See how the most advanced American car of 1934 holds up in violent crash testing in this original Chrysler newsreel.

The Chrysler Airflow has intrigued and fascinated automotive historians forever. True, it was a failure in the marketplace. But still, in many ways it was the most advanced Detroit automobile of its time. Although the Aiflow wasn’t of fully unitized construction as we define it today, the body was indeed unitized, and it employed steel reinforcement almost throughout. (See our in-depth look here.) That was in stark contrast to many other American cars that year, which still made extensive use of wood in their inner construction—especially from General Motors. To demonstrate just how strong and safe the Airflow body was, Chrysler produced some remarkable demonstrations that we can share here now in an old factory newsreel.

The first demonstration takes place at the Chrysler Exposition at the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair, where a stunt driver deliberately rolls an Airflow at high speed, but the doors and windows remain intact. Next, a neatly-done scale model of the inner body structure is used to illustrate its rigidity and resistance to crushing and twisting. Finally, another Airflow Sedan is pushed off a 110-ft cliff in a rock quarry and flipped end over end. Again, the doors and glass remain totally functional and the car drives away. While the car-buying public never warmed up to the Airflow, students of automotive history can appreciate the achievement. Video follows.