1949 Cadillac Fastback Walkaround

One of the high points in the history of General Motors' styling was the model years 1948-1949 set of up-market cars based on the firm's C-body.  And of those cars, the fastback models were the most attractive in my judgment.  Some of that attractiveness had to do with the curve of the roofline that extended downwards to rear bumper level.  GM's styling leader Harley Earl has been credited for having an excellent feeling for body shaping, which was almost certainly a factor for that roofline.

The car featured here is a 1949 Cadillac 61 Club Coupe in a set of Mecum Auction photos.  I would have preferred to show a 1948 model, but those below were a more comprehensive set than any I had for '48. The main styling difference between those two model years was the grille, so a 1948 front end is also pictured.  Mechanically, the '49 Cadillac is noteworthy because it had a new, in many ways better V-8 motor than the '48s.

Gallery

The car's lines flow, aside from at the very front, which has a static feeling.

I think the side view is best.  That the fenderline runs a little below the passenger compartment beltline helps make the design less ponderous than if the two lines coincided.  Also reducing visual bulk is the rear fender that adds interest to the car's side.  At the fender's aft end can be seen the original Cadillac tail fin design.  Those fins were a styling gamble, controversial at first.  But within months of the 1948 Cadillac's appearance on streets and roads, they became highly popular.

GM's fastback cars had less trunk space than their bustle back kin, and so sales rapidly declined after the latter appeared in 1948 on Cadillacs and senior Oldsmobiles and 1949 for the rest of GM's cars.

The three-segment backlight window was a carryover Cadillac brand identity that I wrote about here.

The design looks particularly sleek from this angle.  The tailfins seem rather small.  perhaps a more gentle blending to the rear fenderline might have been a minor, but useful, improvement.

I might be wrong, but those wire wheels do not seem to the stock 1949 Cadillac.  The dogleg profile of the aft side window adds lightness to the design.

Front quarter view: the camera lens distorts what one would see in person.

Front end.  The grille design in simpler than the 1948 version pictured below.  However, the horizontal bars are heavy, a circa-1950 American styling fad.

Here is Cadillac's 1948 frontal design.  The car is a 62 sedan, Bonham's auction photo.  In this case, the grille design seems weak and the auxiliary lights too bold.  Perhaps the 1949 design with more of an egg-crate texture (more crossbars) would have been best.