The Bollée family paved the way with its distinctly surrealist automobiles such as the station wagon, the mail coach, the destroyer and the tricycle renamed the "mother-in-law killer," followed by Henri Vallée and the Marquis of Dion's slipper and dog cart, respectively. Imagination took center stage at the first edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923 and was therefore awash with "exotic" cars. 

The pioneer at the time was the SARA (Société des Automobiles à Refroidissement par Air, meaning air-cooled automobile company), the first of its kind...and unfortunately the first to retire, too bogged down.

1925: the Chenard "tank" from the engineer Toutée was the first aerodynamic prototype in history

1926: first appearance of valveless engines in the Peugeots and Willys

1927: first appearance of traction, the Tracta from the engineer Grégoire, one year before the Brits at Alvis

1929: arrival of the first compressors without noticeable aesthetic change and a 4-cylinder, 2-stroke engine in a Tracta

1937: the aesthetic was the name of the game with the Adler profile, the stunning Delage coupe, the Bugatti tanks, the venerable Chenard tank (12 years old!) driven by the darling of the 24 Hours and "strongest man in the world" Charles Rigoulotet and the Simca 5 of wizard Amédée Gordini (568 cm3).

1938: the Talbot and Alfa Romeo coupes sought to out-do each other in the elegance department and the Delahayes were first equipped with a V12 engine

1949: a decade later, the 24 Hours of Le Mans returned after World War II and the year marked the first appearance of a rear engine in the 4CV Renault, the first diesel engine in the Belgian Delettrez and the first dual cylinder engine in the Czechoslovakian Aerominor 

1950: the Cunningham "monster" remains to this day the largest car seen at Le Mans, and the Jowett Jupiter made its first appearance with a flat 4-cylinder engine, one year before Porsche and its strange streamlined wheels

1952: first victory for a closed-body car, with its surprising butterfly doors, the Mercedes 300 SL

1953: the British aircraft manufacturer grafted two unexpected rear fins on its coupes

1954: Cunningham entered an improbable Ferrari upon which preparer Alfred Momo mounted brakes cooled with glycol, Kieft placed the gear shift between the driver's legs and Renault decided to put the driving position in the center of the cockpit

1955: Mercedes benefitted from aerodynamic brakes derived from aviation and Mario Damonte presented the first automobile catamaran, a Nardi single-seater with individual cylindrical enclosures for the driver and the engine

PHOTO (Copyright - Archives/ACO): At the wheel of this 1937 Nardi was a woman driver named Anne Itier, and her teammate was none other than Baron Huschke von Hanstein, Porsche's future sporting director during its first years at the 24 Hours of Le Mans which began in 1951.