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Two months later an unnamed reporter for the American Weekly news syndicate wrote the following story of the Count's struggle with un-streamlined love, which appeared alongside wire photos of the Count and Countess in happier times (this version appeared in the June 1, 1941 edition of the San Antonio Light):

"Streamliner Count Alexis Struggle with Unstreamlined Love (distributed by American Weekly, Inc.)

"Designing Streamlined Refrigerators and Autos Was Perfectly All Right But When He Discovered the Streamlined Blonde His Unstreamlined Wife Rebelled and the Judge, After Getting All the Angles, Streamlines the Count's Bankroll to Fill Up Her Financial Curves

"I have found the perfect, streamlined, blonde and have discovered streamlined love." Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, alleged to have burst In upon his wife with this news, is an artist-engineer whose business is streamlining everything, from furniture to automobiles. It is a wife's business to encourage and applaud her husband's work but Countess Ethleene de Sakhnoffsky admits that she showed no enthusiasm.

"The Countess, though a charming brunette, knew she was neither blond nor streamlined and could not see any good news in the announcement for herself. So perhaps there was some justification for the impression the Count says she gave him of on unstreamlined refrigerator.

"Anyhow something so offended his artistic or engineering temperament that she says he slammed the front door on this comment; 'Of course you wouldn't understand. You American women are more rookies at love, choked with inhibitions.'

"Countess Ethleene, the former Phoebe Ethleene (Teddy) Frasier,' daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Frasier of Chicago, decided that after five years married life, it was high time to re-survey this thing called love.

"First she took a long look at a streamlined portrait of herself by her gifted husband. There was a strong' hint in it and she had not taken the hint but why should she, even if she could? He had streamlined her.

"We know that Claude Robert, the French author, had said: 'Streamlining is to the engineer, what strawberries are to cream. Everything today is streamlined from the human chassis to the eggbeater.'

"True, but her husband was also an artist and why couldn't he do like Rubens, the great Flemish painter. When he married Isabella Brant in 1600, she was a streamlined creature, a slim, graceful girl, with only immature traces of curves. As she grew older so did the curves. Rubens kept right on painting her as she was and-was so popular that his paintings made his wife's figure the style and envy of all others. Not many could 'eat themselves stylish' and therefore had to make up the deficiency with padding. That suggests what the noble Count should have done for his wife, instead of finding a streamlined blonde.

"From her portrait the Countess went to the kitchen of their Hollywood apartment, and somehow looked in the garbage can, she saw several scraps of a torn letter. A mixture of women's intuition and curiosity compelled her to gather them up, piece them together, and read the note.

"The letter was addressed to 'Dear Harmony' and seemed to refer to an advertisement which the lady had answered. It had an interesting confirmatory effect upon some vague suspicions she had held because, as the Countess later explained: 'My husband many times had broken our luncheon engagements — we long had been in the habit of lunching together. He would tell me he had to be with a business associate.'

"'Several times he overstayed the cocktail parties and was late arriving home for dinner. When I read that letter, I knew there had been justification for my suspicions because it was addressed to 'Dear Harmony,' and Alexis never called me 'Harmony'.

"So the Countess traced the ad and found that it had read: 'Companion wanted by continental gentleman with private means and open auto.'

"The Count admitted having placed the ad, and told the Countess that he had gotten about 100 answers to it. Later, in making his deposition, he admitted writing the Harmony letter, but said it never was mailed.

"At any rate, with this and some other evidence, the unstreamlined wife went to Attorney James B. Salem, who secured a divorce for her in the Superior Court of Los Angeles. There Justice Thomas C. Gould entered into the spirit of the filing, streamlining the Count's $30,000 a year income by ordering him to pay one quarter of it to the now ex-Countess.

"The following in part is the letter, which was introduced in evidence:

"'Dear Harmony:'

"'Your answer to my ad picked up yesterday. It frankly amused me, though you did not comply with my request for a photo. And since I enjoy people who amuse me here is my answer to your answer.'

"'I called myself Continental American because I was born and raised outside of American borders. Have traveled all my life, and get restless at the idea of having to stay somewhere longer than a year. Still I have lived In America 13 years and am a full-fledged U.S. citizen. Am delighted to be one, however without an over-emphasis on my patriotic feelings.'

"'All my life I hated bargains. When I want something badly, and it is within reach —why waste time in trying to get it cheaper, at a price? Besides I dislike to be obligated to people, so why look for a wealthy companion with a car, when I can supply both? Does that make me real?'

"'I have done many crazy things just to add a few new experiences to my roster, and am forever looking for color in life. You may be able to supply a colorful angle to Hollywood which I have missed. I never have been extremely wealthy but through my own ways of living always managed to own sport cars, expensive clothes, a yearly trip, to Europe, and always, made it profitable for an attractive companion who knew how to make romantic the satisfaction of our physical requirements. My checkered life, instead of making me cynical, made me dreadfully sentimental. Do you think I am suffering from introvertis?'

"'I prefer ash blondes and redheads, but have had many enjoyable moments with brunettes. Hate very short, very thin and muscular women.'

"'I am sorry I got your letter too late to call as you suggest.'

"'So send me a snapshot of yourself, H.H., if you care to have us get together. I always liked to have the opportunity of examining the image of the being with which I plan to spend some time.'

"The self – asserted sentimentalist having thus laid bare his innermost heart to Harmony, then mailed the letter, not in a letter box, but the garbage can, where his wife got the message and began to understand.

"The Count, son of a Russian sugar magnate, was born in Kiev, to a life of wealth and luxury but after the revolution found himself, like the other White Russians, an exile with empty pockets.

"Yet by combining his skill at engineering and painting, he was able to earn as high as $35,000 a year, making such motionless objects as refrigerators look as if they could be shot like a shell through space with a minimum of air resistance. Air resistance is not terribly important to such sheltered things, but his designs also reduced sales resistance. He streamlined automobiles both artistically and scientifically. Streamlining, by the way, is defined as 'a scientific principle based on the resistance of moving objects to wind pressure.'

"The present vogue was brought into mathematical terms by the Swiss family Bernoulli, who expressed it in the equation: P plus one half PV square equals Constant. While this means that streamlining is a constant principle, it does not mean that husbands devoted to streamlining are necessarily constant to their wives.

"Another scientific formula is that the attraction of a streamlined blonde upon a husband is in inverse ratio to the square of the distance between the bodies, especially if the wife is an increasing variable. Astronomers say that the moral of this formula is to keep all heavenly bodies several light years distant.

"The formula also proved that Lillian Harvey, famous as the modern European exponent of streamlining, could not have been the bright star that pulled the Count out of his matrimonial orbit, because she wasn't even in the country at the time. In fact, the blonde referred to by the Countess as having been so extolled by the Count, has never been named.

"'He only, told me he was in love with this woman and that she was blond and voluptuous,' she testified.

"The Count had also told her he intended going to Mexico with the blonde — an artist — to study Aztec art for ideas to incorporate in modem designing and, she said:

"'He told me he intended to live with her and work with her. He said I couldn't come along, but later said if I did come I would have to live apart from them. When I refused, he suggested I consult an attorney.'

"The Count naturally took into his marriage many Old World beliefs. Those concepts, upon which many an European woman must close on eye, could not totally be accepted by the Countess, also expensively reared but taught in the conservative American school that holds no brief for the average highly-bred European's view on marriage.

"When the artistic engineering stylist tried to streamline his Old World marriage concepts and make them fit into his marriage with the vivacious, St. Louis-born girl, he failed completely. In endeavoring to give his version of why the marriage collapsed, the Count told his wife's attorneys, James B. Salem and Vincent A. Marco:

"'She was reared in mid-Victorian manners by her grandmother (the late Mrs. Douglas Knox Frasier, prominent In San Francisco social circles) and this gave her a rather queer idea as to what marital life really is.'

"The Countess took exception to this remark, insisted her rearing by her parents was that of an average American girl of wealthy family, then added:

"'Perhaps European women of distinction would accept without comment his design for marriage. To me, however, I found it wrought only conflict. His ideas struck deeply against my American regard of marriage. I have always held marriage a sacred thing, a union not to be taken lightly. I tried to make a success of ours, but eventually it resulted in a conflict I no longer could bear.'

"Her husband, she asserted, switched his attitude toward her almost before the honeymoon was over. It was a rapid change from 'a, romantic lover to a husband who looked upon me as chattel, as property — as just something secondary in his life.'

"This contrasted sharply to his attitude during the fifteen-month romance, culminated with marriage in New York in 1935. Ethleene, a lovely black-haired girl, with dark, flashing eyes, gives the husband she has just fired, a fine reference as a fiancé, before, but not after taking. She said: 'Ours was a perfect romance. For those fifteen months, we rode the clouds of happiness. I was captivated by his graciousness, his capacity for good times, his gay mode of living.'

"'He was a 'Prince Charming' fresh from the pages of a story book. No girl could have been happier than he made me in those months. During his absences, I received nightly telephone calls from him. Every day he had flowers delivered to me — beautiful things, and always white ones. Roses and orchids.'

"After all this giant build-up came the wedding and a gay honeymoon in Europe where the first signs appeared that the perfect lover was not going to be quite as advertised. Her husband and his friends had alarmingly modernistic even futuristic ideas about marriage. The first time he forgot to come home, the Count seemed pained at her questioning and, she says, gave out this explanatory comment: 'You have to take love where you find it, don't you?'

"And now the Countess says: 'Can one really streamline anything as old as life itself?'"

A January 17, 1943 UPI news wire announced the divorce was finalized:

"Designer-artist Count Alex de Sakhnoffsky, now a major in Army Camouflage Service, 'found a 'very gay person' and wanted nothing further to do with his wife' Countess Ethleene testified in winning a divorce from the Russian nobleman."

Although his personal life was now better-known than his design work de Sakhnoffsky continued to produce illustrations for Esquire as well as a series of cover illustrations and articles for the Aeronautical monthly, Skyways - which debuted in early 1942.

He received his U.S. citizenship in 1939, proudly serving for the duration of the war in a number of posts, the first of which was for the U.S. Army Air Force Combat Intelligence Corps., stationed at Maxton Air Base, Laurinburg, North Carolina. As the war dragged on his quadrilingual talents got him transferred to Moscow, where he served as Chief Air Intelligence Officer and interpreter to U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman.

His introduction to Skyways' readers follows:

"CAPTAIN de SAKHNOFFSKY of the United States Army Air Force has won considerable acclaim as an outstanding artist-designer. The former Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky says, 'I love to draw fast things'. His visionary conceptions of 'fast things' have not only inspired advanced airplane design but have also streamlined many practical every-day articles into new beauty."

An article from the January 1943 issue of Skyways included an article on the Transport of Tomorrow:

"Transport of Tomorrow by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky.

"A vision of the luxury liner of the future is as amazing to us as the swimming pool on the Queen Mary would be to Chris Columbus.

"A large plane is always dramatic by its size. As in the “Flivver” plane of tomorrow, pictured under the wing of the “Transport of the Future,” the emphasis of this luxury liner will not be on its general appearance or lines, but will be on its interior appointments and deluxe accommodation.  In the accompanying sketch of the 'Transport of Tomorrow,' note the “lines” which offer the extreme in streamlining, and also produce a picture of power. There is no doubt that this 'feeling' of power from the drawing actually must be in force in the four engines which provide the power plant of this flying skyliner.

"The streamlined airport limousines, parked alongside of the plane, permit a scale idea of the enormity of this plane of the future. With the use of the tricycle landing gear, wings of the modern planes are being moved further and further back. This sketch shows a rather extreme version of this trend. Practically unlimited visibility is obtained for the passengers and crew. The top sketch pictures the swimming pool and solarium. Walls of the solarium-pool section of the luxury liner are in padded leather. A swimming pool may not seem feasible – and yet Christopher Columbus probably would have shivered his timbers had someone suggested a pool in a ship.

"The bottom sketch shows a spot in the dining salon. Tables are of translucent frosted plastic and are arranged in a continuous built-in fashion. Many aviation enthusiasts may scoff at this idea of the plane of the future. However, there were those, too, who in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, would have scoffed at the idea of a 164,000 pound plane such as the B-19. There may be some question as to the amount of power needed to lift this super-plane…or maybe to lift just the landing gear… and there are those who insist this plane would be into a dive if it ever did get into the air… let such arguments fall where they may.

"Someday, somehow, someone will successfully design an airplane luxury liner which will meet many of the comfort and extra feature requirements that are incorporated in this one. These sketches are, of course, mere suggestions of design, and not contentions of aeronautical engineering.

"Note: Captain Alexis de Sakhnoffsky has long been known as an outstanding artist-designer. At the present, he’s busy with official duties at an Army Air base. His sketches, covered with prop-washed mud from 'Somewhere', had to go to the cleaners before printing. Artist Sakhnoffsky has to dream up schemes of futurism while getting eight hours on his Army cot."

Before he was assigned overseas he made a presentation to a group of students that appeared in the Feb 5, 1943 issue of the Robesonian (Lumberton, North Carolina):

"Major Speaks In Chapel

"A guest speaker of unusual interest at chapel Tuesday morning at Flora MacDonald was Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, a native of Poland, and now a major in the intelligence department at the Maxton Air Base.

"Major Sakhnoffsky was presented by Miss Katherine Cameron, head of the clothing department at the college, as a designer of the most versatile type, and in the very interesting story of his life with which the major entertained the audience for three-quarters of an hour, he proved his right to the rank. He had been a designer, he said, from practically everything from dresses to automobile bodies. Apparently the latter is his specialty.

"For the past six years, Major Sakhnoffsky has run an illustrated page regularly in 'Esquire' in which he predicts the style of automobile sin the immediate and distant future. He has also been a constant contributor to 'Fortune' and to the American magazine."

Discharged in late 1945, the Count was still deemed newsworthy by the nation's gossip columnists. The International New Service's Miami correspondent, Ruth Brigham, reported on his recent visit to Miami on January 13, 1946:

"Zombies on Mind by Ruth Brigham, I.N.S. Staff Correspondant

"Miami, Fla.,'Jan. 12.—(INS)

"Vacationers include Count and Countess Alexis de Sakhnoffsky currently of New York. Chased from Moscow in 1919 as a 'White,' Sakhnoffsky recently returned there as a lieutenant colonel on our side, invited with a United States military mission. For years Sakhnoffsky's drawings of modernistic, racy autos and such, were featured in Esquire. He's contracted to start again in May.

"While in Miami he's the yacht guest of Sportsman R. S. Evans the lad who helped revive polo in Florida. Evans and Sakhnoffsky are said to be formulating plans to build a new, tiny car— with the gas tank to be filled by an eyedropper.

"Sakhnoffsky rarely goes night clubbing. But this week he was seen at the Beachcomber in Miami. The count says zombies fascinate him. Not to drink, just to think about."

The recently acquired Countess de Sakhnoffsky mentioned above was his third wife, Joan Morris Stevens (b. August 15, 1917, in Dayton, Ohio), the daughter of Samual Rawlins and Sara Gertrude (Morris) Stevens, of Waveland, Mississippi and Atlanta, Georgia respectively. The third Countess de Sakhnoffsky was an accomplished artist and clothes designer who as a student became enamored with de Sakhnoffsky's published drawings.

Upon his return from service de Sakhnoffsky discovered job opportunities for a free-lance styling consultant, even a famous one, were few and far between. Luckily his young friend and protégé, Brooks Stevens, sent some work his way.

The pair had met back in 1934 when a young 'Kippie' Stevens travelled to Chicago to visit the Century of Progress Exhibition. A Milwaukee newspaper described the meeting as follows: "Asked what his fees were, the count told told Kippie between $350 and $400 a day. Whereupon Kippie fell off his chair."

At the time Stevens was working for Willys-Overland who were in the middle of designing their post-war lineup. He proposed a sedan based on the basic pre-war Willys dimensions and drivetrain and hired de Sakhnoffsky to assist with the finishing touches. Three prototypes, code-named 6/66, 6/70 and 6/71, were constructed, and the project, which required all-new tooling was green-lit by Willys-Overland president Joe Frazer.

However a sudden change in management put an end to the project. Frazer had a falling out with Ward Canaday, the firm's chairman, and he was promptly replaced by former Ford executive Charles 'Cast Iron Charlie' Sorenson.

Sorenson proposed an entirely different vehicle, one that would remind the buying public of the wartime Jeep. Stevens was given the task of designing a more utilitarian vehicle whose body could be stamped out in a recently acquired appliance factory. The presses had a maximum draw of six inches, which naturally made the expressively curved sedans that Stevens and de Sakhnoffsky had designed out of the question as their streamlined bodies required expensive deep-draw presses and dies.

Many Jeep-Willys enthusiast are happy that the prototypes were shelved, as in a short three days Stevens came up with the cleverly designed 1947-1948 Willys Pickup, Station Wagon and Jeepster, all three of which remain popular to this day.

In early 1947 de Sakhnoffsky was hired by Texas ice baron Hugh A. Drane to design the interior of his new private coach, the 'Nisise' - the May 19, 1947 Corsicana Daily Sun reporting:

"CORSICANAN OWNS SUPER-BUS

"Special Vehicle Is Ordered By Drane; Excels Pullman

"Hugh Drane through the years has employed the latest and best transportation available He now travels in his new specially built bus—that is more like but excels the finest Pullman coach on the railroads in its accommodate and conveniences.

"The 26,000 pound beauty, with "Nisise" at the sides and rear, the trademark copywrited by Crane's

Industries, costing approximately $50,000, is complete in every detail and is one of two similar coaches In the country (the other is owned by Augustus Busch III).

"Visits Ice Plants

"Drane plans to travel some 3,000 miles per month to his various ice plants over an area of 1,000 miles, extending from Amarillo to Corpus Christi. By using this method, he can sleep all night while the vehicle is piloted by the drivers, arise refreshed and ready for a busy day's work. Sleeping accommodations are one of the features.

"The coach was driven home early Wednesday morning from New York and is now located at the Drane home northwest of Corsicana. En route home the party, Mr. and Mrs. Drane, Ben B. Blackmon, Earl Pressley and Gilliean Rea, spent two days in Detroit visiting T. B. Futk, a lawn mower company executive, and friend.

"Sleeping accommodations are available for four persons, along with quarters for three crewmen if day and night driving is done. If a one-day trip is planned, fifteen can be cared for.

"In discussing his newest mode of travel, Drane said that he had a plane for a decade to get to his ten ice establishments, much faster and better than automobile or railroad travel, but weather conditions frequently grounded his plane and much valuable time is lost. The coach can go in most any kind of weather. The capitalist had been thinking of the new mode of travel for the past three years. He considered a special railroad car, but abandoned that idea in favor of the bus.

"Special Features

"Among the special features are an intercommunicating phone system from the compartments to the driver's seat, a fire detector on the driver's dash, carbon dioxide fire extinguishers, air pressure that operates the brakes, opens the doors and keeps up the water pressure, hot and cold running water with 110 gallon storage of cold and 20 gallons in the hot water container. The hot water is heated from the engine exhaust. A two horse-power direct current generator is a feature, while the entire coach is air cooled and heated.

"Clothes closet is one added luxury while there is a shower lavatory and toilet accommodations to the main compartment and to the guest quarters. Propane gas is used in the four-burner and broiler stove located in the kitchen between the two compartments. There is a turn indicator in the kitchen connected with the driver who signals when and in what direction a turn is contemplated so that the cook can adjust or accommodate himself and his pots and pans to the changed directions without the danger of mishaps or accidents. An ice refrigerator provides sufficient storage for food. The dishes and silverware are located in specially built compartments, placed in cushioned rows so they will neither rattle nor be broken. Each compartment has storage spaces, ample drawers for cosmetics, etc., humidors for men's smokes, etc., and ample mirrors are found, including one full lengthed mirror door for the ladies. A septic tank is found under the coach. Tires are 11" x 22" and dual rear wheels are provided. The coach is white and stainless steel.

"Designed by Belgian

"Alexis Sakhnoffsky, New Canaan, Conn., Belgian automobile designer prior to World War I, friend of Drane, designed the interior of the coach. After World War I, Sakhnoffsky came to America, is a naturalized American. His wife, a countess, is also an American. They plan to visit Mr. and Mrs. Drane this summer. The designer was a colonel in the U.S. Army during World War II. He frequently contributes to Esquire magazine. A ship-building concern prepared the interior.

"In discussing the relative cost of airplane travel and the bus, it was brought out the planes cost from $15,000 to $22,000, but a pilot's salary is from $750 to $1,000 per month.

"Gillean Rea, Corsicana a former Corsicana High School football star and recently separated from the armed forces, will be the operator of the bus. The newest travel method looks like it would be ideal for a fishing trip to the choice sites on rivers off the main highways, but it won't. The long coach requires considerable space in which to be turned around, and besides, the 26,000 pound conveyance could not negotiate the trails that lead to fishing sites, and would break through the timber and comparatively weak bridge structures generally found on the by-roads. Life Magazine will carry a special article on the new coach and representatives will be here within a few days."

Brook Stevens brought in de Sakhnoffsky as a consultant when he was hired to assist Kaiser-Frazer's in-house designer (Duncan McRae) and engineer (Dean Hammond) with the firm's 1949 and 1950 model offerings. Stevens and de Sakhnoffsky were given the task of preparing the firm auto show exhibits and dealer showrooms, and also provided minor styling adjustments to the 1949 models and helped McRae and Hammond with some of Kaiser-Frazer's 1950 models.

Throughout the 1950s de Sakhnoffsky contributed illustrations and articles to a number of magazines, one of which was Motor Trend, one of the first automotive 'buff books' – a term that refers to a magazine written for enthusiasts, rather than consumers or industry insiders.

He penned several articles for the publication, including a recurring column entitled 'Trend of the Future' which presented new designs of interest to Motor Trend's readers. The following column accompanied illustrations that appeared in the September 1949 issue of Motor Trend, Vol.1, No. 1:

“Trend of the Future

"On the following two pages, Colonel Alexis de Sakhnoffsky presents his version of the coming trend in automobile styling. Many readers will recall his futuristic designs presented several years ago in Esquire magazine.

"Some of the more important features of this design are the following:

'bubble' windshield
rear deck handle integral with license plate light
massively-designed bumper combined with airs scoop
and… 'psychological styling' (suggesting speed) consisting of louvers and twin exhausts

"The instrument panel is composed of a large speedometer, a tachometer, and a matching round dial for other standard instruments. The round buttons on the steering wheel spokes are blinker lights to indicate that gas or oil supply is low.  Center of the panel has a combined radio grill and round television screen."

The Count was also interested in early automobiles and was a charter member of the Michigan Region of the CCCA (Classic Car Club of America) which was organized on April 15, 1949. He was also an active member of the Western Michigan chapter of the VMCCA (Veteran Motor Car Club of America).

Even being the Count's ex-wife was deemed newsworthy, an INS News wire story dated October 21, 1949 announced her second divorce:

"Marriage of East-West Ends

"Los Angeles (INS) - Ethleene Singh, 30, writer and one time designer, obtained an uncontested divorce Thursday from importer Gurdial Singh, 40, after she testified that 'It's impossible for an American woman to make a go of marriage with a Hindu.' Mrs. Singh, formerly married to Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, famous industrial designer, said that the spiritual conflict between the American and Indian ways of life gave her stomach trouble and caused her to lose five pounds a week."

Apparently de Sakhnoffsky's work on the American Austin and Bantam made him the country's de facto small car expert and he produced a illustrations for Powel Crosley's advertisements. In 1950 he was brought on board to facelift the 1951 Crosley line, which due to budget constraints resulted in a new grill and not much else. The Count's new grill included a miniature reinterpretation of the pre-war Crosley's bullet-nose, abandoned in its 1949 redesign by Powel Crosley and Carl W. Sundberg a partner in the Southfield, Michigan industrial design firm of Sundberg & Ferar.

De Sakhnoffsky and August Duesenberg served as judges at the inaugural 1952 International Motor Sports Show's Concours d'Elegance. He also contributed to the program as follows:

"The Thrill of Speed by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky

"What is this thing called speed?

"Few among those who enjoy it will venture to define the thrill which speed gives them.  Bobsled pilots claim that the thrill of this sport consists of traveling at over 80 mph, with an all-time knowledge that you cannot stop. Fighter pilots indulge in 'buzzing' or landing their ships at unnecessary high speed for the sheer 'kick' which they get out of it. Does it bolster their ego? Does it give them relief from an inferiority complex? Or is it an outlet for the bravado instinct, which can be found in all of us?

"Opinions of psychologists, who study reactions of men who enjoy the excitement of flirting with death, are divided. They report such sensations as:

"'The exhilarating feeling of a powerful machine throbbing beneath you…'
'The thrill of being in control of your life and death…'
'The peculiar delight of being at liberty to take risks or avoid them…'

"Whichever facet of this fascinating vice fits you, you know you will always continue to indulge in it and will consider being called a reckless madman an unthinkable affront. This is a close affinity between those who enjoy this 'flat out' feeling” and the relatively few who can capture the illusion of speed on paper.

"It is impossible to convey the full measure of fast movement with pencils, brushes, and paint.  But artists, who have been blessed with the opportunity of handling a thoroughbred at 100 plus, retain an eternal imprint on their output, which cannot be easily erased.

"To draw sport cars, you have to be deeply conscious of what is mechanical beauty.  There is something human in the appeal of a custom-built creation.  After driving fast cars, a motor artist discovers that as he becomes more mechanical, the magnificent beast is becoming more human.  The tapered highlights on its metal skin are reminiscent of taut, young muscles under an athlete’s sweaty skin.

"The whole body of a thoroughbred sports car becomes a symphony of fast, functional lines, accented by power bulges, oversized tachs, twin exhausts, and knock-on wheels.

"What makes a car look fast? Naturally there are such elementary features as lowness, length of hood, etc.  These are “musts” in a speedy silhouette since they are directly related to air resistance and feeling of power. Psychological styling adds details which suggest, by inference, thoughts related to speed.

"For instance, a large tachometer does not add a single extra mile to the top speed of a car, but reminds one of the oversized revolution counters observed on Grand Prix jobs. Tiny, short gear-shift lever 'reeks' of lightning gear changes, and rows of louvers symbolize a high performance engine. An oval grille brings to mind Ferraris and Maseratis and a honey-comb air intake the roar of an SSK.

"There is a wealth of inspiration for a designer in a close study of characteristic features of real racing cars, in which power-bulges are not molded by phony stylists, nor port holes added to identify a new model. Some of these details are authentic elements of a modern sports car design, but a seasoned designer will use them sparingly, as an experienced chef, who accents his creations with mere dabs of spices.

"What are forecasts for fashions in the sports car field? Who copies whom in this industry? There is a peculiar anomaly among style trends of today. We can see Detroit stylists adopting simplified, functional shapes favored by European designers, while on the other hand, original American style features are being beautifully interpreted by Italian craftsmen. Such names as Farina, Vignale, and Ghia are fast becoming as well known as the reputed Saoutchic and Figoni & Falaschi.

"There is no doubt, however, that the tussle for supremacy in sports car design is confined to Britain and Italy. British leadership, with classic but 'passé' designs, is being seriously challenged by pure, exciting lines of the latest creations from Milan and Turin.

"Recent Continental Shows provide some interesting international fashion hints. Smart sports cars in 1952 will 'wear' exposed wheels, hoods plunging lower than headlights, and simple functional accessories. Enclosed wheels and deep décolleté on doors are not chic anymore. Finally, some recent road races bear indications that a trend is developing toward enclosed sports car bodies for long distance competitions.

"Let us hope that the timid steps taken by Detroit manufacturers in unveiling a few prototypes of U.S. sports cars will result in an ultimate style leadership. The enthusiasm of American sportsmen should outweigh indecision and production consideration."

A 1955 issue of Bus Transportation mentioned that de Sakhnoffsky was working on a project for Mack:

"LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE of bus design is famed automotive stylist Alexis De Sakhnoffsky, hired by Mack to design the bus of tomorrow.

"There could be new developments in bus design soon... as Mack Trucks, Inc., has just retained famed engineering stylist Alexis de Sakhnoffsky to look into the future and translate what he sees into today's buses. A leading authority on automotive design, Sakhnoffsky has pioneered major style trends both here and abroad, where for six years in a row he captured the Gran Prix for design at the Monte Carlo Elegance Contest."

During 1952 he was retained by Preston Tucker to help him design a second Tucker, a sports car that was christened the Carioca. The Count wrote a short article about the project shortly before his death that was published posthumously in Automobile Quarterly (Vol. 4, No.1) and titled 'The Second Tucker'. The car was also featured on the cover of the July 1955 issue of Car Life which included an article entitled 'Preston Tucker's Production Line Rod'.

In his article for Automobile Quarterly the Count fondly recalled his friend:

"Preston Tucker was easy to know and hard not to like. In the four years prior to his death of lung cancer, our acquaintance, which began strictly on a business level, grew into a close friendship. And I came to admire his unvarying optimism and consistently logical approach to the most complex problems. How can I describe such a man as Tucker? 'Audacious' is the word that comes quickest to mind, for it was indeed audacious of him, in the first place, to have tried to invade a field dominated by experienced industrial giants. Then, though he suffered a moral as well as monetary defeat in the downfall of his enterprise, he began immediately to conceive of means to try again.

"Hounded by creditors, his own credit at its lowest ebb, and bitter at the manifest injustices that had been dealt him, Preston racked his brain to find another approach to the problem of turning his dream of a car into a reality. He came to me to seek help in putting down on paper what he planned as the Tucker Number Two.

"Preston felt that much of the sheer enjoyment of motoring was missed when you drove a boxy family sedan, functional though it may be. He wanted to build cars that were fun to drive. His conception of a fun car was a sporty looking vehicle of intriguing design, whose performance was sparkling, and which could be sold at a profit for $1,000.

"My first meeting with him took place in 1952 in his Ypsilanti, Michigan, headquarters where he had salvaged a rather well-equipped machine shop from his first automotive venture. There, laid out on long tables, was a complete assortment of automotive parts that could be purchased readily on a C.O.D. basis. Noting my surprise, Preston explained that as soon as a new model produced by any of the Big Three automakers reached the manufacturing stage, the 'gray market' immediately tooled up to produce identical or facsimile parts for the replacement business. Such facsimile parts included wheels, steering mechanisms, electrical systems, transmissions, radiator cores, brakes and what have you. Some of them were already in sub-assembly form.

"The designer's problem had thus been simplified, or made more complex, depending on how you looked at it: he would have to create a car that utilized a maximum number of available parts and a minimum number of parts that had to be built from new tooling. Also, it should be a car that could be put together with little difficulty. Aware of the pitfalls, but fascinated by the thought of becoming associated with such an incredibly imaginative man as Preston Tucker, I agreed to submit ideas for the design of the Tucker Number Two.

"In his original car building program, Preston had employed a team of bright, young engineers who had helped him develop the first Tucker car. Later, unable to remain idle, these men drifted away, accepting jobs with various established manufacturers. It is a tribute to Preston's magnetism that all these men remained on call in the event he would ever be able to start up again. The loyalty of some of the men I met personally was heartwarming.

"Preston's ideas were unorthodox, to say the least, and he was unabashedly dogmatic about imposing them. For one thing, he claimed that research had proved that from ten to twelve pounds of accumulated mud, gravel and tar are carried at times under each of the four fenders of a conventionally designed car. His solution: cycle fenders, which could be removed easily for cleaning and thereby abet the road performance of the car. He also insisted on what I can only describe as Pierce-Arrow-like headlights, rising part-way out of the front fenders, which would turn with the wheels as the car was steered. And of course there would be a third headlight—in the center, and stationary — because it had now become a sort of Tucker trademark.

"The third Tucker mandate was a rear engine. Preston believed that this location offered several advantages. There would be much less noise; the front end could have a slim and streamlined shape; and there would be added safety for passengers in case of a front-end collision.

"The instrument panel of the new car was to be the acme of simplicity: an oversized speedometer surrounded by four blinkers—for fuel, oil, temperature and amperes. The pointed tail of the eventual design had been advised by the racing car designer Harry Miller, with whom Preston had worked earlier in his career and whom Preston deeply respected. In fact, one of Miller's sketches was turned over to me for inspiration. To further the fun car notion, there was to be an unusual, curved rear-seat design, reminiscent of that of a motorboat.

"The greatest deterrent to producing the car was the cost of body and sheet-metal dies. Naturally, some die work (hood and rear-engine cover, specifically) had to be considered. But for constructing doors and other components involving simple one-way stretch or rolled operations, Preston received an enthusiastic response from a number of house-trailer builders. He believed, and I concurred, that since composite bodies had given more than satisfactory service to trailer owners for many years, there was no reason why such assemblies could not be used on the new Tucker car and shipped directly to the buyer along with the rest of the parts. The Tucker fun car was to be sold in kit form.

"Since Preston's credit was nil, a Detroit bank was designated to act as a kind of trustee and deal directly with the parts manufacturers. When a customer made a suitable and sufficient payment to the bank— either directly or through a finance company—orders were to be immediately dispatched by the bank to participating manufacturers, who in turn began shipping parts to the customer. Bills of lading were also to be credited by the fiduciary bank to each manufacturer, but no bill was actually to be paid until all the parts had been delivered.

"Tucker knew that among the nation's repair garage owners there were a great many who were eager to obtain Big Three franchises, but unable to, for one reason or another. Preston hoped to tap this reservoir of frustrated car dealers and also to provide the future Tucker owner with a service outlet. The customer would be urged to have his car assembled by a specially authorized garage owner for a prearranged fee of $60 (that is, ten hours at $6 an hour, as outlined in a manual accompanying the components). In this manner, the new Tucker company would acquire a dealer organization, and the customer would be assured of service for his car.

"Hearing about plans to build this car, Juscelino Kubitschek, who was then the president of Brazil and a friend of Preston's, offered inducements in the form of tax-free plants, if the car could be assembled in his country. Intrigued by the offer, Tucker made several trips to Brazil and even considered launching the car in South America. Because of this possibility, Preston and I agreed to call the car the Tucker Carioca — Carioca being the name of the ballroom version of the samba and also the name applied to a citizen of Rio de Janeiro.

"Although I did not agree entirely with Preston's conception of how the car should look, I prepared a number of roughs that embodied his ideas, and from these he selected the design herewith. Close scrutiny of the concept will reveal some flaws, of course, but it is reasonable to assume that many of the inherent problems would have been solved eventually. Unfortunately, the project progressed no farther than the rough-sketch stage, which was a profound disappointment to me, for the idea of a strictly fun car is always present in the auto designer's mind. And I think this would have been a fun car to build."

Although a prototype was never constructed by Tucker, one enterprising fan of the vehicle claims to have one currently under construction.

In 1957 de Sakhnoffsky was retained by the footwear manufacturer Pedwin to design a series of automobiles that would be included in an imaginative series of full-page magazine advertisements during the coming year. A press release announced:

"The Pedwin Sports Car Design Promotion: 'Mr. Dream Car'

"The man who invented dream cars is back with a complete new line of sleek imaginary sports cars. This month, American magazine readers will see once more a style of drawing that to many of them – especially those who were reading men’s magazines before World War II – is as familiar as the pin-up girls of Petty or Vargas. The sleek, imaginative dream cars of Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, which graced the pages of Esquire for years, are to appear in a series of monthly magazine ads.

"The series will include 12 Sakhnoffsky designed sports cars and will run one each month in the pages of several national magazines as part of an advertising campaign for Pedwin Shoes. Reason for the sports car theme, says the shoe concern, is the 'increasing interest nationally in sports cars by the young men of America'. Admirers of the Sakhnoffsky drawings will be able to obtain dye-transfer color reproductions by writing for them.'

A de Sakhnoffsky speaking engagement was covered by the April 4, 1958 issue of the Holland Evening Sentinel (MI):

"Alexis de Sakhnoffsky Addresses Rotary Club

"Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, Russian commercial artist and designer of furniture, automobiles, radios and electrical appliances spoke to the Rotary Club Thursday noon at the luncheon meeting at the Warm Friend Tavern. He told of his experiences while in the Intelligence Corps as Lt. Col. with the U. S. Army in World War II, stationed in Moscow. Harold Ramsey introduced Mr. Sakhnoffsky to the 55 members present. Seven guests and one visiting Rotarian were also present."

During the 1950s de Sakhnoffsky maintained a residence in Grand Rapids, making periodic visits to Milwaukee, as a part-time illustrator and styling consultant to Brooks Stevens Associates. He also did some freelance work for third parties which included the Attwood Manufacturing Co., a major supplier of aftermarket and OEM boating hardware. A circa 1961 Attwood catalog offered a 'Seaflite Riviera line designed by de Sakhnoffsky'.

In 1961 he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia with his third wife, Joan, to take a part-time position with Mills B. Lane, the wealthy president of Atlanta-based Citizens and Southern National Bank for whom he created portraits of his rather extensive collection of Classic motor cars.

In partnership with Lane the Count sold sets of lithographs of some of his early works through small display ads in the back pages of Road & Track, Motor Trend and Antique Automobile, Bulb Horn and Classic Car, the address being 'Stable of the Thoroughbreds, Box 4899, Atlanta, Georgia'.

He also designed a series of runabouts for Atlanta's Feather Craft Boat Co., one of which was mentioned in a review of the 1962 New York Boat Show published in the January 14, 1962 New York Times:

"SMALL OUTBOARDS STILL APPEALING; 40 Builders Have 180 Such Craft at Coliseum

"The New York show probably surpasses all others in tonnage, but without the small outboard propelled craft it would lose much of its popular appeal. This year more than forty builders have installed about 180 such runabouts and cruisers in the Coliseum.

"Builders of the metal boats appear to have gone in for refinements more strongly than most. Among them is Feather Craft’s 16-footer Meteor, selling for $950. Her styling was conceived by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky."

Some of de Sakhnoffsky's work for Mills B. Lane Jr. was published in a 1978 issue of Automobile Quarterly which also included a Beverly Rae Kimes interview with Lane concerning his relationship with de Sakhnoffsky, which is excerpted below:

"'I think he came to Atlanta to die,' Mills Lane said quietly.

"Alexis de Sakhnoffsky had lived a full life. He was sixty now. Behind him stretched a career that had seen his ideas grace such diverse chassis as Panhard Rolls-Royce, Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes-Benz, Fiat, Puch, Minerva, Packard, Willys, Cord, American Bantam and Nash. Ahead of him? 'As long as I can hold a pencil and draw cars,' he once said, 'I will be happy.' But that was difficult now. His hands were stiffened with arthritis.

"And he was poor, by his standards certainly. A man accustomed to the superlative, who considered the 'better' things in life merely adequate, an aesthete who looked upon life as a work of art, a man like that could but spend profligately. Alexis de Sakhnoffsky had. And now the money was gone. An occasional assignment from Esquire magazine and a war pension earned in two years' service—he left a lieutenant colonel—for the United States Air Force during World War II provided subsistence, but not much more. And so he traveled to Atlanta. There was a military cemetery in nearby Marietta; when the time came there would be space for him there. It was 1961.

"If all this suggests melancholia, that impression should be dispelled immediately. Alexis de Sakhnoffsky was too proud a man to feel sorry for himself. And he was too imaginative not to find some way to enjoy life despite his circumstances. Besides, he had just met Mills Lane.

"What Mills B. Lane and Alexis de Sakhnoffsky shared was, from disparate sectors, a common flair for the flamboyant—and, on an aesthetic level, that perhaps innate quality, a sense of good taste in the possessions with which one surrounds himself. The only difference between them now was that Mills Lane could afford to indulge in possessions and Alexis de Sakhnoffsky could not. Fortuitously for the latter, among the things the former chose to collect were automobiles.

"'Daddy owned one of the first little Maxwell roadsters, the last car he drove was a Detroit Electric,' Mills remembers. The first Packard in the Lane garage was a Twin Six touring car, followed by more Packards, then a Cadillac Type 57 and more Cadillacs. 'When I was fifteen the Lane family took a tour of Great Britain in a Silver Ghost and I fell in love with that car. When I was at Yale in the mid-Thirties I bought a secondhand Model A Ford roadster for $65 and drove it back and forth between New Haven and Savannah for two years. I was reading a lot about Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, I was fascinated by what he did to cars.'

"It was during this period, when the most exotic collection of automobiles anywhere in the United States was gathering itself together in Atlanta, that Mills Lane met Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. 'I'm a hero worshipper,' Mills admits. 'I was in awe of him. After a few drinks, I relaxed a little more and we became friendly, but I was in awe of him until the day he died.' For Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, meeting Mills Lane was the tonic he needed. Here was a man who not only loved beautiful cars, and could talk about them, but who also possessed an assemblage of them that would impress the most blasé sophisticate.

"Mills and Alexis became fast friends. 'I loved him,' Mills remarks with affection. 'I was crazy about the guy. He was such a proud man, and perfectly delightful, a marvelous companion.' The two discovered other interests in common. Mills is a genuine gourmet, appreciative of fine food elegantly served; Alexis regarded eating as an ethereal experience. Alexis was a connoisseur of good wines; since the age of twelve when he had his first glass of port in Juarez, Mills has been likewise.

"But principally it was Mills' cars that drew the two men together. 'You could see him become younger, you could visually see it, when he was around them,' Mills remembers. 'All of a sudden, he seemed less ill, as if his health had come back so he could fully enjoy himself among the objects that were his first love.' When Mills decided to open his collection to the public, he commissioned Alexis to paint the cars which comprised it. Ultimately, he would complete forty-two of the portraits, which were displayed in the new museum. 'He exercised poetic license on some of them,' Mills smiles, 'but I guess I expected that.' They were the last illustrations Alexis ever did..."

Count Alexis Vladimir de Sakhnoffsky died on April 29, 1964, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Following de Sakhnoffsky's passing, David R. Holls, former assistant to the Vice President of Design at General Motors Corporation, acquired a large number of the Count's original pieces of artwork which were donated to the Benson Ford Research Library after Holls' death in 2000.

Surprisingly certain pieces of de Sakhnoffsky's streamlined blond furniture remain in production today. Leonard Riforgiato, owner of the South Beach Furniture Co., Miami, and investment banker Andrew Capitman bought Heywood-Wakefield's assets and by 1993 were reproducing more than 35 examples of the firm's streamlined furniture, which included a number of the de Sakhnoffsky-designed Crescendo line.

They're still in business at 2300 Southwest 23rd Street Miami, FL. heywood-wakefield.com.

A gorgeous 1:16 replica of de Sakhnoffsky's L-29 Cord was offered by Danbury Mint and remains in high demand today.

In 2011 Finish illustrator Janne Kutja produced a limited edition tribute to de Sakhnoffsky that's available from his website.

©2012 Mark Theobald for coachbuilt.com

With special thanks to Beverly Rae Kimes, The Classic Car Club of America, Automobile Quarterly, Esquire and the Labatt Brewing Co.

Some Pics ©2012 Labatt Brewing Co.

Appendix 1 de Sakhnoffsky Patents:

USD92032 tea kettle and cover - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92033 saucepan and cover - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92034 saucepot and cover - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92035 sauce kettle and cover - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92037 cover - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92038 saucepan - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92039 saucepot - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
USD92040 drip coffeepot - Filed Jan 22, 1934 - Issued Apr 17, 1934
US2056002 Radio apparatus - Filed Jan 29, 1934 - Issued Sep 29, 1936
USD99417 radio receiver cabinet - Filed Aug 10, 1935 - Issued Apr 21, 1936
USD98919 radiator shell - Filed Jul 17, 1935 - Issued Mar 17, 1936
USD100757 sadiron - Filed Nov 30, 1935 - Issued Aug 11, 1936
USD101507 vehicle - Filed Aug 10, 1936 - Issued Oct 6, 1936
USD105268 vehicle - Filed Oct 29, 1936 - Issued Jul 13, 1937
USD101809 vehicle body - Filed Oct 1, 1936 - Issued Nov 3, 1936
USD109995 vehicle - Filed Oct 29, 1936 - Issued Jun 7, 1938
USD108827 vehicle - Filed Jul 20, 1937 - Issued Mar 15, 1938
USD108892 grill work - Filed Jan 21, 1937 - Issued Mar 22, 1938
USD105899 coe fuel tank truck - Filed Jan 21, 1937 - Issued Aug 31, 1937
USD110857 vehicle body - Filed Jun 22, 1937 - Issued Aug 16, 1938
USD103645 velocipede - Filed Jan 27, 1937 - Issued Mar 16, 1937
USD106063 semi-trailer body - Filed Jan 21, 1937 - Issued Sep 14, 1937
USD108346 fuel tank truck - Filed Jan 21, 1937 - Issued Feb 8, 1938
USD108269 gasoline tank vehicle - Filed Jan 21, 1937 - Issued Feb 1, 1938
USD109013 brewery delivery vehicle - Filed Jan 21, 1937 - Issued Mar 22, 1938
USD108780 trailer vehicle - Filed Jul 20, 1937 - Issued Mar 15, 1938
US2154472 Velocipede construction - Filed Jan 29, 1937 - Issued Apr 18, 1939
USD109885 lighter - Filed Jan 10, 1938 - Issued May 31, 1938
USD131683 flatware - Filed Jul 26, 1941 - Issued Mar 24, 1942
USD174112 Industrial Truck - Filed Dec 31, 1953 - Issued Mar 1, 1955
USD186965 fluid pressure-actuated horn - Filed Jul 23, 1958 – Issued 1959
USD188996 navigation light - Filed Apr 13, 1960 – Issued 1960
USD190679 nautical chock - Filed Apr 13, 1960 – Issued 1960
USD192185 boat hook for ski rope - Filed Apr 13, 1960 - Issued Feb 6, 1962
USD192182 boat light and rope cleat - Filed Apr 13, 1960 - Issued Feb 6, 1962
USD190977 flagstaff - Filed Apr 13, 1960 – Issued 1962
USD192183 bow handle - Filed Apr 13, 1960 - Issued Feb 6, 1962
USD192186 eye cleat - Filed Apr 13, 1960 – Issued 1962

©2012 Mark Theobald for coachbuilt.com

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