The torpedo body style was a type of automobile body used from the early twentieth century until the mid-1930s, and which fell quickly into disuse by the Second World War. The name was introduced in 1908 when a Belgian car dealer Captain Theo Masui who was the London importer of French Gregoire cars designed a streamlined body and called it "The Torpedo". This developed into its final form and became a generic term when the bonnet line was raised to be level with the car's waistline so giving a straight line from front to back. Other similar styles are phaeton and baquet.