Elegance and mysteries: star cars from Brussels' Expo 58

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One of our Belgian readers has just been in touch with this excellent selection of photographs from Expo 58, or the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, which took place in Brussels' Heysel Plateau from April, 17th, to October, 19th, 1958. We confess that we don't know much about Expo 58 ourselves, but it seems that cars played a large part—the photographs here are very suggestive of a concours d'élégance, with some Belgian beauties adding a touch of glamour to the already rather exotic motor cars. Not all the cars are new, suggesting the exhibition or concours must have been open to private owners and not just constructors.

The range of cars is very impressive, spanning everyday models such as the Wolseley 6/90 Series III to bespoke coachbuilt creations. In one of the photographs, we see something halfway between the mass-produced and the custom-built, namely a 1953 Dyna Veritas. These diminutive, streamlined creations were produced in the early 1950s using Panhard Dyna running gear, but with more elegant coachwork by Veritas of Baden-Württemberg.

The other two photographs intrigue us most of all. The double-chevron badge clearly identifies one of them as a Citroën—our correspondent advises that this photograph was most likely taken in the Osseghem Park, home to the famous space-age Atomium structure—but it is like no Citroën we've ever seen. Is it a Traction Avant or a DS underneath the streamlined body?

Lastly, we come to the car of the lead photograph, which seems to have everyone scratching their heads. Our correspondent notes the "Aston Martin-style grille," but the shape of it, to us, is reminiscent of some of Ghia's designs, such as the special-bodied Chryslers it produced in the early '50s. The treatment of the rear wing haunches also has some similarities to the Ghia Chryslers. Are we on the right tracks? We'd be very grateful if any readers could let us know.

Words: Zack Stiling
Photographs: Marnix Verkest

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