1955 Ford Mystere Show Car

One mid-1950s Ford show car that I've never liked was the 1955 Mystere.  The name might have been inspired by the French Dassault Mystère jet fighter that first flew in 1951.  Moreover, its ornamentation includes several jet fighter motifs, as we shall see below.

The Mystere falls into the dream car / flashy concept category.  That's because it was almost entirely impractical and, with the exception of the tail fin color scheme treatment, was not predictive of future production Fords.

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1955 Ford
To set the scene, here are views of 1955-57 Fords featuring the J-shaped side trim theme also found on the Mystere.  It first appeared for the '55 model year.

1956 Ford
This is the 1956 version.  It's a bit more gracefully shaped than the 1955 version, but still is rather awkward.

1957 Ford
The best version of the theme was on '57 Fords where the aft part blends with the tail fin.  We see this on the Mystere.

General view of the 1955 Mystere dream car.  Its three-tone color scheme colors are similar to those found on 1955 production Fords.  It seems that the entire roof dome was hinged at the rear to allow it to be pivoted upward to allow passenger ingress and egress.  The air vent at the top is the only source of passenger compartment ventilation.

Note this early application of those awful quad headlights that began appearing on 1957 American cars.  Otherwise, the front design is fairly clean and sensible.  The rear fender area with the side air intake and tail fins is jet-fighter inspired as was much American car ornamentation in those days.  The intake looks functional, but I can't tell for sure from the photos.

Side view with a group of what are probably stylists involved in the Mystere project.  That's Alex Tremulis at the far right.  The color separation side trim is awkward and does not enhance the car's appearance.  It does relate to the trim on top-of-the-line '55 Fords and previews the link to canted tail fins that appeared for 1957.  The placement of the passenger compartment seems too far forward.  One reason for that is that the engine (which the Mystere actually lacked) would have been placed at the rear.

Rear view showing the jet fighter theme of fins and jet exhausts.

Color view of the rear along with a model to provide scale.

Streetscenes: Pre-Styling Days

The focus of this blog is the aesthetic appearance of automobiles.  For that reason, I seldom include more than one car in an image.  And in those comparatively rare cases, three cars is the usual maximum.

In the real world, especially on busy streets in large cities, one sees clumps of cars.  They are part of the environment, their styles contributing to the overall visual effect.

So, for a change of pace, below are some streetscape scenes photographed 1926-1930.  Few of the cars shown were designed by professional stylists.  They seem awkward to our eyes, and probably also would have to an observer in, say, 1940.  They reflect the automotive technological level of the 1920s, when most were built (some in the images might have rolled off the assembly line before then, but were still in use).  Perhaps the most striking thing I notice from photos taken from above pedestrian eye level is the cars' roofs.  For enclosed sedans, they are nearly flat and fabric-covered.

Here is a charcoal sketch, probably by Hugh Ferriss from the 1920s, showing a popular urban design concept of the time -- separated traffic and pedestrian levels.  Note the sea of cars depicted.  Also all those rectangular tops.  Less-exaggerated reality follows:

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Toronto: North from Queen & Yonge - 31 August 1929
All the cars heading toward us have exterior sun visors, a feature eliminated in the early 1930s when stylists began considering aerodynamics (albeit in a superficial way).

Chicago: Michigan Avenue - 1929
Interesting that there are no lane markers -- only a direction separation stripe.  That's the Tribune Building at the far right.

Los Angeles: Parade zone for Charles Lindbergh visit - 1927
Closed sedans are in the background, so all these open-top cars were probably to appear in the parade carrying dignitaries.

Los Angeles: Southern California Auto Club - 1926
South of downtown, just north of the University of Southern California campus.  Most cars seen here are from the late teens or early 20s.

New York City: Opening of the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River to New Jersey - 1927
This comes fairly close to the charcoal sketch above.  Before the tunnel was built, cars had to be ferried across the river, so many New York and New Jersey drivers were highly excited and in a rush to give the more convenient tunnel a try.

Washington, DC: Gasoline station
A change of pace, tranquil scene.  I include it because it's in color.

London: Burney Streamliner - c. 1930
Well, not all cars in those days were boxy.

Cadillac 1954 El Camino and La Espada Show Cars

There were three Cadillac dream cars in General Motors' 1954 Motorama show.  One was a conservatively styled four-door sedan that previewed some features of Cadillac's 1957 redesign.  The other two were minor variations on a two-passenger theme.

They were the El Camino (The Road), a coupé, and the La Espada (The Sword), a convertible, their only significant difference being a top or lack thereof.

One feature they anticipated was quad headlights, something that began appearing on American cars for the 1957 model year and was nearly universal for 1958.  Another was Cadillac's 1958 rear fender design.  Otherwise, these cars were the sort of dream car jazz that was expected at Motoramas.

This is the El Camino.  It has a racy top somewhat suggestive of a jet fighter plane cockpit, the jet theme being reinforced by the tail fins.

I think that the weakest feature is those quad headlights.  But then, I hate most quad headlights.  Regardless, their housings create an awkward shape at the front of the fenders, this being at odds with the rest of the design.

Show cars are supposed to be flashy.  Even so, I would reduce the size of the tail fins and perhaps make them less pointed.  Also, I am never very fond of character features such as we see here that curve around the front of wheel openings and then extend to the rear.

I would have used single headlights in "frenched" housings linked to a character line aligned with the center or lower edge of the headlamp.  The result would be higher on the fender than the one seen here.  A consequence would be that the extruded decorative side panels would have to go -- not a bad thing either.

La Espada with Ronald Reagan at the wheel.

A glimpse of the interior.

Some Badged First-Generation British Minis

Today's Mini brand is from BMW.  But the 1959 original Minis were products of BMC, the British Motor Corporation, that was the result of a merger of Austin and Morris. Some background is here and here.

The first Minis, produced 1959-1967, were the Morris Mini-Minor and the Austin Seven, the latter a long-time Austin model name.  Two years later, BMC launched Mini-based cars for two of its lesser brands.  These were the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet.

Although there may have been some mechanical differences between these various Mini-based brands, from a styling perspective it seems to have been a matter of what is called "badge engineering" -- cheaply implemented superficial differences intended to preserve brand identities.

The original Mini concept was successful in its day, but in the long run BMC, Austin, Morris, Riley and Wolseley all disappeared from the automotive scene.

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1962 Austin Mini-Cooper

1964 Morris Mini-Cooper
By far the most popular versions of British Minis were from Morris and Austin.

1961 Riley Elf
The Elf received a small bustle back and extended fenders.  The hood and lower front fender cuts lines are carried over from Morris and Austin.  A small version of a traditional Riley grille was added, along with "whisker" openings as part of the lower light ensemble.

Wolseley Hornet
Wolseley Hornets received treatments similar to the Elfs, the grille being characteristic of Wolseley.  One difference seen on the car illustrated here is the smoothed front fender -- the angled sheet metal join is missing.

The Transitional 1949 Dodge Wayfarer Line

The "Big Three" American automobile makers -- General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation -- held off introducing post- World War 2 redesigns until the 1949 model year.  (Exceptions were 1948 Cadillacs and Oldsmobile 98s.)

The prewar notion that streamlined-looking fastback styling was the wave of the future was largely abandoned, though every GM division did market some fastback models for 1949.  Chrysler did the same, but on a much smaller scale.  Plymouth built an entry-level fastback 2-door sedan, and Dodge had a semi-fastback similar in character to Mercury's '49 roofline.

And there was even more Chrysler experimentation in Dodge's Wayfarer line.  This experimentation required extra tooling expenses for what turned out to be fairly low-volume cars.  In those days, Chrysler Corporation ranked ahead of Ford in sales and was doing well financially, so its management must have thought that the risk of losing some money to gain market knowledge was worthwhile.

Let's take a look at Dodge's Wayfarer line.  Color images are of cars that were on Internet for-sale sites.

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Let's first view a 1949 mainstream Dodge Coronet 4-door sedan to provide context.  The sun visor above the windshield was a popular accessory in the late 1940s and early 50s.

This is a 1949 Wayfarer business coupe.  Business coupes had only one bench seat, but this allowed for larger trunk space for hauling business-related items.  That body style was dropped early in the 1950s.

And here is the Wayfarer Roadster, essentially a convertible version of the business coupe.  Only a small proportion were true roadsters with side curtains instead of roll-up windows -- most Dodge "Roadsters" were built with the latter.

Front three-quarter views of '49 Dodge Wayfarer sedans.

A 1950 Mercury showing its semi-fastback / semi- bustle-back styling.  The Dodge's bustle-back is smaller and gives the impression of being mostly a fastback.

Rear view of a '49 Wayfarer.  Compare this to the 1949 Plymouth P-17 fastback below.

This car and the Dodges shown above used the same roof tooling, the main difference is that the Dodge's B-pillar slants and the Plymouth's is vertical.  The Dodge bustle-back is due to a 4-inch longer wheelbase and 14 inches (35 cm) more overall length.  This added length would have required a different, more expensive fastback roof shape towards the rear, so the cheaper semi-fastback option was taken.

Finally, the Dodge Wayfarer sedan's fastback competition, a 1949 Pontiac Streamliner 2-door.  Much sleeker than the Dodge, but perhaps with a bit less trunk space -- a problem that led GM to dropping  fastbacks after the 1952 model year.

Fiat 2800: Italy's Answer to Mercedes

That's a glamorous (though not well painted) Italian lake district scene in the Fiat publicity image shown above.  And the car?

According to this Italian language Wikipedia article, Benito Mussolini proposed to Fiat that they create a model that would compete in terms of prestige with Mercedes-Benz.

And Fiat tried, with its 2800.  Nearly 630 were built over 1938-1944, about a third being military adaptations of the chassis.  Fiat 2800s were used by Mussolini, the Pope and some affluent Italians.

The English language Wikipedia entry is here.

Here is a 2800 four-door sedan.  The short, downward curved hood runs against the 1930s expectation that prestige automobiles have long, prominent hoods.  It does look a bit racy, which is what one might expect for Italy.  Aside from that, the front ensemble is in line with 1936 American styling practice, but is a little dated for 1938.

This side view shows that the sedan had an integral trunk and not quite something obviously tacked on.  The passenger compartment styling above the belt line is also obsolescent compared to some new 1938 General Motors cars, and obsolete in relation to most 1940-41 American car designs.

Some cabriolet 2800s were built.  Stabilimenti Farina made a few four-door versions, and might have built the two-door shown here.  (I can't determine who actually did the work.  It might even have been done by Fiat.)

This nice 1939 Fiat 2800 coupe was by Touring.

1954 Cadillac Park Avenue Concept

The 1954 General Motors Motorama traveling cars-plus-entertainment show was particularly rich in terms of show cars / dream cars / concept cars (take your pick).

Cadillac exhibited three such cars, two of which (El Camino, La Espada) were variations on a two-passenger theme.  The other was a comparatively conservative four-door sedan, the Park Avenue.  It is the subject of this post.

The 1954 model year was when General Motors startled the buying public with completely restyled Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs.  These cars featured low hood and trunk lines (compared to previous designs) and panoramic (or wraparound) windshields.  The effect was quite futuristic at the time.

The next Cadillac redesign would be for 1957, so when the Park Avenue was conceived, 1957 styling was still somewhat in flux while the market reaction to the new '54s was being evaluated.  Even so, the Park Avenue anticipated several features found on the 1957s.

The Park Avenue was more rounded than 1954 Caddies, a feature of the '57 redesign.  1957s also saw the low hood and matching front and rear wraparound shapes.  The Park Avenue was fairly compact, something definitely not the case in 1957.

Here is a 1957 Cadillac -- a coupe, not a sedan, however.  Another Park Avenue carryover is the rear fender design.

A not-so crisp image of the Park Avenue's front.

And this is the front of a 1954 Cadillac, photo by Owls Head.  Headlight housings, upper grille shape, grille grid pattern and bumper styling are in the same spirit.  Front styling for the '57s had most of the main theme features, though details were different.

Rear three-quarter view of the Park Avenue. No rear bumper, but show cars often featured sketchy protection.  All things considered, the Park Avenue was a nice design for its time, and was nicer looking than the too-large 1957 line it anticipated.