Cadillac Side Trim Theme: 1948-1959

I tend to write quite a bit about visual automobile brand continuity features or their lack.  Usually this has to do with the car's grille and other "facial" ensemble details.  While it's not universal, it's fairly common that the more upscale the brand, the more likely there will be continuity.  Long-term examples include grilles of Rolls-Royces and Packards.  For most of the past 80 years, Cadillac has had an "egg-crate" theme on its grilles.

During the 1950s Cadillac also maintained a side-trim theme, the subject of this post.  It wasn't as long-lasting as Buick's Sweepspear of the 1950s that returned in recent years, but it lasted a long time for a non-frontal theme.

Gallery

1948 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Most redesigned 1948 Cadillacs had rock guards on the lower leading edge of their rear fenders -- standard practice for many US brands.

1948 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special - Mecum auction photo
But the top of the line (not counting Series 75 limousines) Sixty-Specials were given a rock guard that wrapped most of the way around the reshaped fender's leading edge.  That part was essentially vertical, and verticality at that general location became the key to an ornamentation theme that lasted through the 1950s.

1950 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe de Ville - Mecum photo
Cadillacs were redesigned for the 1950 model year.  They were big, long cars which was why they were able to carry the vertical element where the rear fender begins.  The usual styling approach was and is to emphasize horizontality in order to make a car look longer and lower than if it were unadorned.  Another interesting detail in that vertical element is that it is a fake air intake -- something that became something of a styling fad two years later on hoods and sides of the redesigned 1952 Ford Motor Company line.  For some reason, the public and car buff press didn't make a big deal of Caddie's faux scoops at the time.

1950 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan - Mecum photo
This photo shows the blackened bits that provide the appearance of an air intake.

1954 Cadillac Sedan - factory photo
This feature was carried over to redesigned '54 Cadillacs, though the black painted bits are now simply chromed.

1955 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special Sedan - Barrett-Jackson photo
Facelifted 1955 Cadillacs lost the complete vertical strip.  Now it transitioned to the horizontal chrome strip that started at the grille, passed along the top of the front wheel opening and then continued aft.  This was used for 1956 models too.

1957 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - "for sale" photo
Cadillac's next redesign found the vertical element diminished further, though it remains where an actual air scoop for rear brake cooling might be needed.

1958 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - Barrett-Jackson photo
The next year verticality is in the form of a stack of horizontal chrome strips.

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special - factory photo
The air scoop theme returned for the last time in 1959, but only on Sixty-Specials.

1959 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan - Mecum photo
Here is what other Cadillac four-door hardtops looked like.

1960 Cadillac Eldorado - factory photo
Cadillacs for 1960 were all slab-sided like this Eldorado.