One of the most used and at the same time superfluous words in body description in the years before WW1 is the word torpedo. In fact, in the period
1910 to 1914 most cars were in a way torpedo, and before that many were. However we have to distinguish here between the natural development of body design and the word itself. To start with the latter, the word 'torpedo' was introduced in 1908 for a specific Grégoire design by the Belgian captain Masui, who was at the time the english agent for Grégoire. Early 1910 two letters were published in La Vie Automobile under the headline "Toujours le 'Torpedo'". In the first letter the engineers Rheims and Auscher, the owners of the famous coachbuilding firm Maison Rothschild, claimed that they had in fact invented the torpedo body, referring to La Jamais Contente built for Jenatzy and the De Dietrich built for M. de Païva, both in 1899. In the reaction letter captain Masui disagreed with this claim, arguing that he had been the first to use the word, although he admitted not to have invented the concept.The torpedo concept meant the same to body design as the 1901 Mercedes had done to mechanical design.
It referred not only to the gradual transition from bonnet to body: other aspects were the introduction of front doors and straightening of the body line. Besides the body structure was made both lighter and stronger. It was a natural development and led to the definitive breakaway from the traditional horseless carriage body shape: you could say that modern body design started here! Although the torpedo was designed to increase the comfort of the driver and front passenger, a negative side effect was that the removal of the engine heat became more problematic. In hot areas like the South of France in summer this sometimes led to 'Senegalic' temperatures inside the vehicle. However, as a famous dutch soccer player once stated, every disadavantage has its advantage: a Frenchman noted that people suffering from rheumatism experienced a serious reduction in complaints in this 'oven', so he decided to start a Society for the Exploitation of Torpedo-taxis to be used by rheumatic patients ...