I selected 1955 because most American brands were either redesigned or highly facelifted that model year. Also, it represented the strongest sales volume year to date. Beginning in the late 1950s, carmakers began producing more than one body platform for most of their brands, so dashboard comparisons would lead to long, complicated posts if all platforms were dealt with in single post.
Images below are from unknown sources or cars listed for sale unless noted. Brands are grouped by manufacturer and in ascending luxury order where possible.
Chevys featured matching pizza slice items, the one on the left containing the speedometer and gauges.
Pontiac's speedometer was a half-circle affair, but without attached gauges. Again, a fairly simple dashboard design.
Olds' dash was a lot flashier and busier.
But Buick's line-topping Roadmaster dashboard was fairly plain. The hard-to-accurately-read speedometer had a narrow red line rather than a dial (the line was actually on a drum that rotated to expose the almost-correct length).
Cadillac's dashboard retains the sort of horizontal theme common in 1941. Unlike Buick, the thin, horizontal speedometer uses a needle pointer. The overall effect is dignified, as one would expect for a luxury car.
Not all gauges are in the driver's line of sight. The large knobs and dials provide a "spotty," not well integrated aspect.
Another pizza-slice design along with some clashing rectangular elements.
Lincoln was redesigned for 1956, so that dashboard is displayed here rather than the 1955 version. Like Cadillac, it recalls earlier dashboard themes.
A symmetrical layout. I'm not sure what the small, round items on the right are ... not important gauges, I hope. The 1955 Chrysler Corporation line featured dash-mounted automatic transmission selectors. It's that short spike just to the right of the speedometer. Its spear-like aspect raised safety concerns, so for 1956 the Corporation's line went to pushbutton selectors.
The spread-out instrument display is segregated from the glove compartment by some sculpting -- an interesting touch for 1955.
DeSoto's dashboard also had sculpting to isolate and emphasize functional zones. An attractive design, I think. But I'm biased because my dad bought a 1956 DeSoto with essentially the same dashboard.
Instruments are in front of the driver, switches are above the radio controls.
A thin dashboard where the instruments are on what looks to be a tacked-on chromed panel.
Symmetrical, dark, sculpted framing. Instrument placement is okay, but the right-hand part of the dashboard is spotty, inconsistent. Not the best look for a luxury car.
Another early 1940s theme carryover. The instruments are not well-positioned for driver's visibility.
Real Hudsons disappeared after 1954; for 1955-57 they were based on Nash bodies. For 1955, the instrument cluster is a direct carryover from 1954.
Kaiser abandoned the American market after the 1954 model year, but I thought I might as well present its final dashboard. Considerable padding. The instrument cluster wraps over part of the steering wheel mounting cover.
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The gauges on the right side of the Plymouth dash are for oil pressure and engine temperature. For 1956 they moved the heater controls (one twister for air direction using vacuum powered doors which the others didn't have yet plus I guess fan speeds, and one for temperature) from low outside the binnacle area on the far left to those holes and went with warning lights for oil and temp. Chrysler was big on twister knobs instead of pull out or other kinds of controls all through at least the 50's. (I had a 1956 Plymouth convertible a few decades later.)
The Ford dash is notable for the one-year appearance of a green tinted skylight on the speedometer and a round radio dial to match the other round things, also seen on the Thunderbird. Designers then were more concerned with looks than with ergonomics.
The Kaiser and Lincoln both have back and forth slider controls, as did various other 50's Lincolns and Mercurys. I think those seemed modern and cool to guys (including the designers) who had seen if not used similar controls on planes in WWII and Korea, or seen in war films.
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