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C5 (1923-1928)
 
Based on the C3 Sport, the C5 was launched in 1923, initially either in bare chassis form or the undeniably elegant 4-seater factory torpedo body. Once again, the model's prestige was enhanced by several well-publicised celebrity owners of the time, such as the music hall star Mistinguett seen here posing in her rakish factory C5 in Central Park in the winter of 1923.
 
 

The great matinée idol Rudolph Valentino, who was such a committed Voisin enthusiast that he undertook the mechanical maintenance himself, owned several C5s including this well-known cabriolet.

Valentino sported a cobra as his personal mascot, after the film he starred in of the same name.

 

1925 'Sport' saloon
 

1925 saw the C5, along with other models, equipped with startling 'prismatic' bodies. Gabriel Voisin (almost certainly in collaboration with André Noel) arrived at this uncompromisingly geometric form in pursuit of his three consistent objectives: reducing frontal area and weight and improving handling by centralising weight distribution.

The only other change made in the model year was a slight increase in horsepower.
 

From 1926 until the model was dropped the following year, the ultimate C5 evolution of the 4-litre Voisin came equipped as standard with Dewandre servo brakes.

One of the more striking bodies executed by external coachbuilders on this chassis was this sporting torpedo by Lagache & Glatzmann in 1922, which has spent most of its life basking in the sunshine of Costa Rica...
(Photo from the 'Club de Autos Antiguos de Costa Rica')
'Pop-ups' illustrations from Encyclopédie Quillet