting standards of Gruen and tested to split second life and death accuracy by Commander Frank Hawks - what more can money buy.

"Only the world-famous genius of Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky combined with Gruen time-honored craftsmanship could produce a watch such as Curvex - uniting brilliant beauty and pocket-watch accuracy!"

E.L. Cord's advertising agency hired de Sakhnoffsky to illustrate the new 1935 Auburn line in a series of ads that appeared in the country's top-selling magazines during the year. Midway through 1935 he was hired as a styling consultant by the Kelvinator Corp., at that time the nation's largest manufacturer of refrigerators, the July 21, 1935 Paris News (TX) reporting:

"SAKHNOFFSKY HEAD STYLIST

"Famed Artist of Esquire Designs Kelvinators

"The same elements of beauty and harmony of line - which, women seek in gowns are the same which more and more are ruling the design of kitchen appliances according to Fred Caddel of the Arthur Caddel company, local Kelvinator dealer, who Saturday related the interesting fact that Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, famed engineering stylist, is consulting stylist of Kelvinator Corporation.

"County Sakhnoffsky, whose automobile illustrations in Esquire magazine have gained wide recognition of his streamline principles of design, has applied his ideas of style with notable success to such varied products as automobiles, airplanes, electric irons, women's dresses, foundation garments, suspenders and tea-kettles.

"It is his favorite contention that pots and pans – 'should have the same sweeping beauty of design that a woman appreciates in her gowns and her automobile. A woman should not have to experience a slowing down feeling when she walks into her kitchen, and. should have things around her that look as trim and speedy as the rest of her world'.

"'The appointment of Count Sakhnoffsky as engineering stylist for Kelvinator Corporation is another example of the sincere effort which Kelvinator always is making to keep its products ahead of the field in both appearance and performance,' Mr. Caddel said. He pointed out that the P35 Kelvinator models now on display at the local company's showroom represent the latest achievements in both cabinet design and technical performance. Sales records in Kelvinator showrooms all over the country further indicate that these new models in all probability will enable Kelvinator to establish, a new high sales record for 1935."

Earlier in the year he accepted a similar position with the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio – the September 8, 1935 issue of the New York Times reporting:

"New White Trucks

"The White Motor Company last week announced a new series of trucks headed by the White 704, designed by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, industrial stylist, and said to be the first completely streamlined truck in the world. R.F. Black, president of the company, said that 500 orders for the new model were placed before it went into production and that he expected subsequent orders to double the production of the Cleveland plant in the remaining months of the year. Preparations are being made, he added, to produce from 15,000 to 20,000 units of the new model next year.

“The White 704 is powered by the six-cylinder, White-built Pep Head 270-inch engine with screwed-in valve seats; it has four-wheel booster hydraulic brakes and the chassis is built of heat treated steel. It is equipped with what is said to be the first automatic air-conditioned cab ever placed on a truck. It is in the 1½-2 ton field and the chassis is priced at $1,240, f.o.b. factory. Its chassis may be obtained with a standard body.

“Other new models in the line range from the small model 703 to the 709 A in the 3-4 ton field."

Designed in collaboration with White's Vicktor Schreckengost the new White line went on sale that fall, an October 10, 1935 display advertisement mentions his involvement:

"THE NEW COMPLETELY STREAMLINED Model 70S Deluxe Panel truck, powered by the famous White-built, six-cylinder Pep Head engine with screwed in Stellite valve seats, four-wheel booster-operated hydraulic brakes, and automatically air-conditioned cab. This track was styled exclusively for the White Motor Company by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, Internationally famed Industrial stylist."

The November 3, 1935 issue of the New York Times announced White's return to the New York Automobile Show after a 20-year hiatus:

"WHITE'S NEW STREAMLINED TRUCK AMONG THE EXHIBITS AT THE SHOW

"FOR the first time in twenty years, White trucks are being exhibited at the New York Automobile Show. The purpose is to display the company's streamlined trucks introduced a short time ago. They were designed by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, motor vehicle stylist and winner of the Grand Prix in Paris for six consecutive years.

"In addition to appearance and automatic air conditioning of the cab, emphasis has been placed on new safety features in the construction of the truck.

"These include oversize four-wheel hydraulic brakes, equipped with a new type of power booster; rugged, heat-treated frames and a White-designed and built engine said to have unusual responsiveness.

"Road tests, covering 100,000 miles in the mountains of Pennsylvania, were made before the new models were announced. Motion pictures of these tests are a featured of the exhibit at the show.

"More than 700 orders for the trucks were placed prior to the first announcement, it is reported by Robert F. Black, White president. H added that production has been doubled at the factory in Cleveland. Three shifts a day are being employed with payrolls at their highest point since 1929. Since the new models were first introduced, orders have been received from all forty-eight States and twenty-seven countries, it is said."

De Sakhnoffsky also styled White's companion Indiana-badged truck line starting with the 1937 model year.

De Sakhnoffsky's advertising work for Auburn during the year caused a slight kerfuffle when the existence of E.L. Cord's new front-wheel-drive Auburn was leaked by Louis M. Schneider, a McClure Newspaper syndicated columnist in his 'Financial Whirligig' column of November 13, 1935:

"The new Auburn Automobile offering is a creation of Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. He's the man who designed the streamlined White Motor truck. And - he's the man who styled the buckles on the Pioneer Suspenders. Versatile, what?"

Although the vehicle in question, which debuted a month later as the Cord 810, looked as if it had been designed by Sakhnoffsky – it was actually the work of Gordon M. Beuhrig, E.L. Cord's brilliant young designer, although the firm never gave Buehrig credit for his work. Schneider issued a retraction in the following week's column (dated Nov. 20, 1935):

"Correction

"Last week your correspondent stated that 'the new Auburn auto mobile offering is a creation of Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky'. That isn't so. The model was created and designed by Gordon Miller Beuhig* of Auburn Ind. Patents for the design are owned by Cord Corporation."

(*should be Gordon Miller Buehrig)

The matter was finally put to rest by Automotive Daily News' Chris Sinsabaugh, who wrote in his November 30, 1935 column:

"Since Roy Faulkner sprung his sensational Cord front-drive at the New York Show it has been gossiped around that the body designing was an outside job: that is the work had been done by a consultant brought in for the occasion. Now I have it on the authority of Faulkner that the credit belongs to Gordon Buehrig, who has been in charge of designing work at Auburn for two years and who was with Duesenberg several years prior to this. The design is covered by design patents in Buehrig's name, which have been assigned to the Cord Corp."

On the same day (November 30, 1935), Sakhnoffsky sent the following wire to Buehrig:

"G. M. Buehrig, Director Design Department, Auburn Automobile Company

"Re letter: can assure you have never claimed any participation design nineteen thirty six Cord car – stop - Believe your design was the only refreshing note at the New York Show - stop - You are free to use this statement in any way you desire.

"Alexis de Sakhnoffsky"

On a similar note, de Sakhnoffsky is sometimes given credit for the design of the Burlington Route Zephyr streamliners. He was hired to draw renderings of the Zephyr for advertising purposes but had nothing to do with its design or engineering which was handled by a five-man team; Budd engineers Earl J. Ragsdale and Walter B. Dean, aeronautical engineer Albert Gardner Dean (Walter's brother), architect John Harbeson and industrial designer Paul Philippe Cret.

The confusion derives from several factors, a statement by the Count stating he was working on the design of a passenger train, the second a number of streamlined trains he drew for Esquire, and the third a set of playing cards issued by Burlington Route that feature a de Sakhnoffsky-penned rendering of a Zephyr in motion.

Although two year earlier, the count had expounded upon streamlined human beings, a February 26, 1936 Hearst Newspapers 'tidbit' shows a slight reversal of his earlier stance:

"There can be no such thing as streamlined wearing apparel. There are certain well defined lines beyond which we cannot go. — Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, authority on streamlined design."

Both White, de Sakhnoffsky, and the Bender Body Co. were kept busy during late 1935 and early 1936 readying the Cleveland truck manufacturer's exhibit at the upcoming Great Lakes Exposition. White and Bender were also pegged to supply the Exposition with people movers, which were constructed using a streamlined White tractor mated to a de Sakhnoffsky-designed, Bender-built, trailer bus.

Prior to the Great Lakes Exposition, de Sakhnoffsky had been involved in another well-known White Bender collaboration, a series of thirty-seven canvas-topped 15- to 19-passenger buses constructed for the Glacier Park Transport Co., the sole 'recognized transport concessioner' at Montana's Glacier National Park. The Count, F.W. Black (White's president) and Herman Bender were all credited with the design of the coaches, which were delivered between 1935 and 1937 and cost the Transport Co. a reported $5,000 each.

An August 1936 White press release included the following description of the Bender-built White Dream Coach, which was just one of many de Sakhnoffsky-styled Whites displayed at the Exposition which was held along the southern shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio from June 27 to October 4, 1936 and May 29 to September 6, 1937:

"Dream Coach Produced

"Rocket ships and stratospheres, popular symbols of transportation of the future, are not likely to be commonplace to the next generation. But a vehicle equally stimulating to the imagination has already been built to provide a glimpse into the future of highway travel and to test the public's reaction to a revolutionary type of bus.

"Known as the 'Dream Coach of 1950,' this amazing vehicle will carry bus riders of the future over their super-highways with greater safety, speed and comfort than any form of highway transportation so far developed.

"Several large national manufacturers cooperated in producing the Dream Coach for exhibition at the Great Lakes Exposition this summer. It was styled by the internationally noted authority on streamlining. Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, famous for his work on articulated trains, air transports, streamlined trucks, and other advanced forms of modern transportation.

"Among the Dream Coach's many unique features is a complete air conditioning plant, making it the world's first air conditioned coach, completely independent of outside weather conditions. The sheer novelty of this advance cannot be appreciated without actually experiencing a ride, in the Dream Coach. Strong winds, dust and rain are sealed outside the completely insulated body with its closed, double-glazed windows. Road noises, too, are completely eliminated. The passenger sees and feels himself being transported, but that is all. The accompanying noise of travel to which his cars have been so long accustomed, are completely lacking. A ride is a unique and unforgettable experience.

"True air conditioning involves the automatic control of temperature, humidity, circulation, and purity of the air. Lacking any one of these, air conditioning Is not complete. The problem of applying complete air conditioning even to buildings is of comparatively recent solution. Its difficulty is not to be compared with developing n lightweight, mobile unit suitable for a moving bus.

"Transportation authorities are enthusiasting about its possibilities for making the highway coach of tomorrow as comfortable in all kinds of weather as a modern air conditioned living room. With the perfection of super-highways, they see the last obstacle to perfectly comfortable highway transportation removed.

"In commenting on the styling of the Dream Coach its originator, Count Sakhnoffsky, points out that all restrictions imposed by practical considerations have been taken into account. Although unique in appearance, the Dream Coach's design is thoroughly practical. Its scientifically streamlined exterior offers a minimum of wind resistance in motion. This is important to fuel economy and smooth riding because in a vehicle as large as a bus this factor is many times greater than in a passenger car.

"A special type of reclining airplane seats was developed especially for the Dream Coach. The seat spacing is unusually large and both the seat backs and cushions arc of a new type of sponge rubber."

Souvenir postcards issued during the second year (1937) of the Great Lakes Exposition depict de Sakhnoffsky's Dream Coach and the recently constructed Labatt's streamlined tractor-trailer:

"Souvenir. Great Lakes Exposition. Cleveland. The World's Greatest exhibit of streamlined trucks and busses, styled by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, is presented by the White Motor Company, in the Automotive Building   at the Great Lakes Exposition. Included in the exhibit are: the first White Steam Car, loaned by the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.; The Dream Coach of 1950-the world's first air-conditioned coach; the White12-cylinder "pancake" engine; and many other interesting and instructive mechanical exhibits."

"These pretty Yoemenettes, bedecked in ear muffs, are shown shivering as they christen the coolest spot in town, inside the air-cooled white "Dream Coach of 1950," which is part of the outstanding exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition now running at Cleveland. The "Dream Coach," styled by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, is the feature attraction in the White Motor Company exhibit in the Exposition's Automotive Building. The air-cooling system, first ever placed in a motor coach, was developed by Kelvinator engineers."

The de Sakhnoffsky story is continued - Click Here for Page 3

©2012 Mark Theobald for coachbuilt.com

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