Some of the most beautiful cars ever built were created in the 1930s. That's when the gorgeous Talbot-Lago teardrop coupes appeared alongside wildly styled Delahayes and, most famously, the Type 57 Bugatti Atlantics -- two of which survive to the present.

When new, these cars made everything around them seem obsolete. Today, they evoke the glamour and modernity of the art deco period -- and they regularly go for stratospheric prices at auction.

There was, however, one unique and mysterious car that showed up in 1935, made a single auto show appearance and was gone, never to be seen again. It was called the Aerolithe, and while it was one of the most beautiful of all Bugattis, it was also one of the shortest lived.