This was not a major styling thing -- just an example of changing details to make a design seem "fresh" compared to previous designs.
Until around the mid-1950s, aft ends of cars were taller than rear fenders. Then trunk lids were at fender-level or lower on some designs. The tail fin era of the later '50s necessarily had them nested. When the reaction to tail fins began setting in, some cars' aft ends became pretty flat.
Based on the images below, it seems that Mitchell decided that a nice styling theme would be flat-topped trunk lids slightly nested by narrow rear fenders. Let's take a look.
Unless noted, cars pictured below were listed for sale on the Internet.
A Pontiac shorn of its 1959 model year fins.
Next year we see Mitchell's nested trunk lid concept in action.
Tail lights creep onto the fender aft ends.
Now they are narrow, like the restyled fender tops. This is Mitchell's concept in pure form.
Now Oldsmobile. The aft of this post-fin facelift is quite flat.
A new rear end theme. Still nearly flat.
This facelift has new aft end fender shaping.
But serious nesting isn't in play until '63. Oddly, the fender tops are mini tail fins.
Buick aft ends were flat for 1961.
Restyled, and still pretty flat. But some relief in the form of a central sculpted element echoing the nearby fender tops.
Finally, strong nesting between sharp fenders, Not as attractive as for 1962, I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment