General Motors 1968 A-Body Hardtop Coupés

The 1960s decade was a good one, so far as General Motors styling is concerned.  Bill Mitchell, who took over design leadership from the legendary Harley Earl in 1958, was able to control designs for all those model years starting 1961 when he was at the peak of his abilities.  (By the mid-1970s Mitchell, like Earl in the mid-1950s, began to lose his touch.)

General Motors' redesigned model year 1968 A-body 2-door line was based on a reasonable (for America) 112-inch (2845 mm) wheelbase carried over from its initial 1961 "compact car" line.  Styling was pleasant, professionally done.  In those days, GM was prosperous and could afford to pay tooling costs for numerous brand-specific and even model-specific details.

The Gallery below presents comparative images of one hardtop coupé model from each of the brands using A-bodies for '68.  They are ordered in ascending price-prestige brand rank: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick.

Gallery

1968 Chevrolet Malibu (Chevelle) - car-for-sale photos
A particularly fancy Chevrolet version.  Of course, each brand's design had its own front end features.  That stripe flowing in front of the hood opening, then along the front fender leading edge, finally above the rocker panel, is interesting.  Might even be unique.

1968 Pontiac Tempest Custom - car-for-sale photos
Pontiacs had to have two-section grilles that, for 1968, were framed by bumper elements.  The more upscale GTO version had cladding over the chromed area shown here.

1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass - car-for-sale photos
Again, different hood, front fender leading edge and "facial" tooling used here.

1968 Buick Skylark Custom - car-for-sale photos
Like the Olds, front bumper protection is sketchy.

Side views are more interesting because brand identification is minimal or absent.  What matters for today's post are the shapes of window framing and the tooling expenses General Motors made to create not-absolutely-necessary-brand-variation when viewed from this perspective.  Here we see a strong aft convergence to a fairly sharply rounded point.

Window profile abaft of the B-pillar is squared off.  Pontiac A-body coupes had minimal side ornamentation and subtle side sculpting.

Rear side window framing is similar to the Chevy's, but more rounded.  Clean sides and no obvious rear fender treatment -- like Pontiac.

The side window converges to a sharp point.  The side sculpting echoes Buick's SweepSpear chrome trim that first appeared on some 1949 models.

All four cars had short rear fender area tops that nested the trunk lids.

They were blended into tiny sail panels framing backlight windows.

Here the sail panels transition to crisp framing atop the backlight.

The Buick's rear is more unique than the others.  The basic theme is a wedge shape.