Studebaker's "Airplane" Front-End Styling

More than once I've mentioned that around 1950 automobile stylists in America began using aircraft and science-fiction space ships as inspiration for possible future designs.  Flashy air intakes, faux jet exhausts and other such details appeared on a number of cars during the 1950s.  Perhaps the most obvious example of airplane style borrowing, aside from the later tail fin fad, was the frontal design for 1950 and 1951 Studebakers.

Gallery

1947 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe
This design was sensational when it first appeared shortly after the end of World War 2.  The Higher-priced Commander and Land Cruiser models had a different grille, but Studebaker front ends changed little over the 1947-49 model years.

1950 Studebaker Champion De Luxe 3 passenger coupe
The first major facelift was in place for the 1950 model year.  Most of the changes were forward of the cowling.

1950 Studebaker front end - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
The view of the grille is impeded by clutter.  Oddly, in a time when large chromed bars were expected on grilles of American cars, Studebaker offered little more than two dark holes.

1951 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe - Howard Baker estate auction photo
The following model year the grille was larger (though I'm not sure of the openings actually were ... I need to inspect an actual '50 Studie).  The central spinner was restyled as well.  At any rate, now there is a lot of brightwork, if not heavy chromed bars.  Another change was the addition of a flat panel (apron) connecting the front bumper to the car body.

1951 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe
A better image I found on the Internet, but do not know its origin.  For 1952 Studebaker reverted to a more conventional front design whose grille hinted at what to expect on the totally new 1953 models.

A major characteristic of the 1950 facelift was the tapering of the fenders to the headlight housings along with the tapering of the hood and central part of the front to a circular ensemble greatly resembling an airplane's propeller spinner.  This yielded a trio of circular focus points.  1949 Fords also had a central "spinner" detail, but on a front end that was far less sculptural than Studebaker's.

I really don't know what to conclude about this design.  It clearly is not in keeping with the Spirit of The Automobile.  Its strong airplane influence is too foreign.  Yet it has a curious appeal; as a boy I enjoyed looking at 1950-51 Studebakers.  Moreover, 1950 calendar year American production was nearly 270,000 cars, a big improvement over 1949's nearly 230,000, and the best ever, post-World War 2.

Tacking on Tail Fins

Single fins of the vertical stabilizer kind found on aircraft occasionally were found on low-production, aerodynamically-styled cars during the 1920s and 30s.  But tail fins mounted on rear fenders of cars can, for practical purposes, be treated as something initiated in Detroit styling studios after World War 2, though the style also was adopted by several non-American brands in the late-1950s and early 60s.

For the most part such tail fins were decorative, having little or no value regarding improving directional stability at high speeds.  I recall an article in a contemporary car magazine stating that fin's shapes could easily be modified from one model year to the next as an inexpensive way to freshen a car's design.

Small tail fins appeared on 1948 Cadillacs and occasionally later as modest little humps on cars such as 1953-54 Pontiacs and Dodges.

Fins became a major styling fad when the sensational (at the time) 1957 Chrysler Corporation line appeared.  Fins for these cars were part of the original design, but 1956 Chrysler products featured fins tacked onto 1955-vintage bodies in an attempt to allow the car-buying public to become familiar with the concept.  During the rest of the 1950s some automobile makers included fins on new designs.  Others did what Chrysler did for 1956, adding tail fins to existing designs.

The present post deals with the "tacked-on" variety on American brands of that era.

Gallery

1956 Chrysler Corporation's Transition Fins

1956 Chrysler New Yorker - Barrett-Jackson auction photo

1956 DeSoto - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Chrysler and DeSoto had a nice fender line for 1955, kicking up behind the door as seen here, but then running slightly down from horizontal towards the rear.  The 1956 fins destroyed the original design theme, so I never liked them even though my father owned a '56 DeSoto.

1956 Dodge - brochure page

1956 Plymouth Belvedere 2-door sedan - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Dodge and Plymouth bodies were different from those of the senior Chrysler Corporation lines, so we find a different fin treatment.  This one works better because the basic fender lines are not altered.  At the same time, the fins are clearly fin-like in the context of a jet fighter or a Gold Cup racing hydroplane.  Nevertheless, they detract from the 1955 styling themes for these brands.

Competing Brand's Fins on Older Bodies

1957 Ford Thunderbird
Thunderbird was introduced for the 1955 model year with a design that included details found on regular '55 Fords.  One was the treatment of the tail light ensemble that gave T-Birds a slightly pinched look at the rear.  Ford sedans were redesigned for 1957, but Thunderbird had to carry its '55 vintage design until 1958.  One gift from large Fords to T-Birds was the canted tail fin shown here.  This is one instance where an imposed tail fin actually improved matters, adding interest to the rear and achieving better balance for the car's side appearance.

1957 Lincoln
I consider the 1957 facelift for Lincoln one of the worst, most character-destroying of its day.  (Though 1958 Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs managed to top Lincoln on that score.)  The fin shown here is an overly-large, characterless blade that doesn't integrate with the rest of the body.  A more modest, more vertical fin would have worked better but still would have degraded a nice design.

1956 Lincoln
I include this photo of a 1956 Lincoln to illustrate the damage done by those fines.  These Lincolns were large cars, but the '56 design was graceful.

1957 Hudson Hornet Hollywood
The final Hudson.  Whatever virtues its 1952-vintage Nash body design had are thoroughly corrupted  through ad-hoc ornamentation at this point, so the silly little tacked-on fins almost get lost in the confusion.

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk - Mecum auction photo
The basic body is that of the classic Raymond Loewy 1953 Studebaker Starliner, but it got modified repeatedly after 1954.  It's interesting that the Golden Hawk got fins the same year Chrysler began that fad.  Moreover, they look better despite the intrusive two-tome paint scheme.

1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk
Still tack-on in the sense that the fins were not part of the original design, the '57 Hawk's fins are nicely integrated, as compared to most other examples shown here.

1958 Studebaker Commander
On the other hand, the fins added to Studebaker sedans are awkward, misshapen objects.

1958 Packard sedan - auction photo
Sadly, by 1958 Packards had been reduced to using Studebaker bodies such as the one in the previous image.  The fins shown here are fussy, two-tiered affairs that unbalance the basic design.

1958 Rambler - brochure page
Rambler's new fins are modest, horizontal affairs.  They aren't attractive, but the Rambler body introduced for 1956 was ill-proportioned and unattractive to begin with.

"Eyeless" 1942 DeSoto

Model year 1942 saw every American car brand except Willys getting a facelift that included, at a minimum, a changed grille.

The '42 facelift that always interested me the most was that of DeSoto, Chrysler Corporation's middle-upper price range offering (the sequence was Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler). This was almost entirely due to its hidden headlights feature.

Automobiles are perceived to have faces, the headlights serving as eyes.  DeSotos, therefore, had a curious, eyeless look because their headlights were hidden behind sliding doors when they were not turned on.  Cord 810 and 812 models from 1936-37 also had hidden headlights, but these pivoted open when switched on.  Door-based hidden headlights were planned for 1949 Lincolns, but instead they were left sunken and doorless.  Starting around the mid-1960s, several American makes began hiding headlights, a fad that lingered here and there for decades.

Although 1942 DeSoto grilles were bold and had plenty of chrome plating, the overall appearance was attractive for the era.

Gallery

1941 DeSoto advertisement
An illustration, not a photo to set the stage.  For 1941, DeSoto switched to a vertical-bars grille theme that continued with variations through the 1955 model year.  1942 DeSotos had the same body as the '41s, the major difference being the frontal ensemble.

1942 DeSoto ad card
The tiny image at the lower right offers a fairly realistic version of the car.  I'm assuming the intent of the highly distorted main image was to stress the new design of DeSoto's front end and, in passing, make the car and its setting desirably futuristic.  Other DeSoto advertising material for 1942 featured equally distorted depictions.

Wartime ad featuring a 1942 DeSoto - Howard Scott, illustrator
A more realistic view of the DeSoto's front end.

1942 DeSoto 4-door sedan

1942 DeSoto coupe

1942 DeSoto convertible
Contemporary photos of '42 DeSotos.  Unfortunately, like circa 1942-1956 Studebaker sales images, they show the cars from about the same point of view.

1946 DeSoto 4-door sedan
The women in the car look like pasted-on images and airbrushing is also in evidence.  That's how American car advertising and promotion often worked in those days.  Otherwise, this offers a good view of the post - World War 2 DeSoto facelift.  Besides the return to exposed headlights, front fenders are extended over the front doors, and the grille has been widened.