The Fencer's Mask Grille Fad of 1936

Even when American automobile design was evolving from discrete collections of parts to unified, "envelope" bodies during the period 1929-1949, fad and fashion did not take a holiday.

One styling fad was that of the "fencer's mask" grille that started in the 1935 model year, peaked in 1936 and was largely done by 1937.  These grilles were convex affairs that extended engine compartment ensembles about as far forward as the fronts of the fenders.

Which I think is why the fad collapsed so quickly.  Even in fairly minor frontal collisions, fenders and grilles could suffer damage.  The fenders could be pounded back into shape fairly easily in such events.  But the grilles with all their decorative bars and other details were more expensive to fix or replace.  So 1937 models featured grilles that were moved back a short ways and lost much or all of their convex shapes.

Roughly two-thirds of American brands took part in the fencer's mask fad.  Those that essentially didn't included Cadillac, LaSalle, DeSoto, Ford, Lincoln-Zephyr, Packard and Studebaker.  Those that did are shown below.

Gallery

1935 Oldsmobile
One the first fencer's mask grilles was on redesigned 1935 Oldsmobiles such as this one I photographed in Brussels a  few years ago.

1935 Pontiac with actress Helen Twelvetrees
The other early "mask" was on the '35 Pontiac that shared the Olds' body.  It also was the first year for the brand's famous (at the time) Silver Streaks.

1936 Buick - Barrett-Jackson photo
When Buicks were re-bodied for 1936, they too received a fencer's mask style grille.

1936 Chevrolet
The Chevrolet version's convexity was more restrained.

1936 Chrysler Airstream - for sale photo
Chrysler's fencer's mask fronts were extreme versions of the style.

1936 Dodge with movies star Ginger Rogers
Dodge shared Chrysler's body, but its grille is more restrained.

1936 Plymouth Mayflower - Mecum Auctions photo
Chrysler Corporation's entry-level Plymouth's grille thrusts about as far forward, but the painted central strip visually counteracts part of the convex effect.

1936 Hudson
Hudsons were redesigned for 1936 and received an especially fussy convex front.

1936 Nash Ambassador
The Nash fencer's mask version was clean-looking and raked back.

1936 Graham Cavalier - unsourced photo via Flicker
Like Plymouth, sheet metal diminishes the fencer's mask appearance on the Graham.

1936 Hupmobile - Streetside Classic photo
Hupp's grille is raked back in Nash's manner but nevertheless follows the fashion.

2015 Chrysler 200
This recent Chrysler 200 does not have a fencer's mask grille.  But its above-the-bumper grille-plus-headlights ensemble illustrates a theme on current cars that strikes me as being just as fad- or fashion-like as those grilles of 80 years ago were.

1940s Small-Backlight Convertible Tops

I've never liked the styling jargon term "backlight."  It refers to the rear window of an automobile, but taken more literally one would think of a light placed somewhere on a car's aft end.  Alas, I'll go along with the jargon, so be advised that this post deals with small rear windows (oops, backlights) found on American convertibles in the 1940s or thereabouts.

I am by no means knowledgeable regarding this detail, so what follows is speculation.

In the images below, you will notice that the convertible tops have rectangular, removable panels that house the small backlights.  Sometimes, convertibles would been driven with their tops up and the panels gone, perhaps to provide better ventilation on non-rainy days.  The reason for the small windows (and here I speculate) is that they were made of glass or a stiff piece of clear plastic for good vision to the rear.  Glass is heavy, and the canvas tops were not strong enough to support large windows.  So convertible backlights had to be small if they were glass or a heavy plasitc.  The downside to this is that small windows greatly restricted the driver's rear view.

Later convertibles tended to feature larger backlights made of thinner transparent plastics.

The following images are of cars offered for sale, usually at auctions.  Presumably, their convertible tops are of authentic design, even though they might be replacements for worn out originals.  I cannot  guarantee authenticity in all cases, however.  That said, what is striking is how similar the backlights are for so many brands over so many years.

Gallery

1940 LaSalle Series 50 Convertible - Auctions America

1940 Packard Super 8 Convertible - Barrett-Jackson

1941 Cadillac 62 Convertible - Barrett-Jackson

1948 Chrysler Town & Country - auction photo

1948 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet - Barrett-Jackson

1948 Cadillac 62 Convertible - Barrett-Jackson

1948 Packard Custom Eight Victoria Convertible - sales photo

1950 Hudson Commodore Six Convertible - Bonhams

1951 Mercury Convertible - Barrett-Jackson

Hudson's Jet: Nail in its Coffin

Here is a case where stylists were overruled in so many ways that the car, which was an above-average market gamble in the first place, proved to be a sales failure due in part to a poor design.  The car in question was the Hudson Jet "compact" that sold less than 36,000 units over its short (1953-54) production run.  Moreover, the fruitless expense of creating the Jet helped drag Hudson down to the point that it was picked off by Nash-Kelvinator to become part of the new American Motors Corporation.

The Hudson Jet Wikipedia entry mentions some of the decisions that affected the car's appearance.  Fundamentally, it was too narrow and probably a little too high.  It looked somewhat similar to 1952 Fords that were much better proportioned.  I could quibble about some of the details such as the grille bar, but see no point to doing so given the bad overall proportions dictated by the package Hudson management insisted on.

Other observers have suggested that Hudson should have put the Jet's development money into a V-8 motor (Hudsons were powered by straight-sixes) and restyling the standard Hudson line.  Even a well-design Jet might have failed in the marketplace because the American car-buying public was about five or six years away from becoming enthused about smaller cars (Nash Ramblers at the time were at best a niche-success).  And Hudson was doomed anyway, along with other smaller American car builders such as Packard and Studebaker that died in the late 1950s and mid-60s.

Gallery

Publicity photo of a Hudson Jet posed by a U.S. Air Force F-94 jet interceptor.

Factory photo of a Jet.  In those days images such as this were often retouched to remove unwanted reflections and firm up details.  This was to achieve better results when screened for low-quality newspaper reproduction.

Jet ad card showing a Super Jet.

Rear-view illustration from an advertisement or brochure.

1954 super Jet.

1954 Jet Liner, top of the line.  The chromed ensemble on the rear fender area is somewhat similar to that on full-size 1954 Hudsons.

1954 Hudson Jet Club Sedan.  The lowest-priced Jet of all.  Two doors.  No side trim.  Windshield and backlight trim is rubber, not chromed strips.  That's the Hudson administration building in the background.

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.

Squaring the Teardrops: Some Early 1950s American Facelifts

I touched on it here, but there's more to say on the subject of cars with rounded designs getting de-rounded via facelifts in the early '50s.

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the general mind-set of American stylists was that future cars would feature rounded bodies whose shapes paid more than a little heed to aerodynamics.  This can be seen in sketches and, in the early '40s, some clay styling models.

Some designs in that spirit actually reached production after World War 2.  But the teardrop-shaped future proved to be a false one because General Motors' styling chief Harley Earl made one of his sudden direction-changes.  Although some new post-war GM cars had fastbacks, most were "bustle-back," with distinct trunks.  And rather than having fenders being almost totally absorbed into the car body, GM fenders had distinct shapes, even though they were in low-relief compared to 1930s practice.

Since about half the cars on the road were from General Motors, the 1949-vintage teardrop-influenced designs seemed somewhat out of touch with styling fashion.  So sales began to suffer and quick-fixes were put into place until completely restyled cars could reach dealers.  Affected brands for 1951 were Nash, Lincoln and Mercury, whose postwar designs debuted for the 1949 model year.  (I discussed Mercury styling in the above link, so will not deal with it here.)  Hudson's postwar design was launched for the 1948 model year, but didn't get a similar facelift until 1954.

In all cases, the styling fix involved grafting a higher aft portion of the fender with the goal of making the car look less rounded and more squared-off so as to compete better with the broader industry fashion exemplified by Studebaker, Kaiser, Frazer and Ford, as well as General Motors.  Packard, which got a rounded facelift for 1948, was totally restyled for 1951.

Gallery

1950 Lincoln Sport Sedan - MJC Classics photo
This is the standard Lincoln that shared its basic body with Mercury.  (The top-of-the-line Lincoln Cosmopolitan had a unique body.)  Like the Hudsons shown below, it featured what might be termed semi-fastback styling.  Still, it largely followed early-1940s ideas as to how cars of the future should be shaped.

1951 Lincoln
The most important changes for 1951 were a reshaped backlight (rear window) and extended, higher fender trailing edges.  Seen from the side, the fender modification does "square-up" the appearance a little.  But seen from the rear, the design looked more awkward (see the link above for the similar result of Mercury's '51 facelift.)

1949 Nash Ambassador - Mecum auction photo
1950 Nashes had larger backlights than in 1949, but otherwise were nearly identical.  Nash came closest to the 1940-vintage teardrop ideal, even to the point of having skirted front wheels.  Unfortunately, the car looked heavy, ponderous.  It was derided as looking like "an upside-down bathtub."

1951 Nash Statesman - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Not the best side view because of the camera angle.  Nash restyled the rear part of the fender, giving it a slight up-kick along with an extension.  This reduced the "bathtub" look a little.  If the wheel openings had been enlarged as well, the car would have looked much better.  Unfortunately, Nash-Kelvinator president George Mason really liked those skirted wheels, and so they remained.

1953 (ca.) Hudson Hornet
This might be a '52 model because they were essentially identical with the 1953s when seen from the side.

1954 Hudson Hornet - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Besides the fender extension, the side trim was revised.  Gone was the large chromed strip along the bottom.  The ends of the thin side strip lost their ornamentation.  Added was a chromed faux air intake shape seemingly inspired by side trim on 1952-53 Ford Motor Company brands.  All this create some visual distance from 1948-53 Hudsons, but the design was still stale.

Renault Loved Pontiac, Hudson and Chrysler in 1942

As World War 2 raged, car makers did something that in many cases they weren't supposed to do: plan post-war models.  This was a particularly difficult undertaking in France because much of the country was either occupied by German forces or subservient to Germany until late 1942 and completely occupied from then until the 1944 liberation.  The Germans used French industry to assist in their war production, and postwar French automobiles were not part of their agenda.

Nevertheless, Renault and other manufacturers had clandestine development programs underway.  Here we deal with design work done largely in 1942 on a potential postwar 14 CV Primaquatre (Type 104 E).  Source material is from Automobilia hors-série No. 26, Toutes les voitures françaises 1940-46: les années sans salon by René Bellu.

What I find most interesting is the borrowing of styling themes from Pontiac, Hudson and Chrysler by Renault's stylist Robert Barthaud.  The United States was neutral regarding the war until late 1941, so information on U.S. cars through 1942 models (introduced fall, 1941) was available in France.

Gallery

Renault 104 E prototype - 1st version
American influence is strong.  The main source here seems to be the 1939 Hudson with perhaps a whiff of 1940 Ford. Note especially the front fenders and grill compared to Hudson styling seen in the photo below.

1939 Hudson

Renault 104 E prototype - 1st version
But it's not all Hudson influence.  Those sure look like Pontiac's legendary Silver Streaks running down the hood centerline and over the grille.

1939 Pontiac grille
This narrow version of Silver Streaks is similar to what Renault seems to have borrowed.

Renault 104 E prototype - 2nd version - profile drawing
Hudson influence disappeared on the second version 104 E prototype and 1941 Pontiac details predominate.  Compare to the image below.

1941 Pontiac Custom Torpedo

Renault 104 E prototype - 2nd version
The running prototype differed from the drawing in that the Pontiac-like crease across the rear fender was eliminated.

Renault 104 E prototype - 2nd version
Pontiac influence ceased on the front end and borrowing shifted to 1941 Chryslers, as can be seen in the image below.

1941 Chrysler Royal - sales photo