Boat-Tail Echoes

A small styling fad of the 1920s that continued into the 1930s was the boat-tail rear end.  That is, the rear of the car body was curved, tapering to a point or an almost-point.  In plan view, this resembled the bow section of a boat when seen in plan view or maybe the bow end of an upside-down boat.

Boat-tailed cars were sporty looking due to that style as well as because usually they were roadsters or convertible coupes that tend to be intrinsically sporty.

A major problem with boat-tailed cars was lack of space for luggage; non-boat-tail roadsters and convertibles were more practical, and sold better.  So the style died out.

But a few echoes of it appeared now and then on American cars.  In these cases, the cars' rear ends didn't have boat shapes.  Instead, the aft part of the passenger greenhouse or perhaps sheet metal sculpting on the trunk featured convergence in a sort of tribute to the boat-tail.  Below are some (perhaps most of the) examples.

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1935 Auburn Speedster advertisement
This exaggerated, aerial view of the Auburn Speedster proclaims the boat-tail's spirit.

1935 Auburn 851 SC Speedster - Auctions America photo
The actual car was a lot shorter, but very attractive.  It was a facelift designed by the great Gordon Buehrig.

1936 Auburn 852 SC Speedster - Mecum Auctions photo
Rear view of a 852 Speedster showing its boat-tail.

1952 Studebaker Starlight Coupe - McCormick Auctions photo
The Studebaker Starlight Coupe first appeared for the 1947 model year, creating a sensation due to its then-futuristic appearance.  Note the converging raised area extending from the passenger compartment over the trunk.  Not a boat-tail, but the spirit is evoked.

1949 Buick Super Sedanet - Mecum Auctions photo
The upper part of this Buick fastback converges considerably, though not to a point -- yet another boat-tail echo.  General Motors fastbacks of the late 1940s lacked the trunk room of GM bustle-backs, so the style was dropped in the early 1950s.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Split Window Coupe - Barrett-Jackson photo
Bill Mitchell was head of GM styling starting in 1958, and the Sting Ray was one of his pet projects.  The greenhouse converges to a point in plan view, much in the boat-tail manner.  Note that the rear fenders do the same.

1971 Buick Riviera
Another Mitchell-inspired design.  Here there actually is a boat tail, stubby though it might be.  The overall design is awkward, however.

Cars Seen in California, March 2016

Time for a brief break from styling critiques.

I recently returned from an extensive visit to California where from time to time I would encounter an interesting car.  On occasions where I had my camera handy, I took photos, a few of which are shown below.

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2016 Corvette
This was at The Gardens on El Paseo, a shopping area in the city of Palm Desert.  This part of California is where affluent people either winter or retire to permanently, so expensive cars are common.  The Corvette pictured here is on a place where car dealers display their wares for passers-by to contemplate.

McLaren 650S
Parked a few blocks away was this McLaren.  Dealers sometimes simply park a fancy car by a curb to entice potential buyers.

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
Not far away was this Lamborghini.  Its status is unclear.  Gallardos ceased production in 2014, yet this example has no license plate.  Perhaps a dealer still had it on hand and was hoping to find a customer for it.

2016 BMW i8
I saw this i8 on display at the Blackhawk shopping mall in Danville.

1932 Studebaker Dictator
Palm Springs has an aviation museum.  Under a B-17 bomber was this entry-level '32 Studebaker.

Fisker Karma
Back to the El Paseo street scene.  Here is a Fisker Karma, one of about 4,500 built from late 2011 to late 2012.

Sensational Studebaker Avanti

I find it interesting that many highly regarded automobile designs were on cars that sold in comparatively small numbers.  Examples include: Cords --  L-29s and 810/812s alike; 1940-41 Lincoln Continentals; and BMW 507s.  High price was an important sales-related factor for the cars just mentioned.  And it needs mentioning that a nicely-styled mass-market car often doesn't strike observers as being "special" because they are seen everywhere.

The 1963-vintage Studebaker Avanti (details here) was an outstanding design that only amounted to about 4,600 being built.  It was not a luxury car but, according to this source, its price was a bit more than that of a Chevrolet Corvette sports car.  Not cheap.  The Avanti was essentially a "roll of the dice" for a failing company, a situation akin to the birth of the Cord 810, for example.  Sales suffered because of problems resulted from its being rushed into production, another declining-enterprise symptom.

I wrote about the Avanti here, focusing on two photos I took of a new one in 1963.  Those photos are included below (but here I adjusted the contrast and sharpness slightly).  I mentioned that I would get around to analyzing Avanti styling later.  Well, now it's "later" and my comments are in the image captions below.

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Advertising photo.  I've mentioned in my car styling book that, a few details aside, the Avanti could pass as a new car today.  Its bumpers would not pass government standards for impact resistance, for instance.   Vent windows on the doors are another archaic feature.  And the windshield would have to have a steeper rake to improve aerodynamic efficiency.

This is reputed to be Raymond Loewy's personal supercharged Avanti when placed on sale a few years ago.  The photo shows the rake of the body and the haunches over the rear wheel opening that provide a sense of power.  The side crease aligns with the front and rear bumpers, helping to tie the otherwise curvy design together and provide an element of stiffness.  This view also suggests that a modern highly-sloped windshield would spoil the design: the hood would be stubbier and the passenger cabin would seem heavier.  However, a 45-degree slope would probably work well.

Barrett-Jackson auction-related photo showing the rear aspect of the Avanti.  The shapes of the major elements blend with one another in a nice flowing manner.  The main flaw is the tacked-on backup lights that don't relate to the nearby tail lights.  And I don't think the wheels shown here are stock, by the way.

Avanti seen in Baltimore, May 1963.  Note the shapes of the wheel openings as seen here and, especially, in the side view above.  They serve to enhance the raked effect that's both actual (the lower edge of the car isn't parallel to the ground) and in the design massing (the high point of the car is above the leading edge of the C-pillar).  Round openings would make the car seem a bit more static.

Front view of the Baltimore car.  No conventional grille ... instead, an early version of a low-level air intake.  The fender fronts, the central crease on the hood and the asymmetrically placed raised feature in front of the steering wheel provide elements of firmness contrasting an otherwise curvy design.  It's not easy to see in any of these images, but the body is pulled inwards around the doors "Coke bottle" fashion, akin to "area ruled" fuselages for trans-sonic jet fighters.

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.

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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.

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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.

First-Generation American All-Steel Roofs

Before the mid-1930s, American closed cars had weatherproofed fabric inserts covering much of their roofs.  But the time for a change to all-metal roofs was at hand.  General Motors was first with its "Turret Top" line on many of its 1935 cars, and by the 1938 model year almost every closed car built in America had a roof of steel.

This post presents most of the brands having first-generation steel-topped bodies.  In almost every case, bodies had strongly rounded shapes in the "greenhouse" area and fenders.  This was due to limitations in 1930s sheet metal stamping technology as well as, in some cases, the need to stack body components in a nested fashion for shipment to assembly plants scattered across the United States.

Seen from today's perspective, most 1935-38 American cars looked awkward and dumpy due to the rounded body shapes that were enhanced by strongly rounded-off window corners -- especially those on General Motors cars.  GM's styling boss Harley Earl soon realized that all this roundedness was a mistake, and had his staff making corrections on 1937 cars, as I explained here.

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1935 Chevrolet Master De Luxe
Photographed at Berger Chevrolet, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Chevrolet's hood and grille were not rounded much, helping to offset the softness of much of the rest of the design.

1935 Oldsmobile

1935 Pontiac 2-door sedan
More examples of General Motors' early bodies featuring all-steel roofs.  These designs had a "streamline" theme that marked a strong break from the more angular designs of previous years.  These cars look "softer" than the Chevy because their hoods and grilles are more rounded to fit the rest of the theme.

1936 Dodge advertisement
For the following model year, many other brands followed GM's theme of rounded bodies and all-steel roofs.

1936 Chrysler Airstream
Photo by Lars-Göran Lindgren, Sweden.  Another example of Chrysler Corporation styling for 1936, but this in a photograph instead of an artist's distortions seen in the Dodge ad above.

1936 Hudson sales material
Another brand with a completely new design for 1936.  The side windows aren't as rounded as those of GM cars, but the rest of the car looks awkward and dumpy.  Interestingly, Hudson stylists were able firm up the exterior to keep up with the trend away from "soft" designs, as I discussed here.

1936 Nash DeLuxe Sedan
A busy, awkward design, but not as soft looking as the cars shown above.  The stretched teardrop shape of the hood air vent is comical in retrospect, but probably intended as a serious nod to aerodynamics when this model was styled.

1936 Studebaker President
Studebaker followed GM's lead from the cowling back, strongly rounded windows and all.  However, this was offset in the top-of-the-line President shown here by a long, straight hood.

1937 Ford DeLuxe Tudor - sales photo
An unfortunate, stubby design.  The crisp styling of the grille-hood ensemble along with the comparatively large windows made the Ford seem less bulbous than most of the cars pictured above.

1937 Plymouth Special DeLuxe - Barrett-Jackson photo
Plymouth didn't get rounded Chrysler bodies until the 1937 model year.

1938 Packard Six - sales photo
Packard was late to the all-steel roof theme.  Windows are strongly rounded in the manner of the 1935 GM cars shown above.  This was a curious mistake, because the folks at Packard must have had inklings that GM and others were moving toward flatter roofs and small-radius window corners.

* * * * *

1936 Lincoln Zephyr
Now for examples of designs that were more graceful that those of most other brands.  The Lincoln Zephyr does have large-radius window corners.  But the rest of the design is sharper from the boat-prow front to the fastback rear.

1936 Cord 810
Photo taken by me at the National Automobile Museum, Reno, Nevada.  Cord styling was outstanding.  Side windows had tightly-rounded corners.  Like the Zephyr in the previous photo, its roof is not as bulbous as those of most of the other cars shown above.  But the key design element is the firm hood-grille ensemble that is strong enough to complement the curved elements of the rest of the car.