Sir Roy Fedden's Park Ward "Streamlined" Bentley

This image above was scanned from my 1974 copy of "Bentley: Fifty Years of the Marque" by Johnnie Green, page 169, Amazon link here.

Its caption reads in part: "Sir Roy Fedden's specially built Park Ward streamlined saloon on chassis number B189AE, registration number AXM 19, from which valuable information was compiled on reduction of air resistance and decreased petrol consumption with increased speed..."

Roy Fedden (Wikipedia entry here) was the Bristol Aeroplane Company's engineer in charge of aero motors.

Bentley was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1931.  Rolls acquired a stake in the Park Ward coachbuilding firm in 1933, eventually assuming total control in 1939.

Also during the 1930s a design fashion in England was the "Airline" style that I wrote about here and elsewhere.  Those designs usually retained non-streamlined normal production front ends that were coupled with rounded-off aft ends.  Those front ends considerably reduced any aerodynamic benefits the rear ends might have created.

Fedden's car Bentley 3 1/2 Litre is interesting due its design details and because it is a four-door Airline type, most Airlines being coupés or 2-door saloons.  It's also a comparatively early Airline design, the fashion seems to have peaked around 1936.   The car still exists, residing in Volkswagen's Autostadt museum.  The museum dates the car to 1935, but its chassis number mentioned above is from 1933-1934.  So presumably it took Park Ward half a year or so to create the body, completing it in 1935.

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This image via Deutsche Welle shows the size of the headlights.  They surely would have created a good amount of air turbulence, largely negating any front end aerodynamic features.

Another image via Deutsche Welle.  Note the gap between the front cycle fender and the forward door, and that it isn't filled with a running board.  Most cars of that era had S-shaped, ogive-shaped front fenders that blended onto running boards.  That said, running boards are only needed below doors, so the solution seen here worked just fine.  Presumably cycle fenders were used because conventional S-shaped fenders could trap flowing air in the zone abaft of the tires.

Martin Hesp photo taken at the museum.  Besides the rounded aft profile, the only other aerodynamic feature seen here is the slightly raked windshield.  I wonder why rear-wheel openings weren't covered by spats, a feature known at the time.  They might have improved airflow a little, but creating inconvenience when wheels needed to be removed.

A Wikimedia image.  Note the cutlines on the aft part of the body.  Presumably they are for access to an integral trunk and/or a spare tire.  Most saloon trunks in those days were either externally mounted or discrete shapes blended into the basic body form.  The small backlight window is placed so high that it probably was nearly useless for driver's rear visibility (note the frontal view above and compare the backlight opening to the driver's head).

1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan

The top-of-the-line 1949-1951 Lincoln was the Cosmopolitan.  I wrote about the 1949 version here.

The 1951 Cosmopolitan is of interest because, unlike typical model year facelifts, I think it was better-looking than the original design.  The changes were simple.  Mostly a different grille and side trim.

I discuss this below in the Gallery.
Gallery

1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan - Mecum Auctions photo
Not a great photo, but the best I could come up with in May 2025.  The paint is too shiny, and those wire wheels are not stock 1949, as best I can tell.  Major items that were changed are the grille and the side chrome.  The grille seen here was criticized as having a "sad" look, due to its upper frame falling away from the center to the sides.  It was replaced in 1950 by a design with horizontal bars.  And that grille was redesigned again for 1951.  The side chrome trim above the front wheel opening was an odd touch that makes little sense to me.  It's simply an accent that does not contribute to an overall design theme.  But it was retained for the 1950 model year.

1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photos
First, some views of a Cosmopolitan in a natural setting. This is what the redesigned grille looks like.

The chrome strip along the body's lower edge was added in 1950.  The bold, 1951 strip makes design sense as it (1) helps tie front and rear, and (2) also helps reduce potential slab-sidedness, a problem on several 1950-vintage American designs.

Rear quarter view.  Compare to the 1949 Cosmo in the following image.

Same 1949 Cosmopolitan seen above.  Aside from a different bumper than for 1951, the main difference is the round taillights.

1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photos
Now for a set of "studio" photos for a partial walkaround.

The basic shape was designed while Bob Gregorie was still in charge of Ford Motor Company styling.  For most of his career there he was forced to deal with short wheelbases.  Finally, following the war, he was given longer ones -- in the case of the Cosmopolitan, 125 inches (3175 mm).

By 1951, car glass technology allowed large, curved backlight windows.  The 1951 Cosmo retained the 1949 three-segment backlight, perhaps because of the curves at each side were too strong for shaping a one-piece version.

The central trunk lid crease adds interest.  And the rounded ends of the taillight assemblies echo the rounded body forms: better than the circular tail lights of 1949-50.

A large car, but surprisingly graceful.

That vertical element atop the front of the side chrome isn't really necessary.

Studebaker Front Ends 1931-1939

This post deals with front-end design treatments for Studebaker during most of the 1930s.

The New York stock market crash of late October 1929 took a few months before its effect on the economy took hold.  Then matters got worse in America, hitting bottom in 1932-1933.  Studebaker production through most of the 1920s was in the low 100,000 range.  For 1932 and 1933, respective production numbers were 42.3  and 26.5 thousand, including Studebaker's Rockne subsidiary.  Production was higher during the rest of the decade.

Even though the firm entered receivership in 1933 and didn't return to normal until 1935, car development continued.  Redesigned bodies appeared for 1934 -- work on it probably had been going on since 1932 or thereabouts, even though the company was in financial trouble.  The previous redesign was for 1932.  There was another redesign for model year 1936.  A subsequent one was for 1938.

Let's take a look at those front ends.

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1931 Studebaker Commander - Mecum Auctions photo
Final year for the previous body design.  The grille is typical of the era, and pleasantly styled.  But not distinctive.

1932 Studebaker Commander - car-for-sale photo
Those peaked-oval headlights appeared in 1931on Studebaker Presidents -- the firm's prestige line.  Extremely distinctive.  The grille design seen here with its pointed lower framing and hint of "shovel-nose" shaping was continued through 1935.  Interesting detail: the rounded-pointed zones of the headlights and grilles are reversed: atop the headlights, down low for the grille frame.

1933 Studebaker Six - car-for-sale photo
The grille is definitely shovel-nosed here.  Also slightly V's in plan view.

1934 Studebaker Land Cruiser - Donald Pittenger photo
For 1934 the grille was made more V'd in plan view while the shovel part of the grille was covered over.  Maybe because the shovel-nose fashion was ending.  Or perhaps because shovel nose grille bar shaping was more expensive than use of straight grille bars.  Low 1933 sales might have dictated cost-saving here on the new '34 bodies.

1935 Studebaker President - via ConceptCarz
America styling was becoming more "streamlined" (in spirit, if not really aerodynamically) by the mid-1930s.  So the facelift of the 1934 body saw this rounded front with its new hood and grille projecting forward from earlier grille locations.  No more shovel scoop shaping, but the grille frame continues to come to a point at its bottom.  Flanking the grille opening are zones with "whisker" treatments that serve to make the grill seem wider than it is.  They also provide transition the hood-side air venting.

1936 Studebaker Dictator - car-for-sale photo
A redesigned body, but 1935 hood-grille theme is largely retained.

1937 Studebaker Dictator - car-for-sale photo
Now there's a definite "prow" effect here.  The grille has been moved forward again and made more V'd in plan view.  Yet the frame profile is the same aside from the upper band that transition to the hood sides. 

1938 Studebaker President - unknown origianal photo source
The first Studebaker by Raymond Loewy's firm.  This included a completely new grille design.  Unusual headlight assemblies are mounted on the fenders.

1939 Studebaker Commander - Bonhams Auctions photo
This facelift moves frontal design to the new horizontal grille orientation that rapidly became standard on American cars.  Shovel-nose grilles are now ancient history.

Lady Cholmondeley's 1939 Bugatti Type 57 Berline

Pictured above is the Marchioness Cholmondeley in her Bugatti Type 57 saloon built by the French carrosserie Figoni & Falaschi and delivered early in 1939.

Bugatti's Type 57 , produced 1934-1940, was the original Bugatti firm's last true production model.

The factory built production bodies for "Galibier" 4-door sedans, but buyers could purchase a chassis for a cochbuilding firm to body.  One of the most interesting of the latter is today's subject, a 1939 Bugatti Type 57 delivered to Lady Sybil, wife of George Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley (Wikipedia entry here).  A Bugatti Review post titled "The Cholmondeley Bugattis" is here

By the way, Cholmondeley is pronounced CHUM-ly.

I have no source information for the images below.

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The final two Cholmondeley Bugattis.  Lady Sybil's car is at the left (chassis 57739).   At the right is George's 1938 Type 57 Atalante coupé (chassis 57698).

Front quarter view.  As was usual for custom-bodied cars, the front of the car from the cowling forward was factory-made.  That said, the bumper is not stock, whereas the windshield apparently is.

The after part of the body is via Figoni & Falaschi.  Even the doors are hinged differently from production Galibiers.

Side view photographed post- World War 2.  A sensuous, very French, aerodynamically-inspired design.

A photo of similar vintage.  This proves that the car survived the war.  Does it still exist?  Assuming it wasn't destroyed by accident, it might still be found.  Perhaps it has resided in a private collection.  My internet search turned up no indication of it being auctioned or otherwise publicly advertised for sale.  Nor did I notice any photos of it taken in automobile museums.

1949 Ford Models

The 1949 Ford (Wikipedia entry here) is the design I often use to mark the end of the 1930 (or so) to late-1940s American car styling evolution.  That's when previously separate elements such as fenders, headlights and such became merged into a unitary body. 

For some reason, I haven't bothered to post in detail about the '49 Ford.  But now is the time.  Commentary is in the photo captions below.

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1959 Ford Custom Tudor- factory photo
A very nice design.  Not truly great or memorable, but significant.  The least-advanced feature is the two-panel, flat glass pane windshield.  The backlight window (see the second image below) used curved glass, but glass-forming technology was only reaching the point of limited production.  Ford Motor Company's 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitans did have one-piece curved windshields.  General Motors' 1949 models had curved glass windshields, but these were two-segment affairs.

Model of proposed 1949 Ford by George Walker's styling tream
This might have become the 1949 Ford design.  It nearly was, but for some happy reason the tail light assembly was repositioned, changing the rear aspect of the car to something more interesting to look at.

1949 Ford Custom Tudor Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
By placing the oval assemblies horizontally rather than vertically, some sculpting on the rear fenders was added to blend the assemblies onto the otherwise slabbed sides.  This reduced what would have been excessive blandness.

1949 Ford Custom DeLuxe Fordor - car-for-sale photos
Another unconventional touch that appeared late in the styling process was the central "spinner" on the grille.  Prior studies had fashionably bold chrome elements set horizontally.  Nothing aesthetically wrong, maybe even aesthetically better than the grille design seen here -- but what was lacking was visual "punch."  That spinner provided a focus for the front end while echoing the round headlight frames.

Seen from the side, we have compositionally balanced elements on a moderate-length wheelbase of 114 inches (2896 mm).  That is, the passenger compartment greenhouse is not excessively tall, short, or long.  The hood has visual length due to its contrast with the trunk's length.

This car has spats over its rear wheel openings.  Fashionable in those days, but they don't improve the design.

1949 Ford Custom Tudor - car-for-sale photo
Now for some side views of other 1949 Ford models.  The two-door "Tudor" sedan was the best-selling '49 Ford.  One reason might have been that they were slightly less-expensive that the four-door "Fordor" version.  Also, parents of young children thought the absence of rear side doors was a safety factor -- my parents did.  Note that the door is wider than the front door on the Fordor, this allowing easier access to the back seat.

1949 Ford Custom Club Coupe - car-for-sale photo
Club coupes and business coupes had shorter greenhouses.  The door is the same as that on the Tudor.

1949 Ford Custom Convertible - car-for-sale photo
Being a "convertible coupe," the Convertible shared the elements discussed in the previous caption.

1949 Ford Custom Station Wagon - Mecum Auctions photo
Ford station wagons remained "woody" until the 1952 redesign.  All 1949-51 Ford wagons were two-door designs.

Three-Segment "Aerodynamic" Hupmobile Windshields

This post is an attempt to partly correct an error in previous posts.  In "Return of the Three-Piece Windshield" (here), and "Raymond Loewy's Hupmobiles" (here) I stated that the three-piece Hupmobile windshield only appeared for model year 1934.

Actually, it was found on 1935 and even 1936 models as well.  But not on all 1934-36 Hupps.  I was confused earlier by Internet images of cars and advertising.  Part of that confusion was due to the multiplicity of Hupp models in those years.  For example, 1934 Hupmobiles came in five wheelbases, only two of which had "Aerodynamic" bodies (the 421 J 6-cylinder car and the 427 T eight-cylinder car).  Other Hupps had conventional early-1930s styling.  Model year 1935 Hupps came in four wheelbases, simplified to two for 1936.

The word "Aerodynamic," by the way, was used by Hupp to designate Loewy-designed bodies featuring "panoramic" three-segment windshields and headlights blended onto the car's body.  Some models combined those blended headlights with one-piece windshields, creating further confusion.

That said, I recently came across a nice photo of a 1934 Aerodynamic, plus two images in my copy of Volume 16, Number 1 of Automobile Quarterly that I scanned.  These are presented below for viewing pleasure.

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1934 Hupmobile Aerodynamic - model and images source are unknown
The long hood and the space between the front door cutline and front fender strongly suggest that this is a Model 427 T.

1934 Hupmobile 421 J Aerodynamic - photos via Automoble Quarterly
Like most 1934-vintage cars labeled "aerodynamic" or "Airline" (in England), front ends had little or no actual streamlining.  The blended headlights seen here are aerodynamically cleaner than the common free-standing headlights of those days.  The three-piece windshield also might have helped a tiny bit.  Rear-end  curved profiling also was a minor improvement.  So these Hupmobiles were aerodynamic largely in name only.

The two-piece backlight window has a curious, downcast profile.  On the positive side, unlike many backlights on "streamlined" 1930s cars, the window is large and placed low enough for decent rear viewing by the driver.

1936-1937 Studebaker Coupe and Its Unusual Backlight Window

I'm old enough that I remember seeing some 1936-1937 Studebaker coupes that sported an unusual backlight window design.  That was in the late 1940s when plenty of late-1930s cars were still on the road.  Of course, I was too young to really know much about automobile styling.  But I knew that those Studebaker backlights looked a lot different from what I was used to seeing.

As best I know, no other American carmaker used that design, or something similar.  One reason might have been that it was too strongly associated with Studebaker.  A more practical reason is that the wedge-shaped profile comparatively limited exterior visibility.  Competing car salesmen could have used that as a demerit.

That said, it was an interesting feature, as can be seen below.

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1937 Studebaker Dictator Three-Window Coupe - car-for sale photos
Studebaker advertised its 1936-37 coupes as being either three-passenger or five-passenger.  A business coupe necessarily was 3-passenger, being squeezed together on the only car seat.  A five-passenger model had a rumble seat to accommodate those two others.

Three-passenger or five-passenger, all Studebaker coupes had the same exterior shape.  The design is an attractive one at a time when many designs were awkward.

There's that backlight window.  The trunk is large -- useful on the business coupe variant.

1937 Studebaker President Coupe - Hyman, Ltd photos
A very 1930s American front end.

The lid is for a rumble seat on this car -- note the step above the right taillight.  Typically, '36-37 Studebaker coupes had trunk lids instead.

1936 Studebaker Dictator Coupe - car-for sale photo
This image of a '36 coupe shows the backlight when hinged open -- an unusual feature.  The windshield opened in a similar manner.