Separated Twins: 1938 Graham and 1938 Douglas B-18A Bomber

Yes, one of these "twins" isn't actually an automobile.  It's a U.S. Army Air Corps bomber built in the late 1930s.  They served in World War 2 mostly in an anti-submarine role due to being obsolete for other combat roles. Some background is here.

The B-18 was designed shortly after the Douglas DC-2 airliner, but had little in common other than wing structure and tail elements of the DC-3.  First-series B-18s featured a rounded nose, but the B-18As had the nose redesigned in a manner resembling the "Shark-Nose" 1938 Graham automobile.  B-18As reached production in April 1938, though design was probably essentially completed in 1937.

The Graham (company history here.) was styled by Amos Northup but, due to his accidental death, some details were designed by other hands.  The concept of the hood-grille ensemble was Northup's, however, and this work was probably done in 1936.

So even though the two designs were revealed late 1937 or early 1938, there is no reason to believe that one inspired the other.  What we have here is a curious design coincidence.

1938 Graham - Shannons Auction photo

Douglas B-18A Bolo

Toyopet Crown: 1st Toyota Export to the USA

Toyota's Toyopet Crown (1955-1962) was first exported to the USA in the fall of 1957, marking the start of the Japanese automobile "invasion," as it was commonly called for many years. One of the first American Toyota dealerships was within sight of the Seattle house where I grew up.

Background on the Toyopet Crown is here.

Toyotas didn't sell well at first, perhaps because foreign cars were still a rarity and some of which quickly gained reputations for poor reliability.  The only really successful import was the Volkswagen Beetle which dominated the market through the 1960s.

Toyota had to regroup its American effort and the rest, as they say, is history.

Gallery

1958 Toyopet Crown Custom advertisement
Yes, here it is in America!  Isn't that SanFrancisco's Golden Gate Bridge in the background?

1955 (ca.) Toyopet Crown
I think this is a 1955 Toyopet Crown: note the divided windshield not seen on later models.  The fenderline is dropped below the belt in Harley Earl's General Motors 1950 B-body fashion.  The dog-leg C-pillar is one of many that predates BMWs signature sedan feature.  The strip above the front wheel opening is awkwardly-placed.  Plenty of glass area gives the car an airy appearance.

1957  (ca.) Toyopet Crown ad card
Only the grille features the fussy detailing often found on 1950s Japanese cars.

1959 Toyopet Crown Custom
I don't have a source for this photo, but I'm using it because it clearly shows Toyopet rear styling.  Note the almost-tailfins that serve to make the car look a little longer.  That seems to be a dent between the tail light and the backup light at the left.

1959 Toyopet Crown Custom
The grille design has been cleaned up a bit here.

First-Series Ford Ranchero: Half-Car, Half Truck

Ford revived the 1920s practice of creating pickup trucks from sedan platforms with its Ranchero line (1957-1979; first series in the 1957-59 model years).  Some background can be found here.

The link suggests some reasons why Ranchereos were phased out at the end of the 1970s.  I'd add that Ford Motor Company was entering a period of financial losses and was motivated to trim its product line.

First series Ford Rancheros sold well enough (140,000 over the three model years) that the concept was continued.  Chevrolet got into the same concept in 1959 with its El Camino line that lasted through the 1987 model year, with a 1961-63 interruption.

So far as styling is concerned in the abstract, the concept of a Ranchero-like vehicle is that of a low, sleek pickup truck.  Both Ford and Chevrolet stylists were able to design somewhat sleek versions now and then over the lives of the models.  But the basic architecture of a pickup truck works against sleekness, and for that reason none of those vehicles can be considered a design classic at the level of a 1940 Lincoln Continental or a 1936 Cord 810.

Gallery

1957 Ford Ranchero ad card
One might also say "Less than a car!" (you only get half of one) "Not much of a truck!" (compared to a regular Ford F-Series pickup).  Note the modernistic ranch house in the background, an effete touch to the marketing

1957 Ford Ranchero - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Trim and tail fins are from Ford Custom 300 Tudor sedans, the middle Ford models.  Rancheros also were available with entry-level Custom sedan trim -- or actually the lack of any trim on the sides.

1957 Ford Ranchero - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
The tailgate is down, showing the truck bed.  Not very deep, but fairly long for late-50s pickups.

1957 Ford Ranchero - Mecum auction photo
This shows a Ranchero with the tailgate closed.

Ford's 1946 Facelift of Its 1942 Model

Most American 1942 model year cars were introduced in the fall of 1941.  The federal government ordered production ended during February 1942 in reaction to the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the country's World War 2 entry.

When the war ended in 1945, many Americans had both money and an old car that needed replacement.  So there was a pent-up demand for new cars, a demand that took about three years to dissipate.

Car makers were supposed to focus on war production during the war and not work on postwar automobile development.  Although some some development work was probably done, the sudden surrender of Japan in August left little time to do more than rush 1946 models into production.

Given that buyers were happy to get almost anything on wheels, there was little need to do much in the way of new features for '46.  So all companies that made 1942 models released 1946 models that were facelifted '42s and not total redesigns.  As for Ford, the only noteworthy new styling feature was a redesigned grille.

When I last visited the LeMay America's Car Museum in Tacoma, I discovered that the staff had thoughtfully placed an example of a 1942 Ford next to a 1946 Ford.  This allowed me to take the following comparative photos (click to enlarge):

The 1942 Ford is gray and the '46 is maroon.  The '42 has a stamped panel that surrounds the grille opening and rises in the upper center to meet the hood cut.  This same stamping is on the '46 Ford, but more difficult to see because the ends of the horizontal grille bars hide its sides.
This is a clever facelift because the 1942 Ford had thin, vertical grille bars and the 1946 has thick horizontal ones -- a strong visual change.  Yet almost every other bit of the front end, including that stamping, was already on the 1942 model.

Oldsmobile's Curious Vista-Cruiser Station Wagon

The Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser station wagon and the similar Buick Sport Wagon were built in three series, 1964-67, 1968-72 and 1973-77, as this reference mentions.

Only the first two series concern us because they featured a raised roof aft of the C-pillar with slit-windows at its front and sides.  These cars featured a third row of seats, so perhaps the raised roof and its fenestration were marketed as amenities for the passengers stuck in back.  The third-row seatbacks (and the seats, presumably, though they were placed over the differential) were at the same level as the other seats, so the extra height was probably not necessary for headroom purposes.  But the feature might have lessened any claustrophobia for passengers during daylight hours.

The "Vista" label was borrowed from a railcar concept (see here), marketed as Vista-Dome by at least one railroad, the Burlington.  So it was a short marketing step from Vista-Dome to Vista-Cruiser for Oldsmobile.

Sales of nearly 60,000 first-series Vista-Cruisers (plus perhaps 25,000 Buick Sport Wagons) were enough to justify continuing the concept when Oldsmobiles and Buicks were redesigned for the 1968 model year.

Although there was nothing really wrong with the Vista-Cruiser concept, there was little that was right about it either, so far as I am concerned.  It was basically a fairly small market niche that General Motors could afford to fill in those days.

As for styling, the raised roof added bulk to the overall design of the car and unbalanced it somewhat.

Gallery

1964 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser

1964 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser advertisement
This links the car to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, where General Motors had a pavilion.

1967 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser, rear 3/4 view

1968 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser
The style appeared again when Oldsmobiles were given redesigned bodies.

1972 Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser
The final version.

Five Car Brands With Similar 6-Sided Grilles

For more than 100 years it has been obvious to even casual observers that the front of an automobile is, in effect, its face.  For that reason, it has always been a major consideration when styling a car.

The "mouth" part of a car's face is its grille, or opening(s) to admit cooling air to the radiator that is normally placed at the front.  (Yes, mid / rear engine cars, air-cooled motors, and the new breed of battery-powered cars have different requirements, but for now they remain exceptions to the rule.)

A truly "functional" grille would take the shape of a rectangle, coinciding with the radiator's shape.  To style this, various bars, moldings and other ornamentation might be added.  At the other extreme would be grille openings with non-geometric outlines.  Someplace towards the first example are grilles that have a geometric basis but are more elaborate than rectangles.

Such a case would be a six-sided grille in the form of a distorted hexagon.  Both distinctive and quasi-"functional" in the sense noted above.

But a problem arises.  A car's "face" serves to identify the brand, something usually highly important from a marketing standpoint.  Therefore, it normally makes marketing sense to have a distinctive grille that potential buyers recognize.  An exception is when a lesser make borrows elements of a more prestigious brand's grille in an attempt to increase prestige, though the result can be a confirmation of cheapness.

Another possibility is that different car makers stumble on a design more or less independently, possibly because there might well be a limited number of basic grille opening shapes and one has to use what one can use.

Below are presented the faces of 2016 model year cars from five different manufacturers, each using an essentially six-sided grille opening.  Efforts were made to add touches of distinctiveness, but there remains the risk of reducing brand identity.

Gallery

2016 Audi A4
Audi is the brand with the most prestige of those shown here, but I'm not sure that the other brands were trying to copy Audi.

2016 Dodge Dart
Well, this Dodge does have the Audi "slop over the bumper" motif that is more commonly seen on some Valkswagens.

2016 Ford Fusion
Some observers think the Fusion's grille was inspired by Aston Martin.  Maybe.

2016 Hyundai Genesis G90
Maybe I'm changing my mind.  The Genesis is Hyundai's attempt at creating a luxury brand, and that grille looks a lot like an Audi's without the interlocking rings.

Even lesser Hyundais seem to be getting the six-sided grille treatment.   This is the 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.

2016 Subaru Legacy GT
This is a new grille shape for Subaru.  It's too soon to tell if the brand is going to go all-out Audi, but it also can be found on the Subaru Impreza.

The Forthcoming 2017 Lincoln Continental

The 2017 Lincoln Continental was previewed at the recent (January 2016) Detroit auto show.  (Yes, I know there is a pretentious official name for that event, but I choose to ignore it.)  A history of the brand and its various generations is here.  It notes that the most recent Lincoln Continentals went out of production in 2002.

Auto industry insider and commentator Peter De Lorenzo reported on the Detroit show here, mentioning the new Continental.  De Lorenzo compares marketing strategies of Cadillac and Lincoln there and in other posts on his web site.  He points out that Cadillac's strategy has been to produce performance cars in the mold of BMW, Audi and Mercedes and naming them using short codes such as CTS, XTS and ATS.

He goes on to mention that Ford management decided to avoid the long, hard haul of creating Lincolns with a high-performance image that would eventually fill the mind-space of potential buyers.  Instead, Lincoln's strategy is to create a luxury image, where raw performance is incidental.  A key element is the revival of the Continental name.

De Lorenzo claims that Cadillac's three-letter codes are too cryptic for most potential buyers, a mimicking of German practice.  But the name Continental is meaningful to most potential buyers, and therefore is a powerful marketing tool.  I tend to agree with Peter, finding the Cadillac codes difficult to associate with the various models they are supposed to represent.  As for the Continental name, I think it will work provided the car it labels is a good one.

Let's see what Lincoln stylists have created.

Gallery

1940 Lincoln Continental
This is what the original production Lincoln Continentals looked like.  Most observers, me included, consider this a classic design.  Because of this, there was great pressure for the styling of later Continentals to continue featuring cues from the first design.

1982 Lincoln Continental Givency edition
For example, this 1982 version is a four-door sedan, not a coupe as in 1940.  But a fake rear-mounted spare tire has been added to the trunk as a reminder of the original.  Such faux-spares were used on most post-1948 designs as the means of proclaiming Continenetal-ness.

2002 Lincoln Continental
The last production Lincoln Continentals finally abandoned the false spare tire bulge, resulting in a run-of-the-mill large American luxury sedan.

2017 Lincoln Continental
Again, no trace remains of the original Lincoln Continental.  What we see here is typical of contemporary luxury sedan styling in this era of high, supposedly safety-related, hoods and wind tunnel tested body forms.

2017 Lincoln Continental
The general feeling is Bentley-like, with a slightly dropped, slightly flowing fender line.

2017 Lincoln Continental
The grille opening is also Bentley-inspired, but flatter.  The sparkly reflections on the surface remind me of the latest Mercedes-Benz theme, but whose roots go back to 1958 Buicks.

2017 Lincoln Continental
A non-Bentley feature is the crease along the upper part of the side with a chrome flash at its front.  The current fashion for extravagant side sculpting is avoided here -- probably good for a luxury car.

2017 Lincoln Continental
A better view of the rear.  De Lorenzo was not impressed, and I think Lincoln stylists could have done something more distinctive, yet tasteful.

The 2017 Lincoln Continental's styling is not especially distinctive.  But it does proclaim that the car is of the luxury or near-luxury variety, and perhaps that's what the folks at Ford intend for now.  According to one source I read, the Continental is based on the Ford Taurus platform that has been in production since 2010 -- and the Continental indeed looks like a facelifted Taurus.  Perhaps more distinctive styling will appear on future Continentals based on a forthcoming platform, the 2017 model being a placeholder for a really desirable Lincoln.