General Motors' Best-Looking 1948 Car

General Motors' first redesigned post- World War 2 cars were C-body based, appearing beginning mid-year 1948.  Model year 1948 cars were Cadillacs and Oldsmobile's upscale Ninety-Eights.  C-body Buicks (Supers and Roadmasters) were 1949 models.

Styling was unlike prewar car-of-the-future concepts featuring fenders completely merged into the basic body.  Instead, GM's styling boss Harley Earl had his team design cars with distinct, applied rear fenders, with the overall fenderline being a short distance below the cars' beltlines.  The purpose was to reduce likely visual bulk that slab-sides would create on the comparatively tall cars of the day.  That is, Earl's designs were generally graceful.

In my opinion, the best looking of the lot was the Oldsmobile convertible.  Of course, convertibles almost always seem more attractive than other body types because they lack passenger compartment greenhouses.  Those greenhouses include many items (doorposts, roof profiles, windows, passenger ergonomic considerations, etc.) that stylists have to deal with, including some that make attractive solutions hard to achieve.  Convertibles lack all that fuss.

As to why I prefer the Oldsmobile design, let's take a look.

The featured car is a 1948 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 Convertible, photos via Mecum Auctions.

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One can see it, but I find it explaining it difficult.  It's just that all the elements work together to create a pleasing whole.  Even the the potentially awkward convertible top isn't a distraction.

Those horizontal fender chrome strips are set on the low side, drawing the eye downwards, making the car seem even lower.  That rocker panel chrome adds to the effect.

Instrument panel and dashboard.  Clutter is near the gauges, not spread around.  But all those similar knobs are ergonomically questionable.

Grille design is simple.  Roundings echo other rounder body features, reinforcing the theme.

Rear is not cluttered.  The convertible top is simple, though the backlight window is too tiny.

Yes, plenty of rounded features.  Yet there is a feeling of tautness.  And those strong, horizontal fender chrome strips provide a counter to the roundedness.

Left side.

Rear quarter view.  Perhaps the most awkward perspective, with the high trunk lid next to the low rear fender.

Again, the canvas top does not detract front the design more than a trifle.  Aft ends of the fenders nest the lower part of the trunk lid, adding visual interest.

1948 Cadillac 62 Convertible - car-for-sale photo
Looking at side views of the Olds and the other new C-body convertibles.  (By the way, the Oldsmobile grille design is much simpler and better integrated than Cadillac and Buick grilles.)  Again we find bold horizontal chrome strips placed at the same level as on the Olds.  The Cadillac has decorative chrome abaft of the front wheel opening.  Also a character crease across the front fender section.  Plus the famous tail fin that seems a little silly-looking here.

1948 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 Convertible - BaT Auctions photo
Image of another Olds convertible placed here to aid comparisons.

1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible - car-for-sale photo
The other C-body convertible.  This later-in-the-model-year car features the bold "Sweepspear" chrome swath.  Its main function proved to be a brand identifier, but adds confusion to the styling.  Not nearly as pure a design as the Oldsmobile's.

1949 Buick Super Convertible - car-for-sale photo
Buick Supers and early-1949 Roadmaster convertibles had simpler side trim than seen above: no Sweepspear.  Even so, there is more decoration than on the Oldsmobile.  Specifically, the "portholes" on the front fender and the chrome strip-plus-turning-signal-light atop it.  The "cascading" curves at the aft of the rear fender are interesting, but fussier than Oldsmobile's fender design.

1951 Frazer Manhattan Convertible Sedan Walkaround

America's most sucessful new, post- World War 2 brands were Kaiser and Frazer, products of Kaiser-Frazer Corporation.  However, their early success faded along with the postwar seller's market that was ending around 1949.  The Frazer brands's final model year was 1951, where 1950 bodies were dramatically facelifted.

I posted "1950-51 Frazer Manhattan 4-Door 'Hardtop' Facelift" here.

Total 1951 Frazer production was 10,214.  Of that, 152 cars were "hardtop" models discussed in the post just cited.  Another 131 cars were four-door convertibles, or "convertoble sedans" as the type was ofted called in the 1930s.  Frazer simply used "Convertible" as the designation.

About 130 of these cars were made.  Photos below are via Mecum Auctions.

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The facelift included a new, rather odd, heavily chromed design.  Similar framing was used on the corporation's new Henry J brand.

Ponderous, but not as ponderous-looking as 1950 Frazers with slab-sides and mostly horizontal fender lines.

The fenderline now flows.  Facelifted elements are forward and aft of the doors.

Here is the "hardtop" version.

Rear styling was simple in those days.

Windows roll down, but the B-pillar and frames are fixed in place.

The two windshield panes are flat glass, a legacy of the original 1947 design.

Overhead view.  The design looks nice from here.

A Tale of Two Fiat 1400 Cabriolets by Vignale

Fiat's first postwar model, the upscale (for Fiat) 1400 model was introduced in 1950 and became the subject of many carrozzeria-designed bodies over its production run ending in 1958.

Today's post features two early such cars built by Carrozzeria Vignale (Wikipedia entry here).  Their designs are not particularly good.  I'm posting about them because, although the 1947-1959 Italian design era is considered an aesthetic highpoint, it's worthwhile seeing some examples of inferior designs from those days.

Fiat 1400s received unit bodies, as opposed to the then-common body-on-frame construction.   Unit bodies are more difficult to customize due to the need to alter or eliminate body structure components.

That said, it seems that Fiat built cabriolet (convertible) versions of the 1400.  Unfortunately for our purposes here, I can only assume (not prove) that the firm created a special quasi-unit structure for such cars.  That allowed coachbuilders to create designs for cabriolets and related pillarless "hardtop"bodies and coupés.

The designs presented below are similar, major differences being front ends, side trim and two-tone paint schemes.  I have no information regarding who designed the 1950 car.  The 1951 version is credited to the astonishingly productive Giovanni Michelloti.  It's not one of his better efforts.

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1950 Fiat 1400 Cabriolet by Vignale - car-for-sale photos
The side trim / two-tone paint scheme is the same as that found on some Fiat 1400 sedans of 1957.  It's possible that the '57 scheme was based on this 1950 car.  But it's more likely that this scheme was applied to the this car in 1957 or thereabouts to freshen it up.

1950 Hudson Commodore Eight - car-for-sale photo
Note the similarity of the Fiat's grille to that of this 1950 Hudson.

1951 Fiat 1400 Cabriolet by Vignale, Giovanni Michelotti designer - photos via Rapley Classic Cars
No Hudson grille here ... but it also looks somewhat familiar.

1951 LeSabre concept car mockup - photo via General Motors
What looks like a jet engine intake is actually a unit that rotates to reveal two closely-spaced headlights.  The functional grille is below it.  The LeSabre was later modified in the form of air intakes in the blank areas flanking the main grille.

1950 ca. Fiat 1400 Cabriolet - factory photo
Here is a factory-built cabriolet.

The Vignale version shares the door and the passenger compartment.  The area forward of the door seems slightly longer, and rear overhang has definitely increased.

 

Michelotti's version's aft fender profile is subtly altered.  The two-tone scheme with its more shapely upper profile and added zone on the rocker panel makes the car seem less slab-sided.

Rear quarter view.

As mentioned, rear fender profiles are slightly adjusted (they lean forwards a little).  Trunk lids are the same.

The 1949 American Luxury Car Scene: Which to Buy?

The post- World War 2 "seller's market" was ending, and American carmakers were launching new designs at the end of the 1940s.

Just for fun, let's pretend it's 1949 and that we're shopping for a 4-door sedan in the luxury market sector.  Also, that our main selection criterion is styling.  Pictured below are examples of the cars competing for our money.

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1949 Cadillac 62 - car-for-sale photos
Cadillacs got redesigned bodies for the 1948 model year.  The main styling change for '49 was a new, bolder grille design.  Cadillac shared its basic body with Buick Supers and Roadmasters as well as Oldsmobile 98s.  Under the hood was a totally new V-8 motor.

1949 Chrysler New Yorker - factory photo
Redesigned Chryslers didn't appear in showrooms until partway into the 1949 model year.  The basic body was shared by all four Chrysler divisions.  New Yorkers featured a longer hood and front end than lesser brands such as Dodge and Plymouth.

1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photos
The Cosmopolitans body was shared with no other Ford Motors Company cars -- not even a lower-priced Lincoln line (that used the same body as Mercurys).  The design here is rather massive, influenced to some degree by prewar concepts of "streamlining."

1948 Packard Custom Eight - car-for-sale photos
I don't have good images of 1949 Packard Custom Eights, but the 1948 version looked essentially the same.  Unlike the postwar designs pictured above, 1948-1950 Packards were heavily facelifted Packard Clippers whose styling first appeared in 1941.  Aside from convertibles, 1949 Packards have tended to be little appreciated for their looks.  The Custom Eight was the top of Packard's line -- other Packards being sub-luxury.

1949 Cadillac 62
Ah, the famous Cadillac tail fins in their original form!  From today's perspective, they don't seem like much.  But in 1949-1950 they were marketing magic -- one could even buy aftermarket fins to attach to your Chevrolet.

1949 Chrysler New Yorker - car-for-sale photo
Chrysler's design is often characterized as "boxy."  Practical, in a number of ways including passenger comfort, but not graceful or exciting.  Country Club parking lot valets would give New Yorkers a yawn while waiting for the next Cadillac to show up.

1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan
Not a bad design, but it had to wait until its 1951 facelift for it to reach its limited potential.

1948 Packard Custom Eight
What ruined the facelift of 1947 Clippers was the new fenderline.  It gave the car awkwardly massive sides that did not match well with the passenger compartment greenhouse.
Which car would I have bought, given its styling?  Cadillac, of course.  Not an exceptional design.  But competently done, as Harley Earl's designs usually were in those days.  The competing designs all had defects that tended to negate any positive styling features.

Citroën DS 19 Walkaround

The article "The Citroën DS 19: Why It's the Ultimate Classic Car" in the Wall Street Journal's 1 May 2015 issue, has the subhead "The Citroën DS is technically unsurpassed, completely inimitable, has a great back story and is the most beautiful car of all time, writes Dan Neil."  Dan Neil was the Journal's automobile columnist.

Me?  I remember when I first read about the DS 19, probably in Road&Track, my go-to car magazine in those days, I thought the design was weird.  Okay, I was young then.  Inexperienced.  But nowadays?   I still do not like the DS 19 design.

The Wikipedia entry on the DS is here.  In 2013 I posted "Flaminio Bertoni of Citroën: Not a Bertone," link here.  Bertoni was in charge of Citroën styling when the DS was designed.  His Wikipedia entry in English is here, while the more comprehanesive French version is here.

In that post I wrote:

"The DS is harder for me to pin down.   I can appreciate it intellectually, but was never fond of the styling.   The defects are related to what stylists call the "greenhouse," the windows-and-roof area.  To me, it always seemed too spindly, insubstantial -- that due to the thin door posts.   At a more general level, this wispy upper area contrasted too greatly with the rather thick, heavy lower body, thereby destroying unity of the whole.  The brake lights at the rear of the roof also struck me as being too contrived a solution to a fairly minor potential problem."

Putting brake lights high is a potential safety factor.  For many years here in the States car regulations require a supplemental brake light mounted high.  But are they actually brake lights as I thought when writing that earlier post?  An image below shows the lenses as amber color -- so more likely, they're turn-indicator lights.  Regardless of function, it's just that their design on the DS looks tacked-on, not integral, as you'll see below.

As for that wispy, insubstantial greenhouse mentioned in the quotation above, indeed the structure seems to be sketchy.  There's an image below dealing with that.

Gallery images of a 1958 Citroën DS 19 are via Bring a Trailer Auctions.

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The contrast between the greenhouse and lower body is evident here.  The latter is proportionally low, especially for the 1950s.  Side sculpting amounts to a crease: no chrome aside from the trim on the rocker panel, and that was absent from many early DS 19s.  The front fenders are high, probably due to headlight height regulations.  They quickly fade away on the front doors.

I don't have a source for this phantom view.  Note that the roof support pillars are topped by a metal ring.  The roof itself, according to a DS 19 brochure: "reinforced plastic roof confers strength and rigidity."  I do not know if DS 19s were rollover-tested before regular production was launched.  But I suspect that they would not meet current safety standards.

Bertoni's preliminary sketches indicate that he was interested in creating a somewhat airfoil-like profile.  Subject, of course, to engineering and packaging considerations.  I suppose the front fenders have a peak located above the front axle line, but it's a pretty subtle peak.  A little more curve would be nice.

Like the Citroën Traction-avants, the roofline and beltlines fall off towards the rear -- a French thing for many years.  Also perhaps an airfoil suggestion.

The lower rear end detailing is cluttered, unlike most of the rest of the car.

Note how the roof-mounted turn-indicator light seems tacked-on, not integral.  The conical housing is the main problem here.

The beltline blends into the rear fender profile.  That large C-pillar is necessary for the transition to the curved backlight window.  Though a six-window scheme also could have worked. 

Frontal design, unlike the rear, is simple.

The most commented-on item when DS 19s first appeared was the one-spoke steering wheel.