Possibly the most extravagant car of the entire decade, the Bugatti Royale was fitted with a massive 12.8-litre straight-eight engine that produced around 300bhp and cost a fortune.

As its name suggests, it was aimed at royalty (or non-royal heads of state, if they were interested), but even those people found it hard to justify buying one during the global economic crisis.

Total production never approached double figures, leading motor historian Michael Sedgwick to describe the car in 1970 as a “magnificent white elephant”.

This locomotive was far more successful and was used to power French railway locomotives in the 1950s.

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2. Buick Series 60

Upon its introduction in 1930, the Series 60 sat at the top of the Buick range and featured a 5.4-litre straight-six engine.

A year later it had fallen to second place behind the Series 90, and customer preference for a straight-eight led Buick to fit one of these.

The early versions had a very 'classic' design, although some simplification appeared over time.

The Series 90 was replaced in 1936, the year in which Buick stopped using the 'Series' model names and, in this case, began using Century.

3. Buick Series 90

The Series 90 replaced the Series 60 as the top-of-the-line Buick in 1931 and was available from the start with a new straight-eight engine.

Related to contemporary Cadillacs and rivals, the Buick Series 90 was generally bodied by Fisher, although customers could purchase rolling chassis and order bodies from independent coachbuilders.

Like the Series 60, the 90 was replaced in 1936 by a more streamlined model with a name rather than a number, known in this form as the Limited.

4. Chrysler Imperial

The first of many Chrysler Imperials was introduced for the 1926 model year and was powered by a straight-six engine.

In 1930, Chrysler replaced it with a second-generation model with a more modern straight-eight, and it was available with many different bodies, some supplied by Chrysler itself and others by body specialists.

The third Imperial, produced from 1934 to 1936, shared a monocoque construction and dramatic aerodynamic styling with contemporary airflow, and in equal measure had customers running into the welcoming arms of rival manufacturers.

Slightly more traditional styling was applied to the next Imperial, sold from 1937 to 1939.

5. Cord L-29

In terms of its appearance, the Cord L-29 was almost the hallmark of interwar American luxury car design.

Its considerable length was inevitable, given that its 5-liter Lycoming straight-eight engine was mounted behind the gearbox, which at the time drove the front wheels in a way that was unique in the American automobile industry.

Despite its beauty, the L-29 had many problems and failed to attract enough customers, with a limited lifespan from 1929 to 1932.

The Cord returned four years later with the sensational (and again front-wheel-drive) 810 and 812, which were even less successful.

6. Delage D8

The D8 name was applied to a number of Deluges sold in the 1930s.

All had straight-eight engines, but a variety of chassis lengths, with a very wide choice of bodies, meant that the D8 could be almost anything, from a sporty roadster to a grand luxury car.

Delage was taken over by Delahaye in 1935, and D8s produced later in the decade were mainly Delahey’s powered by Delage Street Eights.

7. Groom 135

Partly responsible for the ups and downs of Delahaye's fortunes in the 1930s, the 135 is often regarded as a luxury model, but could also be described as a sports car.

All versions were powered by a straight-six engine, with an initial displacement of 3.2 litres, although a 3.6-litre version was also available.

Delahaye realized the value of promoting competition in motorsport, for which the 135 proved well suited.

Versions built for competition won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1937, shared overall honor’s with Hotchkiss at the same event two years later (thus making Delahaye the only manufacturer to win one and a half times), and finished first, second and fourth in the 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans.

8. Franklin Series 17

It seems obvious, rather than surprising, that a luxury car of the 1930s would have a water-cooled engine.

Franklin, however, specialised in air cooling and used it for the 6.5-litre V12 fitted to its Series 17.

From 1932 supercharging was said to be available, but this turned out to be just a fancy way of describing additional ducts in the general direction of the carburetor.

Franklin was already in serious financial trouble (it collapsed in 1934), and this led to the promising Series 17 being not as good and heavier than it might otherwise have been.

9. Hispano-Suiza J12

Also known as the Type 68, the Hispano-Suiza J12 was one of the few cars to be referred to in the same terms as the Bugatti Royale and the Duesenberg Model J.

Its V12 engine, described by journalist Ronald Barker as "quiet as a club library", was in 9.4-litre form with a claimed, and possibly understated, compression ratio of 190 or 220 bhp, and produced 250 bhp when its stroke was lengthened. It measured 11.3 liters.

Faster speeds were certainly possible, but not quite the goal; Autocar described its running version as "without doubt one of the world's finest cars in both design and road performance".

High-profile owners comprised the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

10. Lagonda V12

Shortly after buying Lagonda, Alan P. Good (who managed to outdo Rolls-Royce at just 29 years old) is reported to have told his new employees: "We're going to make the best car in the world and it's only two years away."

The car in question was named after its engine, a V12 with a relatively small displacement of 4.5 liters but noted for its high power and quiet running.

It had been criticized for its braking (due to its considerable weight) and lack of power at low revs, but could comfortably exceed 100mph in standard form and finished third and fourth at Le Mans in 1939.

Most V12s, and indeed most Lagonda cars of the period, are described as sports cars of one type or another, but the range included a small number of long-wheelbase limousines.

11. The Lincoln Series

The first of the K models of the first independent Lincoln (then (as it still is) Ford's luxury division) was a V8 introduced in 1931.

The following year, Lincoln launched the mighty KB, powered by a 7.2-litre V12; the V8 was later used again in a smaller version called the KA.

The capacity of the V12 would vary over the years, and there was a major styling change in 1937, when the headlights returned to the front fins, but the K remained a formidable (and very heavy) car throughout its production run.

It was finished in 1939, although some examples did not find buyers until the 1940s.

12. Maybach Zeppelin

The story of the Zeppelin begins in 1929, when Maybach introduced a model known as the DS 7 (DS stands for Doppel sech’s, meaning "double six") or Just 12, which was powered by a 7-litre V12 engine.

The Zeppelin, or DS 8, came a year later, with a version of the same unit whose larger bore increased capacity to 8 liters and boosted maximum power from 150 to 200 hp.

Each of them, but especially the Zeppelin, was what the Germans called a Representation swage, a term that translates as "a vehicle that would make the greatest possible impact at an embassy, opera house or country club."

In an era when luxury cars typically had gearboxes with only three forward speeds, or occasionally four, the Zeppelin was available with eight and four more for reverse.

13. Mercedes-Benz 770

The first Grand Mercedes, introduced at the Paris Motor Show in 1930, had a 7.7-litre straight-eight engine producing 148 bhp in standard form or 197 bhp with supercharging, an option on 104 of the 117 examples built through 1938.

The replacement 770 introduced that year had supercharging as standard, as well as a more modern chassis, more sophisticated suspension, even more power (now up to 227 bhp) and a five-speed gearbox.

In total, 88 second-generation cars were built before production ceased in 1943, half of them in 1939 alone.

In both cases, amour plating was available to particularly sensitive customers.

14. Picard Twelve

Packard led the first wave of American cars with V12 engines in 1916, and by 1923 it was the only survivor.

The company returned to the design in 1933 with a car formerly known as the Twin Six, although it was soon renamed the Twelve.

The new engine initially measured 7.3 liters, but was increased to 7.8 liters in 1935, the same year Packard adopted a rounder body style to suit the fashion of the moment.

Also in 1935, and in an act of diplomacy considered opportune at the time, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a Twelve to Russian leader Joseph Stalin, a fan of cars in general and Packards in particular.

15. Pierce-Arrow Model 41

Along with Peerless (which collapsed in the early 1930s) and Picard, Pierce-Arrow was one of the 'Three Ps', a group of large but unrelated American car makers that was Rakhi, albeit before the era we see here, taken over by Studebaker.

Its Model 41 was introduced in 1931 and featured a 6.3-litre straight-eight engine mounted on a chassis with a 147-inch (3,734 mm) wheelbase.

Pricing could reach as high as $6,250, a staggering amount considering the smaller Model 43 could be had for a much more modest $2,685.

16. Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow

A year after the introduction of the Model 41, Pierce-Arrow introduced a V12 engine with a displacement of 7.6 liters (the largest of many capacities available), the largest of its kind built by an American manufacturer in the 1930s.

The most striking car of all was the 1933 Silver Arrow, a stunning, if not exactly beautiful, machine whose body foreshadowed the coming trend toward streamlined design.

It was intended as a show car, but Pierce-Arrow made it available to customers for a staggering $10,000.

Only five were built, giving the Silver Arrow the unusual distinction of being even rarer than the Bugatti Royale.

17. Rolls-Royce Phantom II

Introduced in 1929, the Rolls-Royce Phantom II used more or less the same 7.7-litre straight-six engine as the original Phantom launched four years earlier, although it now featured a cross-flow cylinder head for the first time.

There were more significant changes elsewhere, including a new chassis, revised suspension and an engine and gearbox bolted together rather than mounted separately.

Continental models were generally based on the smaller of the two chassis available and were slightly sportier than regular Phantom IIs, although they were undoubtedly luxurious.

18. Rolls-Royce Phantom III

The Phantom III was the last full-size Rolls-Royce to be introduced before World War II, and was produced by the company with a V12 engine, in this case with a displacement of 7.3 litres, until the end of the 20th century.

The company also used independent front suspension for the first time and paid more attention than ever to controlling the evil triad of noise, vibration and stiffness.

In total, 710 examples of the Phantom III were built in 1939 before Rolls-Royce temporarily suspended all production of the car.

19. Stutz DV-32

Motor historians speak in hushed tones about the Duesenberg Model J's engine, but the Stutz DV-32's 5.3-litre straight-eight engine commands similar respect.

Remarkably for the 1930s, it had two overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, and produced an exceptional 156 bhp without supercharging, well ahead of the single-cam version's 113 bhp.

The car received generally enthusiastic reviews, but Stutz was in serious financial trouble and the DV-32 was discontinued mid-decade after its introduction in 1932.

20.

Although it didn't appear in the post-war communist era, the former Czechoslovakia has a long history of luxury car production.

Perhaps the most notable was the 1934 Tatra T77, which combined a strikingly aerodynamic body with the first rear-mounted 3-litre V8 engine and, from 1936, the 3.4.

As well as being a very classy vehicle, the T77 was fast and economical, and was said to handle so well that it could be driven quickly on two wheels at the side of the road.

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