Lincoln-Zephyr's 1938 Facelift

A styling rule-of-thumb is that facelift designs are usually inferior to original designs (that are held to be more "pure").  But there are exceptions, and I occasionally post about them.  Today's post deals with the 1938 Lincoln-Zephyr facelift that launched a new American styling fashion as well as improving the Zephyr's appearance.

Ford Motor Company styling was led by E.T. "Bob" Gregorie (brief biography here) who worked closely with Edsel Ford, who Henry Ford allowed a comparatively free hand with the Lincoln brand.

It seems that futuristic, aerodynamically influenced 1936 and 1937 Zephyrs suffered from overheating problems.  Gregory suggested that the radiator be repositioned from a vertical to a horizontal orientation, and some wind-tunnel testing indicated that this was the correct, simple solution to the problem.  The horizontal radiator required a horizontal grille for 1938, which Gregorie designed, along with related changes.  The result was a more attractive Lincoln-Zephyr.

All other American car brands featured vertical grilles, so the new Zephyr grille created a sensation of sorts that led to American cars having horizontal grilles by 1941 (aside from traditionalist Packard).

Images of the 1938 Zephyr are of a for-sale car.  Most 1936-37 Zephyr images are via BaT Auctions (for a 1936 car), the final photo is of a for-sale 1937 car.

Gallery

Frontal view of a 1936 Zephyr.  Its grille is fairly narrow on average, thus limiting the airflow to the radiator behind it.

The 1938 grille.  The radiator can be seen lurking behind the thin, horizontal grille bars.

The Zephyr design evolved from a prototype by John Tjaarda that I wrote about here.  Gregorie's main contribution was the front end that featured wedged, boat-prow shapes for the grille and headlights.  (Gregorie spent most of his career designing yachts, perhaps a factor in his initial Zephyr front end design.)

The 1938 hood remains tapered in plan-view, typical of the time.  The wider, horizontal grille required  smoothed-in catwalks next to the front fenders.  Headlight assemblies are tapered towards their bottoms, reflecting the hood's tapered shape -- a nice, subtle touch.  The general result is a smoother-looking, better-integrated design.

The major changes were forward of the cowling-A-pillar zone.  The hood is more rounded in profile.  Front fender were redesigned, being larger and conforming to the emerging "suitcase-fender" styling fashion launched by General Motors in the mid-1930s.

Rear quarter view of a 1937 Zephyr.

Almost no change at the rear.  The fenders are slightly higher and converge to tail light assemblies, harking to the converging shape to the trunk lid.  Interesting that whereas the frontal styling became more blended for 1938, the rear became slightly less so.