"General Motors was rich during the 1950s because it dominated the American automobile market. So when it made a marketing mistake it was able to throw money at the problem to correct it.
"A case in point was the body type used by 1958 Chevrolets and Pontiacs. This was during the last years of Harley Earl's reign as GM's styling supremo. Normally adept at leading styling trends, by the mid-1950s Earl began losing his touch, running out of new ideas. In part this was because the design evolution of the 1930s and 1940s had run its course, so it wasn't clear to those who had lived through that era what might be done next. In Earl's case, he reverted to the rounded (large radius curves) kind of shapes that he usually preferred. Unfortunately for him and GM, Chrysler Corporation's new slim 1957 line proved hugely popular while making GM car seem bloated and stodgy. So GM launched a crash program to redesign all its cars in a somewhat Chrysler-like manner for the 1959 model year."
I wrote about General Motors' 1959 redesigned line here, here and here.
And I discussed exterior trim variations on 1958 Chevrolets here.
The present post presents 1958 Chevrolets and Pontiacs in the context of their previous 1955 redesign and, briefly, their 1959 replacement. I focus on entry-level two-door sedan models because their basic shapes were less cluttered by ornamentation than upscale lines. Unless noted, images are of for-sale cars.
This car is about as basic as possible, but disregard the non-stock bent-up front bumper. No chrome side trim. No chrome covering the windshield and backlight window rubber strips.
In those days, major brand identification features were on the front and rear. Though side trim also was used for that purpose, as can be seen here. Since Pontiac was one step above Chevrolet in GM's brand hierarchy, this introductory two-door sedan has chrome trim around the windows. The fenderline dip by the rear side window is retained, but wheel openings differ and a small hump to the fender's rear was added.
Here is an entry-level '58 Chevy. Most had some chrome side trim, as can be seen in a photo farther down.
I couldn't find a decent side view of a '58 Chieftain two-door sedan, so this two-door hardtop coupe image will have to do. The main difference is that the 2-door sedan's C-pillar lacks the horizontal-band chrome element seen here: instead it has paint there.
As was described here, General Motors produced the following body types that were shared by most brands: two-door sedan, four-door sedan, two-door hardtop, four-door hardtop, two-door convertible, and station wagon. One exception was Cadillac, which did not use sedan or station wagon bodies. However, all GM bodies featured the double-wrapped (horizontally and vertically) windshields.
This two-door entry-level Pontiac shares the passenger compartment greenhouse with the Chevrolet above, as well as wheel opening profiles. Other sheet metal sculpting is Pontiac-only.
Front quarter view of a '55 Chevy Utility Sedan. These basic bodies were used by Chevy and Pontiac through the 1957 model year. Very simple body stampings. Bear in mind that stamping technology in those days was primitive compared to what we have today.
Rear quarter view. Again, note the simplicity of the basic '55 GM A-Body compared to the 1958 cars below..
Most '58 Delrays had side chrome trim such as is seen here.
Also, there was considerably more metal sculpting than found in 1955.
The wheels and tires are not stock. This photo shows the C-pillar paint scheme discussed above.
The basic body is the same as the '58 Chevy's, but GM could afford tooling for different sculpting.
The 1958 Delray above has dog dish hub caps plus aftermarket trim rings. Otherwise correct with far more brite metal trim than would have been seen on an entry level model previously. It seemed pretty obvious that GM knew that their whole new 1958 line was passe and bedecked all of them to record levels not seen before or after.The top of the line versions of all GM brands were slathered with insane amounts of trim and every kind of ornamentation imaginable. Delray interiors were another story.
ReplyDeleteThe red orange Delray pictured has had its trim removed. It would have originally had the trim of the one below. Also the black wheels are wrong. They would have been body color, but then the body color isn't original either.
ReplyDeleteemjayjay -- Thanks for the catch regarding the Delray. I should have checked my references rather than relying on the Mecum site. Even auction sites are not totally reliable, especially for cars of less value. Wheels, tires, etcetera are often replacements or are for daily driving to preserve OEM items, so sometimes I need to tolerate that. Also, I really hate pix of cars with lots of original-era accessories, as those clutter up the original designs. My biggest no-no class is those metal sun shades that were all too common in the late 1940s and early '50s.
ReplyDeleteFinally, somewhere in storage, I likely have a 1958 Chevy catalog that would have set me straight on the Delray, but it's too much bother to get to. And even catalogs can have details of production cars wrong due to illustration and print production lead-times. Sigh.
I check the brochures at oldcarbrochures. And my memory. When I was a kid my Cheapskate 1950's Dad (got that from Curbside Classic) always bought some base model car he imagined was a bargain, including a turquoise 1958 Yeoman (=Delray) wagon so I know every detail of those!
ReplyDeleteThe worst trend today is the many restored high priced 1950's cars for sale sporting Kelsey Hayes style chrome wire wheels. Makes me wonder how superficial the restoration actually was.