The examples I am aware of were cars introduced from the 1960 model year to the 1965 model year. Thereafter, sides fell away from the bottom of the window glass in various more rounded or thinner fender forms.
Unless noted, images are factory-sourced or are of cars listed for sale.
Gallery
1960 Ford Galaxie
Ford stylists created a catwalk that also served as the top of a canted tail fin -- or perhaps a character fold.
1960 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight
1959 Oldsmobiles featured something akin to tail fins. But all General Motors brands save Cadillac shed these for 1960, most having flat aft lower bodies. This Olds has perhaps the widest shoulders of the cars shown here. Mecum auction photo.
1960 Chevrolet Corvair
Even the new, compact Corvair received the treatment, though in more rounded form.
1961 Lincoln Continental
Elwood Engel's classic Lincoln Continental design has narrow catwalks. But their outer edges are slightly raised and topped by chrome strips. This is a clear instance of nesting the greenhouse. Mecum photo.
1961 Ford Thunderbird
Thunderbird shared the Lincoln's platform and body structure. So it too has catwalks defined by chrome strips. Via Mecum.
1961 Oldsmobile F-85
One of GM's new "compact" cars. It too has a catwalk above some body sculpting.
1963 Mercury Monterey
Another example of a Ford Motor Company catwalk design.
1965 Rambler Marlin
The catwalk is narrow, but a Lincoln-like chrome strip can be seen. That, too was a 1960s American styling fad.
1965 Ford Thunderbird
No chrome strip here, but the catwalk feature is retained.
1965 Chrysler New Yorker
Engel moved from Ford to Chrysler Corporation whose cars now began to receive 1961 Lincoln features such as catwalk shoulders and chrome strips.
Ford stylists created a catwalk that also served as the top of a canted tail fin -- or perhaps a character fold.
1959 Oldsmobiles featured something akin to tail fins. But all General Motors brands save Cadillac shed these for 1960, most having flat aft lower bodies. This Olds has perhaps the widest shoulders of the cars shown here. Mecum auction photo.
Even the new, compact Corvair received the treatment, though in more rounded form.
Elwood Engel's classic Lincoln Continental design has narrow catwalks. But their outer edges are slightly raised and topped by chrome strips. This is a clear instance of nesting the greenhouse. Mecum photo.
Thunderbird shared the Lincoln's platform and body structure. So it too has catwalks defined by chrome strips. Via Mecum.
One of GM's new "compact" cars. It too has a catwalk above some body sculpting.
Another example of a Ford Motor Company catwalk design.
The catwalk is narrow, but a Lincoln-like chrome strip can be seen. That, too was a 1960s American styling fad.
No chrome strip here, but the catwalk feature is retained.
Engel moved from Ford to Chrysler Corporation whose cars now began to receive 1961 Lincoln features such as catwalk shoulders and chrome strips.
OK, but the 1961 Thunderbirds did not share the Lincoln's platform and body structure as is often claimed. Similar engineering and no doubt some shared parts, and made in the same new (now demolished) unit body factory since 1958, but not the same. The windshields and cowls are different - the Thunderbird is lower and narrower. The Lincoln has parallel wipers (for some reason going in the wrong direction) and the Thunderbird has symmetrical "clap hands" non-overlapping ones (also inexplicable).
ReplyDeleteWhen I had a 40+ year old 1962 Lincoln more than one guy came up to me and said they used to wash their father's or grandfather's one and remembered the water lingering in the gutter shaped dip between the window base and the chromey strip at the top of the body. One of the styling elements that makes them work so well is the contrast between the wide vertical flattish sided body with trim only around the perimeter, and the leaning in curved glass greenhouse. I think they had the most tumblehome of any sedan up to that time.
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