Awkward Years: Car Styling 1935-38

The decade of the Great Depression was one of frantic creativity as many manufacturers pushed experimentation to the forefront in an effort to find sales in a stagnant market. This was especially true for the American automobile industry as can be seen by comparing cars from the beginning and conclusion of that economically dark decade.

Above are Chevrolets from 1930 and 1941. The 1930 model is a boxy assemblage of visually discrete parts (hood, passenger compartment, fenders, headlights, etc.) whereas the 1941 is integrated, smooth and lacks awkwardness.

Between those two model years was a transition where, feature by feature, car styling evolved from one convention to a distinctly different one. Below is a gallery of photos showing cars of various makes for model years 1935-38, the midpoint of the transition and the point where awkwardness was maximized.

Most of the cars look roughly similar. That's partly because General Motors was the acknowledged style leader (and had by far the largest market share) and the other companies tended to shy away from being too different from GM for fear sales might suffer. Other reasons were technical, having to do with learning how to shape steel sheets into compound-curve forms using mass-production methods -- something of little matter in the 1920s and earlier.

1935 De Soto Airflow

1935 Pontiac

1936 Buick

1936 Nash

1937 Chrysler Imperial

1937 Graham

1937 Hudson

1938 Oldsmobile Six

Fab Fifties Facelifts

Bringing an entirely new automobile to production is expensive. There are few cases in the modern (say, from 1930) history of the industry that a platform was in production for only one year. Circumstances can mitigate, but Honda for many years tended to do a redesign of a model every four years. Some makers would redesign every two or three years and others (think Volkswagen Beetle) produced the same platform for decades.

The term "platform" is auto industry jargon for a set of core components. That platform can serve as the basis for a single model (Toyota RAV4, for example) or it can be shared by several makes or models that are differentiated by relatively superficial appearance changes (for instance, the 1990s GM-10 platform was used for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and Oldsmobile models).

Nowadays a platform comes in the form of a unitized body into which are stuffed engines, drive trains and passenger accommodations and onto which are attached body shell panels. Before the 1970s, most American makers used separate bodies that where bolted onto a chassis. Unit bodies are expensive to engineer and modify for styling reasons. Separate bodies were changed less expensively, but the one area that really did cost a lot to redo was the cowl -- the part comprising the engine firewall.

Thanks to iron rules of the economics of scale, car makers with comparatively few sales could not afford to change bodies as often as their larger, richer competitors. So to keep their models as stylistically fresh as possible, they relied on facelifts to entice customers. A "facelift" in automobile terms means restyling visible parts of a car while retaining the same platform. This can be done once or twice, but eventually the car-buying public would wise up to the fact that warmed-over goods were being offered whereas other companies were selling new goods.

Below are examples of facelifts from the 1950s when annual styling changes were probably the major marketing tool.

Hudson - 1937

Hudson - 1946-47
Lets pause before dealing with the 50s and consider Hudson. Hudson brought a new body to the market for the 1936 model year and continued using it with facelift after facelift through the 1947 model year. The 1937 car show above is very similar to the '36 and can be taken as the starting point. It seems a lot different from the 1946-47 Hudson. But look carefully. Note that the windows are essentially the same. And the body tucks inward from the belt line to the running board area on both cars. What we see is the 1936 basic body with new fenders, trunk and hood (not to mention the grille, chrome trim, etc.).

Frazer - 1948

Frazer - 1951
Kaiser-Frazer axed the Frazer brand after the 1951 model year. For 1951, the Kaiser got a svelte new body and Frazer a massive facelift. Given the fate of Frazer, that facelift strikes me as being a huge waste of money. Nevertheless, the facelift was so effective that young punk me failed to realize at the time what it was; I thought it was a new body design.

Nash - 1952

Nash - 1957
These photos illustrate the first and final models using the big-Nash bodies of the 1950s. The big (and most expensive) change was the addition of a wrap-around windshield, a styling must at mid-decade. Otherwise, the facelift was mostly in the form of larger front wheel openings, quad headlights, revised grille and trim: not as drastic as for the other examples here.

Ford - 1954

Ford - 1955
Ford definitely was not a low-volume producer, but the decision was made to give its 1952-vintage bodies a major facelift that would extend their production two more years. Changes included the competitively necessary wraparound windshield, a slightly lowered roof (it was flattened), revised fenders, "Frenched" headlights and a new grille. These changes effectively created the image of a total redesign.

Mercury - 1952

Mercury - 1956
Mercury also had its 1952 body facelifted for 1955. The types of changes made were similar to those for Ford and, again, the result was the appearance of a total redesign.

Packard - 1951

Packard - 1956
Packards received their first post-World War 2 total restyling for the 1951 model year; these bodies continued in production through 1956. These photos show top-of-the-line Packards for those years. As with Ford and Mercury, 1955 was the year for the major facelift. The expected wraparound windshield was added, the fronts of the rear fenders were squared off somewhat, the front end was restyled as was the rear. Chrome strips, aluminum panels and paint two-toning helped give the sides a different look. As with Ford and Mercury, to a casual onlooker the new Packard seemed to be all-new.

Packard - 1951

Packard Clipper - 1956
These photos show how entry-level Packards were facelifted into the the short-lived Clipper brand. Changes were made in line with those for senior Packards, though details varied. Grille bars were vertical rather than a grid, the side strips and paint differed and the tail lights and rear fender tips were made less sedate.

Studebaker - 1953

Studebaker - 1964
Studebaker introduced its last truly new bodies for 1953. And, like Hudson, several major facelifts were undertaken. The 1964 Studebaker looks totally different from the '53 even though the "bones" are nearly the same. The '64 shown is a hardtop coupe; I couldn't fine a suitable photo of a sedan which might have indicated similarities better.

Separated at Birth - 60 Years Apart

Alright, already. I know they aren't identical. They are products from different manufacturers and introduced to the market nearly 60 years apart.

But isn't there just a whiff of something evocative?

Judge for yourself:

Studebaker Champion convertible - 1950

Mercedes SLK - current

Sinister-Looking Car

Selecting a styling theme for an automobile is a tricky business. For that reason, many car designs have tended to be bland or highly derivative -- remember back around 1980 when a number of brands featured boxy styling that clearly was inspired by Mercedes-Benz?

There is the related, but hard to put one's finger on, factor of "personality:" consider the various iterations of the cute Volkswagen "Beetle" or Plymouth/Dodge Neon from the mid-1990s. Luxury makes often attempt to look dignified -- stately and conservative. In general, where personality is consciously injected into a design, it is something positive that a potential buyer might relate to.

So why then did Honda's Acura brand move to a style image that strikes me as being sinister?

Acura TL - 2010

Acura has been a runner-up near-luxury make. It hasn't had a racing heritage image such as Mercedes or Maserati or a performance-sedan persona like BMW's. And so far as I can judge, it never was skewed to one driver-sex; not a "chick car" nor "guy car."

Well, now it's a male-image car; a sub-middle-aged male one. Note all those sharp cuts and angled shapes in the grille and trunk areas.

This is not to say that only youngish, car-performance freak guys will be the only buyers. Still, I can't believe Honda consciously wants to abandon other, larger demographic market segments. Perhaps they simply want the car to be "edgy" (in more than one context), and are placing a bet on the Bob Lutz concept: Intense approval for some buyers is better for sales than blandness that doesn't have much effect one way or another.

Me? I don't mind the looks of the Acura TL and would consider buying one if I had the money and was needful of a new car. Though it might not be my first choice.

Subtle Grille

Some automobile grilles are glorified mesh -- just a little too open to actually keep bugs off the radiator.

Others are sculptural, of a design intended to give the car identification as a specific make or model. Back in the 1950s the goal of design management for most American car companies was to have a grille that would indicate the make for a viewer half a block or more away.

Put another way, subtlety in a grille's close-up view was of almost no importance. So I was a bit surprised when I finally noticed that certain models of the Lexus RX crossover SUV series possessed grilles with features that could only be appreciated at close range.

Consider:

Lexus RX330 ca.2005 - photographed in Australia

RX300 grille closeup view

Note the converging vertical bars and the small insets running up to a point about 40 percent of the height of the grille. Subtle and elegant -- fitting for an upscale car line.

Analysis: Jaguar Styling Trends

I think it's good policy for an automobile make to stick with design themes. Exception: when the brand has a bad reputation and there's the need to divorce new, presumably improved, models from previous parking lot trash.

Examples of styling cue continuity are the Rolls-Royce radiator grille (only recently modified, but still recognizable), Cadillac's egg-crate grille theme (initiated for the 1941 model year) and Packard's red hexagon wheel decorations, grille-top design and pen-nib upper body trim strip.

Other makes don't bother much with theme maintenance. And I'll admit that sales results aren't always bad: consider Toyota which doesn't seem to have any consistent cue other than the crossed-oval "T" symbol on most grilles.

Jaguar management decided a few years ago to drop their policy of theme-continuation in favor of establishing new themes. At first, this was not evident, but enough new models have appeared that the themes are becoming somewhat clear.

Let's begin by reviewing examples of Jaguar styling since World War 2.

XK-120 - 1948-54

2.4 - 1955-59

S-Type - 1999-2008

The XK-120 created a sensation when introduced: sleek style, good performance and a comparatively low price for what the buyer was getting. Styling cues include: the vertically positioned oval grille; inset, faired headlights; and curvacious fenders and general profile. These were carried over to the 2.4 sedan. Details changed, but the styling sense was similar. The S-Type was a vintage-2000 Ford platform with retro detailing that evoked the 2.4 and its successor, the 3.4. To me, these cars scream Jaguar.

XK-E - 1961-75

XK - recent

After the XK-120, -140, -150 string ran out, Jaguar introduced the thematically different XK-E (or E-Type) whose styling reflected racing models such as the C-Type and D-Type that ran at Le Mans. The current sports model, the XK, isn't as tubular in proportions as the E, but its horizontally-aligned oval grille echoes that of the E.

Mark VII - 1951-57

XJ6 - 1968-87

XJ - pre-2009

Jaguar's larger Mark VII sedans carried over a pre-war grille design, mating it to the postwar swept-through fender treatment that was a stamp of modernity at the time. The XJ6 and related models up to the mid-2000-10 decade XJs featured a grille that was essentially a flattened version of that of the Mark VII.


To summarize, Jaguar styling from 1948 until 2009 (that's 60 years!) featured three themes exemplified by grille treatment (though other cues were present). One was an oval grille oriented vertically. Another was an oval grille (actually, more of an opening for radiator air) that was horizontal. The one reserved for larger sedans (plus the 2001-09 X-Type small sedan -- not pictured) was a series of variations on a prewar design.

Below are photos of two models that represent what may be assumed to be Jaguar styling themes for the foreseeable future.

XF - 2008

XJ - 2010

The XF medium-size sedan and the new, large XJ have a similar front treatment. Grilles are roughly rectangular but with strongly radiused corners. The headlamp treatment of the XF hints at the inset headlights of the XK-120, but this becomes simply a wisp on the XJ. Both models feature a jaguar-head medallion placed in the grille.

XF - 2008

XJ - 2010

Aside from the front, the XF's styling is generic-sleek, the only Jaguar element being an image of the animal tacked on the rear. From the side, the car could easily be mistaken for a Lexus. The XJ has the potential to be more distinctive in the form of the window pattern and the vertical tail lights. In any case, the car cannot be mistaken for a Lexus. I've yet to see an XJ where I live, but saw several in London recently and can attest to its distinctiveness.


Now that the new front theme is on two models -- and not simply on the XF -- the potential exists that it can become a Jaguar styling signature, through force of repetition, if nothing else. Nevertheless, side and rear treatments don't offer many clues for the future, the XJ being a successful first step and the XF less so.

How to Style Cars: 1955

In 1955 when I was a teenage car-stylist wannabe, a new book (cover image below) appeared on the market. It was filled with helpful tips and packed with examples of concept sketches and renderings by professional stylists and advanced students. I still have my copy.

So I was pleased to stumble across a post concerning it on the Dean's Garage blog. The illustrations shown here were pulled from that post, but I strongly urge interested readers to click on the link and scroll down to where links to other illustrations can be found.

The book was strictly monochrome, so color versions of the art (such as shown above) are sorely missing; nowadays such a book would have color. Some illustrations are simply workman-like and a few are beautifully done -- especially those by Richard Tatge who did the red turbine car. As a group, they are an interesting sample of styling ideas from the early-to-mid 1950s.

Gallery

Tatge illustrations showing how a turbine-powered racer might be tamed into a street-ready production job.

Another rendering that's probably by Tatge -- this, a fine, early taste of "retro."

The book's author, Robert Gurr, was not a flashy renderer. This is one of his nicer sketches.

Aside from Tatge, most of the stylists whose contributions were in the book were good at rendering cars but not proficient at human beings. A few human figures were little more than poorly done diagrams. Interestingly, Tatge never seemed to have made a mark either in styling or related fields such as illustration if a recent Google search on his name is any evidence.

Mayfair Matte

Maybe it's happening in Palm Beach or the Upper East Side. Or perhaps in Beverly Hills, Malibu or Rancho Mirage -- though I was in the latter three within the last six months and didn't notice it.

That "it" is cars with matte -- rather than shiny -- paint jobs.

I noticed this in London's tony Mayfair district a couple of weeks ago, spotting at least three cars with matte finishes. And each of those cars was an expensive one -- the cheapest of the lot being a Porsche.

Here are some photos I snapped:


Yes, there's one. Parked in front of that shiny new Jaguar XF.

And it's a Bentley four-door saloon costing several times the price of that Jag. The license plates are British.

This is the unloading zone for our hotel. The tan-colored car in the background with a normal finish is a Maybach, what Daimler hopes you'll buy if you think Mercedes' are too ordinary. Closer to the camera is a Mercedes SLS gull-wing door jobbie painted matte white. Both cars carried license plates from the Gulf; the SLS's number was "333333" or thereabouts (I forget how many 3s there were).


Of course one wonders Why?

I have no answer at this point, though my first reaction was that it must be some trendy thing for a small subset of those who buy cars costing more than $100,000.

[Cross-posted at 2 Blowhards.]