Plymouth Valiant Begets Dodge Lancer

Detroit's Big Three car makers launched lines of compact (in the American context) cars for the 1960 model year.  I wrote about Chrysler Corporation's version, the Plymouth Valiant, here.  (To be historically accurate, for 1960 the car was simply "Valiant," becoming the Plymouth Valiant for 1961.)

In a move to spread the tooling costs of the Valiant over more cars sold, Chrysler added a facelifted Valiant to its product line in the form of the 1961 Dodge Lancer (Wikipedia entry here).  Valiants and Lancers using the Virgil Exner influenced styling continued through the 1962 model year.

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This is an entry-level 1960 Valiant four-door sedan.

Here is a press-release photo and caption announcing the 1961 Dodge Lancer: click to enlarge.  The car is a two-door hardtop coupe, the Plymouth Valiant also getting this new model for 1961.  Note that it has fixed side windows towards the rear that are the same as those seen on the Valiant four-door.  To create the coupe, the B-pillars were eliminated from the greenhouse and the front doors lengthened while, of course, the rear doors were eliminated.  As for distinctive Lancer features, the front fender blade was given a reverse-slanted bend at its rear.  The grille/headlights/bumper ensemble was replaced, creating a more conventional (for the times) wider appearance compared to the Valiant's taller, more classical grille.  This change required a small area of different sheet metal at the front of the hood.

Rear 3/4 view of a 1960 Valiant.

This RD Classics photo of the rear aspect of a 1961 Lancer reveals that even fewer changes were made here in the transformation from Valiant to Lancer.  Aside from different side chrome trim, the Lancer got a different bumper and restyled rear fender tips and tail lights.  The greatest change was the elimination of the faux- spare tire cover from the trunk lid: this required revised body stamping, probably in the form of a fewer pass or two plus separate stampings for the cover.

All things considered, the Valiant was a quirky design.  The Lancer, on net, was a reasonable clean-up job.  The grille area relates better to the rest of the front.  Eliminating the spare tire cover motif on the trunk was an important improvement. The tiny blades/fins detailing atop the aft part of the rear fenders was a minus: the Valiant's treatment here was cleaner and better.

Facelifting the 1955 Chevrolet

The 1955 Chevrolet (Wikipedia entry here) was a sensation when it was unveiled.  For many years Chevrolet was usually the best-selling American brand.  But Chevys were seldom very exciting until the '55s came along.

An extremely important excitement factor was its new V-8 motor that supplemented its long-standing "stove-bolt six."  Then there was the new styling -- General Motors' A-body version of its B and C body themes launched for 1954.  Differences from 1954 Chevys included slab fenders (with a flowing top line), the trunk lid at about the level of the fender tops, a lower hood not much above the fender line and, most important, a wraparound or panoramic windshield.

Another departure for Chevrolet was its grille.  Heavy, chromed sculpted bars were replaced by something that looked like a tipped up storm sewer grid ... or perhaps a grille inspired by Ferrari (take your pick).  Because it slanted forward and its vertical grid bars were set ahead of the horizontal ones, the grill opening usually looked like a dark, rectangular hole aside from the chromed frame.  This was at odds with GM styling supremo Harley Earl's preference for sky-reflecting chrome trim.  All-in-all, a curious feature that also was oddly likable.

Regardless, '55 Chevys sold very well.  But even as they were being announced to the buying public, stylists were working on the obligatory (in those days) facelift for 1956.  Moreover, a redesign wasn't scheduled until the 1958 model year, so there had to be a facelift styled for 1957 as well.

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A front three-quarter view of a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air via Auctions America.

Publicity photo showing the side.  The car looks better without the two-tone paint over the trunk and rear fenders.  Basically, a nice, trim design.

Rear view of a Bel Air convertible.  It seems plain by today's standards, but fancy rear ends were still in the near-term future.

1956 Chevrolets got new side trim and a more conventional grille.  That grill still slanted forward, but it was more heavily chromed.  Its ensemble took in the width of the car, unlike the narrow '55 version.  All much more conventional ... and not very distinctive.

Rear styling took a small backwards step with the cut-out tail light assemblies replacing the sensible '55 version.

The 1957 facelift was more extensive.  Another new grille design appeared, following the industry trend to integrating grilles and bumpers.  headlight housings got longer hoods and odd, fake air intakes were added to the hood.  Side two-tone paint and trim were replaced by another trim design with space for either paint or a textured metal panel.

This rear 3/4 view of a four-door hardtop shows how the rear fender tops were converted into thin blades hinting at the tail fins that Chrysler Corporation began promoting in 1956.  Tail light assemblies took on a jet fighter or sci-fi space ship look with the red lenses at the top, white backup lights at the tips of the bumper guards, and a fake exhaust pipe opening at the bottom.  (Actual exhaust pipes ended beneath the bumper.)If memory serves, I think it was Bob Cumberford who revealed that the 1957 Chevrolet facelift was something of a casual effort creating change for change's sake.  And it shows.  Ironically, I read that '57s are more highly valued these days than the truly important 1955 models.

Lexus NX = Toyota RAV4 Huge Facelift

Toyota's Lexus Brand has done well for many years with its RX series crossover SUV.  But management felt there was room in the brand's lineup for a smaller, less-expensive crossover.  Voila!! the 2015 Lexis NX crossover (more information here).

In order to create this new model economically, Lexus went to Toyota's RAV4 to form the basis for the NX body.  The result is a SUV with the same wheelbase as the RAV, but slightly longer, wider and higher.  Also, as many of Lexus' new styling theme details as possible were crammed onto the RAV's basic structure.

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Two NXs are shown here sporting the spiky, angular look Lexus deems necessary for brand identification.  I find it an overly-contrived visual mess of superficial detailing.

This is a 2013 Toyota RAV4 posed almost the same as the NX in the previous image.  The windshield and cut lines for the hood, front strike panel and front door are the same or very nearly so for both cars.

Here we see various creases and cut-lines converging on the tail light assembly.  This is a sensible way to tie design elements together, but I think there are too many of those elements.  The side treatment of the tail light assembly is well into cliché territory, looking very similar to that of the current Nissan Maxima, for instance.  Sculpting on the trunk panel repeats the double-L (for Lexus) theme of the grille, an especially awkward bit of styling.

The additional length and height of the NX, as compared to the RAV, can be seen in these rear views.  The RAV has less overhang and its roofline is more curved.  The NX has a higher belt line, resulting in smaller side windows.  Rear doors and the gas filler doors are in the same positions in both cars, though cut lines differ.

This NX side view features the sheet metal folds and planes that catch and emphasize light originating above the car.  Because there are so many of these light-catching details, the overall impression is busyness.

The RAV4 looks dull by comparison, and could have used a higher belt line anchor at the front and perhaps a horizontal character line about two-thirds up the doors.  Otherwise, it's a superior design to the frantic NX.

Auburn's 1935 Facelift

In the 1930s, Auburn was part of E.L. Cord's business empire that included Lycoming motors, an airline, Stinson airplanes and the Duesenberg and Cord automobile brands.  But the 1930s Great Depression took its toll, all of his automobile production ending by 1937.  A short Auburn Wikipedia entry is here, and a bit more information on 1930s Auburns is here.

The Auburn brand's last model year was 1936, Cord and Duesenberg carrying on for one more year.  Auburns were upper-middle range cars, some of which had V-12 motors, a prestige item then and now.  Sporty Auburn Speedsters for 1928-36 had boat-tail bodies and some other Auburn models featured sporty looks.  However, this post deals with the brand's sedans, the models required to sustain viability.

Auburn sedans were redesigned for 1934.  Unfortunately, that was the model year LaSalle, a competing General Motors brand was also redesigned in a more modern manner featuring an all-steel roof, among other features.  So Auburn faced an uphill battle.  The company's reaction was a 1935 facelift of the entire front end that, coupled with the old-fashioned appearance of the rest of the car, was not good enough to remain competitive.  Auburns for 1936 were essentially unchanged, corporate development money going to the re-launched Cord brand.

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This is a 1933 Auburn sedan, the last before the redesigned 1934s.  Note the color-separation / character line that starts at the front of the hood, then widens as a curve to sweep around to the car's sides at the cowling.  This had been an Auburn visual identifier since 1926.

Those character lines were continued for the 1934 redesign, and their spirit was enhanced in the form of those curved side vent decorations on the engine compartment.  This photo taken at the factory shows a sedan that seems to have returned following a test drive (note the dirt on the tire).  The car features "suicide" front doors.

This view reveals that all the sedan's doors were of the suicide (hinged at the rear) variety.  The grille slopes back, as does the windshield.  The front fenders have valances.  These features were fashionable at the time American designs began to move (slightly) in the direction of aerodynamic efficiency.

From the rear, we see that the Auburn's Standard Sedan body features a good deal of rounding compared to 1933.  The sculpting on the valances and over the rear fenders is interesting and unusual.  The car shown here has no trunk.  And it seems lower than many other '34 sedans, an aspect of Auburn's sporty image.

This is perhaps Auburn's most serious competition, a 1934 LaSalle being displayed on the roof of the Argonaut Building in Detroit where GM's Art & Colour group was located in those days.

Now for the facelift.  Here is a 1935 Auburn 854 Brougham.  As can be seen, everything forward of the cowling has been redone.  Abandoned is the character line motif, the hood becoming plain as well as stronger looking (and longer than hoods of Standard sedans in the pervious photos).  The grille has a tucked-in look caused by the radiused sheet metal serving as a frame instead of the usual sort of brightwork framing.  Engine compartment vents are larger and decorated by horizontal strips that help provide the ensemble a more firm appearance.

And here is an 851 four-door sedan.  The sculpting over the rear fender was retained for 1935.  This car and the one shown above have trunks, so spare tires are mounted on the front fenders.

A 1936 Auburn 654 sedan.  This is a short-hood model.  As best I can tell, there are no significant differences from 1935 Auburns.  The styling is now out of date compared to that for competing brands featuring more rounded bodies and fenders as well as the fad of "fencer's mask" convex grilles.

Lincoln's 1942 Facelift

Model year 1942 American cars have always interested me.  Comparatively few were built because the government ordered passenger car production halted early in 1942, shortly after the USA entered World War 2.  Production did not resume until late 1945, when 1946 models were introduced.

The 1946 crop of surviving pre-war brands was comprised of facelifted 1942 designs, some changes slight, others noticeable.  Slightly changed were Nash, Packard, Studebaker, and all General Motors makes except Oldsmobile.  Hudson, Chrysler Corporation makes and Ford Motor Company brands all got redesigned grilles.  Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler cars received revised front fenders as well.

But 1942 was a model year of more extensive facelifts than 1946.  Every brand that survived from 1941 to 1942 except Willys featured noticeable grille changes at a minimum.  What this means is that 1942 Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, Oldsmobile and Hudson cars had distinct appearances to a greater or lesser extent.  That, and their rarity are the main reasons for my interest.

Perhaps the most extreme 1941-1942 grille redesign was that for Lincoln Zephyrs and Continentals.  The images below cover model years 1941, 1942 and 1946.

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1941 Lincoln Zephyr 4-door sedan
Zephyrs were redesigned for 1940.  The previous aerodynamic theme was retained, though in a heavier-looking form that, in turn, seems to be due to its larger windows.  The grille and hood are similar to 1939 versions.

1942 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet - sales photo
The 1942 facelift was extensive.  The grille theme was changed entirely, and teardrop-inspired fenders were replaced by the squared-off "suitcase" style found on GM makes.

1942 Lincoln Zephyr 4-door sedan - sales photo
This photo shows the squared-off elements grafted on to a curved basic body.  Not a happy mixture.

1946 Lincoln Zephyr Club Coupe - sales photo
Post-war Lincolns got an even bolder, more chrome-laden grille-bumper ensemble that occupied nearly the same zone as the 1942's.  On this 2-door coupe we get another take on the awkward mixture of curved and rectangular.

How did this unsuccessful facelift happen?  Ford's styling director was E.T. "Bob" Gregorie, a once and future naval architect with a good sense of line and proportion.  His informal collaborator was Henry Ford's son Edsel, president of Ford, and a man of excellent taste.

This is hinted at in C. Edson Armi's book The Art of American Car Design: The Profession and Personalities (1988, Page 242) and covered in more detail in Henry Dominguez's book Edsel Ford and E.T. Gregorie: The Remarkable Design Team and Their Classic Fords of the 1930s and 1940s (1999, pp. 236-241).

Dominguez quotes Gregorie as stating that it was he who felt that Lincoln needed to better compete with Cadillac and other makes with bold, strongly horizontal grilles that provided an "important" image.  This meant abandoning the comparatively delicate frontal appearance of the Zephyr design theme.  It went against Edsel's preferences, but he eventually was persuaded by Gregorie.  (I'm paraphrasing here, but preserving his meaning.)

But Gregorie also came to realize that the facelift had problems.  Gregorie: "So that's when we developed the new hood, new front fenders, and horizontal grille.  Once we did that, though, the body began to look a little skinny.  We never changed the body.  The doors, the windshield, and the floor pan were all the same.  With its big, husky-looking front end, it looked a little out of proportion in places, like so many of those facelift deals.  But it was still a right decent-looking car.  The '42 front end was a nice-looking front end.  The horizontal bars were very nice.  It looked important, anyway."

Were 1939 Chryslers, DeSotos and Dodges Totally Restyled?

I don't have a definite answer to the question posed in this post's title.  That would have to come from Chrysler archives, an automobile restoration expert or perhaps a knowledgeable member of a club devoted to one of the Chrysler Corporation brands active in the 1930s.

My strong suspicion, however, is that the answer is "no," even though various publications in my automobile library state otherwise.

Let's begin with the setting.  Chrysler Corporation's 1938 brands (Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler, in ascending price order) shared a typically rounded, heavy-looking basic body whose style was in line with cars from General Motors and other firms.  However, cars such as the Lincoln Zephyr and Cadillac Sixty Special along with the usual Detroit scuttlebutt must have made it clear to Chrysler management that competitors would be offering sleeker designs for the 1939 model year.

Chrysler did plan a total redesign of its line for 1940, but it probably became obvious that its 1939 line had to be freshened to remain competitive until the 1940 cars appeared.  So 1939 Chryslers, DeSotos and Dodges were given a truly major facelift, a facelift with plenty of new sheet metal and reworked tops that gave the appearance of a complete redesign.  Plymouths were given a less-comprehensive, but still extensive, facelift.

I'll use Plymouth to begin making my case.

The profile view of a 1938 Plymouth at the lower-right corner of this ad serves as our reference.   Items to note are the hood cut-line, the shapes of the doors and their hinging.  The area in the vicinity of the hood cut and the front door's forward cut is especially important because, beneath the sheet metal lies the cowling and firewall, usually cited as the most expensive and change-resistant parts of non-unitary car bodies.

This is an image of a 1939 Plymouth captured from a 1939 European film by imcdb.org.  The body aft of the hood is essentially the same as for 1938 Plymouths.

The image in this 1939 Plymouth ad is an illustration, but serves our needs.  Almost all the front of the car has been facelifted, largely eliminating the bulbous look of the 1938s.  Another facelift feature is the replacement of the flat windshield by a V'd, two-piece windshield, something that required some adjustments to metal stampings for the roof.  Note that the cutline at the rear of the hood is unchanged.  This strongly suggests that the firewall - cowling structure is that from 1938.

More baseline photos.  The upper one is a sales photo side view of a 1938 Dodge, the lower is of a 1938 DeSoto.  These brands along with Chrysler got the extreme facelift.

Compare this 1939 DeSoto with the 1938 model in the previous image.  Like 1939 Plymouths, the front ends and windshields are new. Also changed are the rear of the car along with the upper part of the rear doors and associated windows.  Due to this, the door hinge on the C-pillar was lowered, but the other rear door hinge remains as before.  The lower forward door hinge is as it was, but the upper hinge has been made internal.  The hood cutline seems to have been changed slightly towards the bottom to accommodate the reshaped front fenders.

Two more examples of 1939 Chrysler Corporation cars.  As noted in the image, the first is a Dodge.  The lower photo is of a Chrysler Royal.  Again, pay attention to the hinges and cut-lines.

One thing that puzzles me is why the Plymouth wasn't facelifted as completely as its senior brothers; after all, Plymouth production amounted to more than 40 percent of the Corporation's total, which would have helped amortize the tooling expenses for the other brands.  Perhaps it had to do with Ford's late-1930s practice of having its less-expensive range featuring style characteristics of the previous year's top line.  That is, maybe Chrysler was simply following a fad.  Or perhaps, because of that fad, they thought they could save tooling expenses on Plymouth and get away with it in the marketplace.