Below are images of a styling proposal I scanned from a page dealing with 1951-52 Pontiacs, along with two context images.
I find the proposal very interesting. As will be shown, its body is not the General Motors A-body used by Chevrolet and Pontiac over model years 1949-1952, but GM's B-body used by some Oldsmobile and Buick models. In addition, the proposal is a fastback type that GM phased out after 1952 -- those production fastbacks having A-bodies.
Finally, while it's almost certainly the case that the proposal is for two-door and four-door sedans, one of the photos makes the two-door seem like a hardtop (pillarless) fastback coupe.
Unless noted, photos below are factory-sourced.
The fastback A-body Pontiac. Note the side window's dogleg profile. The rear fender is distinct.
An example of GM's B-body. The rear fenderline blends into the front fenderline: no separate rear fender as seen on the A-body.
The upper photo shows the right side's four-door configuration, the lower image showing the left side of a two-door model. Note the B-body fenderline. The windshield is also B-body, though two-piece as were all '49-52 Pontiacs. The side window profiles retain the fastback dogleg. Side trim is similar to that of 1953 Pontiacs that might have had some B-body components. That detail makes me wonder if this proposal was for 1953, and not 1951 or '52. Or do these photos date from 1949 or so, and GM was considering basing 1951 Pontiacs and perhaps Chevrolets on B-bodies?
The rear fender sports a round Pontiac Indian-head medallion as found on 1951-54 Pontiacs. Yes, the two-door does have a B-pillar. But it's hard to see, making it easy to imagine that the design is of a "hardtop" fastback. What a concept!
I've always loved those GM fastbacks and wondered why they dropped them. Sales numbers must have shown a marked decline. I saw photos in "Collectible Automobile" magazine of a Ford concept for a fastback version of their new '49 models -- perhaps you've seen those as well. I thought it was very attractive and wondered why they didn't go ahead with it.
ReplyDeleteFastbacks, the coolest models of particularly GM prewar/postwar cars, were going out of style fast. The all-new 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan included a four-door fastback sedan body style (the Town Sedan), but only 7302 Town Sedans were ordered out of 73,507 total cars for the 1949 model year, and it did not return for 1950.
ReplyDeleteStylistically the narrowing to the rear fastback shape makes most of these look taller and narrower, the opposite of the trend. Decades later the Dodge Charger avoiding this by not tapering.
Besides just style, one reason for the demise of fastbacks was the poor rear visibility. I don't know why GM didn't shorten the trunk lids by half a foot and add it to the rear window, but they didn't. The 1953 proposal is particularly bad.