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.

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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

The Archetypical Buick: Model Year 1952

It's more than a tendency, yet not an iron-clad rule: nevertheless, the greater the prestige and the higher its purchase prices, the more likely it is for an automobile brand to retain characteristic styling cues.  Think Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz and Packard.

For much of its existence, General Motors' Buick was next-to-the-top make, slotted just below Cadillac in the firm's hierarchy of brands. Even so, it wasn't until the 1942 model year that Buick stylists under the leadership of GM's legendary Harley Earl established styling themes that have been carried over to the present -- though sometimes they were abandoned, only to be revived.

I wrote about putting some of these themes on a really small car here, and here I wrote about how Buick broke away from its signature grille theme (but later returned to it).

Buick's collection of styling details was strong during its heyday.  From 1942 through most of the 1950s, Buicks were easily recognizable to most people and not just car buffs.  Was there a model year where Buick themes were at their purest, where the cars might be considered archetypical Buicks?

That is a matter of judgment.  Mine is that the 1952 Buicks were the most Buick-like.  Let's take a look the senior models, the Supers and Roadmasters, that had a different body than lower-priced Buick Specials (click on images to enlarge).

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The first three images are photos I took of a 1952 Buick Super Riviera a few years ago in the upper Napa Valley in California.  The swath of chrome along the side is what Buick called a Sweepspear, a strong Buick identifier.  On 1950-53 Buick bodies of the type shown here, it echoes the dropped front fender line.  It also recalls the fender line of 1942-48 Buick Roadmasters.  The Sweepspear was introduced on some 1949 models and carried through the 1958 model year.  Hints of it reappeared occasionally in later years.

Bold, vertical chromed "teeth" on the grille first appeared on 1942 Buicks.  They were dropped for 1955, but reappeared many times since, including recent years.  The hood sculpting that drops over the nose of the car and then helps frame the grille opening is a continuation of a practice (details differ) dating to the early 1930s or even the early 20s (if you squint your eyes and use your imagination).  This ended following the 1956 model year, perhaps because it was thought to look old fashioned and/or too decorative.

Rear portions of 1952 Buicks had little in the way of long-term iconic details.  However, the brake light ensemble on the trunk is a carryover from the mid-1930s (that was gone by 1954).  The sculpting on the rear fenders was found on 1950-53 Buick Supers and Roadmasters, but disappeared on the 1954 restyling.

Mecum Auctions photos of a 1952 Buick Super four-door sedan.

Another '52 Super four-door, this on a contemporary ad card.

A brochure spread showing 1952 Buick Roadmasters.

My reasoning for choosing 1952 as the archetypical year for Buick styling is as follows.  1950 Buicks featured large grille teeth that draped over the front bumper, a one-year-only affair that I wrote about here.  1951 Buicks were very similar to '52s, but Roadmasters had a swath of chrome aft of the Sweepspear that wasn't part of the theme: the 1952 version was more pure.  For 1953, Buick raised the central part of the front bumper, thereby diminishing the grille.  Also, headlights were grouped with turn indicator lights in the manner of the XP-300 show car.  This was continued for 1954, then dropped, so it can't count as being part of a long-lasting theme.  So 1952 is is.

Cadillac's Slowly-Changing 75 Limousine Line

Believe it or not, the market for limousines is not large.  Never was, actually.  So even General Motors chose to economize on limousine bodies back in the days when it was huge and prosperous.

In the years leading up to the U.S. entry into World War 2, General Motors marketed limousines by Buick (the Limited, model 90) and Cadillac.  Thereafter into the 1950s, only Cadillac had production limousines in its Series 75 line.

From the 1940 through the 1956 model years, Cadillac offered only two different limousine bodies, whereas there were four generations of its basic car lines.  As a result, Cadillac limousines were often stylistically out of phase with the regular line even though many ornamentation cues were incorporated where possible.  For model years 1957 and 1958 it appears that the greenhouse of the 1950-vintage limousine was grafted onto regular Cadillac bodies.

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1940 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine
This advertisement shows the limousine body introduced for the 1940 model year.

1941 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine
It was given the same '41 facelift as the rest of the Cadillac line.

1948 Cadillac 62
Regular Cadillacs were completely restyled for 1948.

1949 Cadillac 75 Limousine - Barrett-Jackson photo
But the 1940-vintage limousine body was used through the 1949 model year.  No attempt was made to facelift it to mimic 1948 styling cues.

1950 Cadillac 62
The Cadillac line was restyled for 1950.

1952 Cadillac 75 Limousine - sales photo
So was the limousine, as can be seen here in its 1952 guise.

1954 Cadillac 75 Limousine - Auctions America photo
The Cadillac line was restyled for the 1954 model year.  The limousine body in the passenger compartment zone appears to have been carried over from previous years.

1958 Cadillac DeVille
Cadillac was restyled for 1957 and facelifted in 1958.

1958 Cadillac 75 Limousine - via Wikipedia
The 1950-based limousine upper body continued through 1958.  Compare the passenger compartment roof and windows to the 1952 limousine shown two images above.

Styling Variety: 1930s French Cars

During the 1930s General Motors' styling boss Harley Earl would travel to Paris to visit the annual Salon de l'Automobile.  It was a serious focus to what might seem to some a frivolous enjoy-Paris corporate junket.  That was  because fashion-conscious France was a hotbed of car styling ideas that Earl wanted and needed to be aware of.

And there were many automobile makers in France, even in the depth of the Great Depression.  For example, the mid-decade 1935 Paris salon had 27 firms exhibiting passenger cars.  Those 27 firms produced only about 170,000 cars that year, and 3/4 of those were from the "big three" -- Renault, Citroën, and Peugeot.  The remaining manufacturers averaged about 1,550 cars that year, which makes me wonder how they could afford to keep body designs even halfway fashionable.  The largest firm, Renault, produced around 58,000 cars that year, yet marketed ten lines of cars using what seems to be three basic bodies -- which also seems like a small basis for product renewal.

Regardless, French car styling from the 1930s was innovative and varied.  Admittedly, this was especially the so for custom-built bodies, but also was the case for factory models.  The images below are mostly of standard production cars.

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Bucciali Double-Huit - body by Saoutchik - Paris Salon 1931
This car was intended to astonish, something it still does 85 years later.  It has a underslung chassis, so it sits low.  The low stance is further emphasized by the large wheels and extremely long hood.  Not to mention the low-headroom passenger compartment.

Voisin C 20 - Paris Salon 1931
Many of Gabriel Voisin's designs also astonish.  His C 20 and C 22 models feature radically disaggregated components.

Voisin Aérodyne - Paris Salon 1934
This is a pre-production car, but essentially the same as the few that were built.  Here Voisin edges towards aerodynamic shaping on his way to the 1936 Aérosport.

Citroën Traction Avant - 1956
The Traction Avant line was introduced for 1934, and its design was virtually unchanged even by 1956, the year before it was replaced.  The body is low because it lacks a driveshaft and also a chassis, being of semi-unitized construction.  One French styling fashion in the late 30s was the belt line drooping towards the rear, as can be seen here.

1935 Renault Nervastella Grand Sport
Unlike the Citroën, this top-of-the-line Renault is tall.  And it also has a somewhat streamlined appearance that's negated by the formidable grille-hood combination.  Note especially the the highly-sloped, V'd windshield: advanced for 1935.

Peugeot 402 - ca. 1939
The 402 first appeared for the 1936 model year and, like the Renault above, featured a streamlined look.  The body aft of the cowling seems inspired by the 1934 Chrysler Airflow.  For me, the most intriguing feature is the headlamps buried behind the grille.

1937 Hotchkiss 686 Coupé Modane
By the mid-1930s Hotchkiss' were solid looking cars.  Attractive, slightly conservative styling for its bourgeoise clientele.  I am especially fond of the grille design that relates well to the fenders.

1937 Panhard Dynamic
The ancient firm Panhard et Lavassor developed styling senility in the early 30s with its Panoramique three-piece windshield design that progressed to the strange Dynamic model shown here with its central driving position.  "Creativity" does not necessarily produce good results.

Talbot-Lago T 155 SS by Figoni & Falaschi - ca. 1938
Finally a fabulous "Goute d'eau" (teardrop) Talbot-Lago custom that's marred by having spats over the front wheels.  Most similar Talbots had exposed front wheels.

Renault Fuego: Streamlining Disguised

Renault's Fuego (1980-1986 in Europe) was a four-passenger sporty car whose shape was refined by wind tunnel testing into a fairly low drag coefficiant, a relatively uncommon practice in those days.  More background can be found here.

Aerodynamic efficiency is problematic for stylists because many potential shapes are ruled out.  Furthermore, aerodynamic shapes tend to be rounded, yet there is a strong school of styling thought holding that cars should appear trim, crisp, taut.  One compromise is to have the overall shape aerodynamically efficient while including trim, crisp, taut details in places irrelevant to aerodynamics.

This was done when the Fuego was designed.  Otherwise, it might have seemed somewhat dumpy, as was the case of the 1993 Ford Mondeo that had plenty of rounded details including windows and grille.

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1982 Fuego advertisement by American Motors
Fuegos were sold here in the USA thanks to an agreement between the Régie and American Motors.

Fuego - side view
The strong black trim emphasizes tautness and distracts from what actually is a rather bulky passenger compartment shape.

1983 Fuego - front 3/4 view
If you click to enlarge, you should be able to see that the black strip running along the car's shoulder is ribbed and thereby attracts the eye more than a flat piece of plastic might -- further distracting from the fundamental body shape.  But the body itself has some crisp features including the sharp folds on the top and edges of the hood.

1983 Fuego - rear 3/4 view
The ribbed black strip runs around the back of the Fuego, helping to pull the eye from the massive backlight.  The character line along the middle of the side takes a dip at the rear wheel opening.  This is a subtle detail because an unbroken horizontal line would not meet the intersection of the bumper and tail light assembly.

Curiously Impressive 1948-50 Packard Convertibles

Packard (history here) did not market a complete post- World War 2 redesign until the 1951 model year.  Instead, an unfortunate facelift of its Clipper design was put in place for 1948-50.  I'll write about this facelift in another post.

One model the Clipper lacked was a convertible, so Packard added them as part of the 1948 facelift project.  Packard sedans of that era were massive and bloated-looking.  Due to their lack of large, fixed tops, the convertibles appeared less massive than the sedans, though they were still more ponderous than competing cars.

The primary styling flaw is the pontoon fender and the slab-sided look it produced.  A crisper fender line and separate rear fenders such as were found on 1947 Studebakers and 1948 Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs would have been a major design improvement.

Seen from nearly 60 years after their introduction, the postwar Packard convertibles possess an impressive kind of charm despite having a mediocre design.  Something due to nostalgia, perhaps.

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1948 Packard Super 8 Victoria Convertible - Jay Leno Collection, NBC photo
Jay can afford the best, and this is pretty much it so far as '48-50 Packard convertibles are concerned.

1948 Packard 8 Convertible - sales photo
A lower-priced '48 convertible.  Differences include a simpler grille theme and one less side chrome strip.  The wire wheels were not production items.

1949 Packard Custom 8 Convertible - Auctions America photo
A top-of-the-line convertible with its top retracted.

1949 Packard Victoria Convertible - Barrett Jackson photo
Rear aspect of the less expensive convertible.

1950 Packard Custom 8 Victoria Convertible
Top-of-the-line Packards echoed the grille's egg-crate theme above the rear bumper.  Side chrome and tail lights were redone for 1950.

1950 Packard Custom 8 Victoria Convertible - Mecum auction photo
Another fine example.  But here, too, the wire wheels were added later.

1950 Packard Custom 8 Victoria Convertible - Mecum auction photo
A nice view of the egg-crate grille found on the most expensive Packards.

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.