Peugeot's "Fuseau Sochaux" 402, 302, 202 and 402 Légère by Henri Thomas Compared

Readers of this blog are probably aware of corporate head designers such as Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell of General Motors, and Virgil Exner of Chrysler.  But you and I almost surely hadn't heard of Henri Thomas, who was in charge of Peugeot design 1932-1960.

Some background on Thomas and his work can be found in the article "Designers : Henri Thomas, le père des Peugeot Fuseaux" (here) and the article "Henri Thomas – von 1932 bis 1960 Designchef von Peugeot" (here).

The latter mentions Thomas' background before joining Peugeot:

"Bevor er zu Peugeot kam, gehörte Thomas zu einem kleinen Kreis von Designern, die für Binder, Million-Guiet, Kellner und einigen andere bekannte Carossieres Karosserien entwarfen, mit denen dann Fahrgestelle von Bugatti-, Delage-, Delahaye-, Rolls-Royce- und Hispano-Suiza eingekleidet wurden.  Ihm wird u.a. das Design der Karosserie des vierten Bugatti Royale (Chassis 41100) von 1929 zugeschrieben, der leider bei einem Unfall zerstört wurde, den Ettore Bugatti 1931 verursachte, als er zwischen Paris und Straßburg am Steuer einschlief."

Thomas' first complete designs for Peugeot were what the French called the "Fuseau Sochaux" (fuseau = "spindle" and Sochaux is where Peugeot was headquartered).  These were the streamlined 202, 302 and 402 models -- the latter being the first to enter production in 1935 for the 1936 model year.  Wikipedia links to the respective models are Peugeot 202, Peugeot 302 and Peugeot 402.

The latter (as of April 2025) notes:

"There were three different standard wheelbases of 2,880 mm (113 in) (short), 3,150 mm (124 in) (“normal”) and 3,300 mm (130 in) (long).  When the 402 was launched in 1935 there were just two chassis lengths, but for 1937 the manufacturer added a third “short” chassis, inherited from the short-lived Peugeot 302.  The short chassis was used from 1937 for the Peugeot 402 Légère ('light-bodied')."

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Henri Thomas (at left).

1938 Peugeot 402 conduite intérieure - Toyota Automobile Museum photo
The 402 was the basic Peugeot model 1936-1940.

1938 Peugeot 302 berline - car-for-sale photo
The 302 had a short production run 1936-1937.

1938 Peugeot 202 berline - Swiss Auction Company photo
202s first appeared for model year 1938, production continuing for a few years following World war 2.

1938 Peugeot 402 Légère berline - photo via classicargarage.fr
This model had the regular 402 chassis, but the body abaft of the firewall was that of the 202.  The frontal zone is regular 402.

Oldsmobile's Attractive Delta 88 Royale Hardtop Coupe: 1969-1973

Bill Mitchell (Wikipedia entry here) was in charge of design at General Motors 1958-1977.   That was from the tailfin era to when government regulations were resulting in smaller cars, but not yet having wind tunnel tested body shapes.

I consider 1963-1973 the peak years for good styling under Mitchell's command.  First in his term, tail fins and wraparound windshields had to be abandoned.  While towards the end, regulations began forcing reductions in designer creativity.  So '63-'73 was his sweet spot.

Todays' featured design was in production during the later years of that era, though its conception probably took place around 1965-66.  The car is an Oldsmobile 88 -- Oldsmobiles tended to have designs that were more pure, less cluttered, than those often seen on other GM brands.  And being a "hardtop" coupe, its shaping had the potential to be more graceful than that of a four-door sedan.

Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1968 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Holiday Coupe - car-for-sale photo
The previous equivalent Olds.  Voluptuous rear fender and passenger compartment beltline.  Sleek, almost fastback profile.  Chrome trim is reduced to the margins, leaving largely uncluttered sides.

1970 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Holiday Coupe
Voluptuousness is considerably dialed back.  The fenderline/beltline still flows, but much more subtly.  Wheel opening are no longer classically rounded, but are more rectangular and framed by flared sculpting.  That detail add some interest to the otherwise nearly-clean sides.  The vertical strips abaft of the front wheel opening designate that this is a "Royale" and not an ordinary Delta 88.

1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale - BaT Auctions photo
Delta 88 hardtops were facelifted for the 1971 model year.  Fenderline flow was essentially eliminated, the only relief being the slight hitch above the flow at the leading edge of the C-pillar.  Besides those vertical strips on the front fender, Royales received the long, horizontal chrome strip.  While a mild form of clutter, it ties front and rear while making the car seem longer than otherwise. 

1974 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale
The succeeding design.  Retained are the wheel opening concepts, the vertical strips and the horizontal strip.  Also the small hitch mentioned above.  The main side-view difference is the window treatment.  The heavy C-pillar becomes something of a "Targa" bar as hardtop convertible elements are in the process of disappearing: an American car industry trend at the time.  I find the backlight window plus quarter window treatment unfortunate.

1969 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Holiday Coupe
Original frontal design.  Like BMW and Pontiac, Oldsmobiles featured segmental grilles for many years.

1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale
The revised grille design is simpler, more attractive than the '69 version.  Those awful quad headlights are neatly packaged, at least.

1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale
Rear design also is attractive.  Basically simple, but the two-segment taillight assemblies echo the grille theme and add just enough interest.

Chrysler's Other 1950 Concept Car from Italy

Chrysler Corporation's first postwar "concept car" was the Plymouth XX-500 of 1950 that wasn't actually a true Concept Car.  I wrote about it here in 2015.

I put the term "concept car" in quotation marks because the design was never an attempt to test styling features for future production consideration.  Instead, its main purpose was the evaluation of the assembly skill of its Italian coachbuilder -- Carrozzieria Ghia.

Also evaluated at the same time was Pinin Farina, whose work was judged marginally less excellent than Ghia's.  As David Holls and Michael Lamm explain in their essential book "A Century of Automotive Style," page 192:

"Both coachbuilders received chassis through Chrysler's overseas branch, and both fabricated sample bodies on them.  [Chrysler chairman] Keller didn't care what the designs looked like, but he wanted [Virgil] Exner to compare Ghia's and Pinin Farina's craftsmanship and standards of quality."

Here is where things become complicated.  Some sources I've come across say that Chrysler supplied a design that both firms were to actualize, but that Ghia ignored that and built a car they designed.  Other sources claim that there was no directive from Chrysler, each coachbuilder doing its own thing.  Perhaps documentation exists in old Chrysler Corporation archives that would clear up this matter from 75+ years ago.  Absent that, all I can do is speculate.  I do that below in captions for images of Pinin Farina's design.

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Here is the Pinin Farina car seen parked on a street, probably in the Detroit area.

It's occupied by what appears to be a family doing weekend shopping or some other ordinary activity.  I'll speculate that Chrysler was going to have the car trashed -- a fairly common fate of concept cars in those days, and the driver might have been a worker at the trashing facility, taking it out for one last spin.  Another speculation is that he works for Chrysler in some capacity and was able to borrow the car from a corporate motor pool for the day.

A Pinin Farina rendering of the design done in the exaggerated style used in Italy in those days.  Might this mean that the design is Farina's, and not Chrysler's?  Note the two-piece windshield here, and that the actual car's windshield is one-piece.

Now for some photos taken in Turin by the coachbuilder.

Here is where the design gets interesting in terms of its source.  The image below is of the grille design on 1951 and 1952 Dodge cars.  Note the segment above the main, bold horizontal chrome bar.  It includes five vertical "teeth."  The Pinin Farina grille also features a bold horizontal bar with an above-segment with three such "teeth."  Does this mean that the design was Chrysler's, where the Dodge grille design  was already slated for production and included in the package sent to Italy?  Or was Farina informed of that future Dodge design detail?  The Plymouth XX-500 by Ghia was first shown to the public on 17 March 1951 at the opening of the Chicago Auto Show.  This was a month or so after 1951 Dodges were announced to the public.  The two Italian cars were probably completed at least half a year or so before that.  So it is unlikely that Pinin Farina came up with the Dodge grille concept in time to influence the production design.  Therefore, it's almost certain that the grille design concept came from Chrysler one way or another.  But the source of the overall design Pinin Farina built remains unclear, as best I can tell.

A 1952 Dodge Cranbrook hardtop coupe.

Morris' 1948 Postwar Line - Updated with Side-Views

In 2019 I posted "Morris 1948 Badge Engineering -- And More!" but did not include my preferred use of profile views to illustrate my points.  Today's post attempts to correct that deficiency.

The October 1948 Earl's Court automobile show's exhibits included a new set of cars from Morris Motors.  These were the entry-level Morris Minor, the larger Morris Oxford, the six-cylinder Morris Six, along with two cars from Morris' Wolseley brand, the Four-Fifty (4/50) and Six-Eighty (6/80).

Although these models differed in size and engineering details, the latter four just mentioned shared much bodywork, and even the Morris Minor shared some of it.  More on this in the captions below.

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1949c. Morris Minor 2-door saloon - photo via Classic and Sports Car
The Morris Minor was a two-door model until 1950, when a four-door version (shown next) was offered.  Its wheelbase was 86 inches (2184 mm).

1952 Morris Minor Series II 4-door saloon - car-for sale photo
The front fender design seen here was also on Morris Minors starting during 1950 due to American regulations regarding headlight height.  The body profile is the same as the 2-door's, as is the window profile.  The main structural difference besides the additional door is that the front door is narrower here.

1953 Morris Oxford - photo via Simon cars
Wheelbase was 97 inches (2464 mm).  Longer wheelbase, longer car, but the body and window profiles are quite similar to that of the Oxford.  So are the rear fenders and trunk (boot) lid shapes, though these too are not exactly the same.  The front fender is different.  The body structures in the area of the cowling seems the same.  The similarities mentioned here make me wonder if some sheet metal and other structural stampings were either used outright or were adjusted.  Otherwise, what was the point of having such similarity in the designs other than the important consideration of manufacturing economy?

1951 Wolseley 4/50 - car-for sale photo
The wheelbase here was 102 inches (2591 mm).  Added length seems to be forward of the A-pillar and for wider doors.  The front fender design differs from the Oxford.  So does the hood (bonnet).  Otherwise, the cars are similar.

1950 Morris Six - Anglia Car Auctions photo
Wheelbase is 110 inches (2591 mm).  Added length is forwards of the cowling.  The rear window detailing on the car pictured here is not standard -- the vent window should be the same as that shown in the previous image.

1948 Wolseley 6/80 - unknown photo source
Wheelbase and basic body are the same as for the Morris Six.  The main difference is the grille.

Bugatti Type 57 "Galibier" Berline, 1934-1939

Thanks to World War 2, Bugatti's efforts to replace 1934+ Type 57 models were put on hold.  Patron Ettore Bugatti died in 1947.  Post-war efforts to productionize Type 57 replacements failed.   Even if they had been partly successful, government efforts to restructure the French automoble industry helped the demise of firms making upscale cars.

Type 57 Bugattis came in four body types: (1) conduite intèrieur or Berline -- 4-door sedans; (2) "coach" -- 2-door sedans; (3) cabriolet -- convertible coupe; and (4) coupé.  These were marketed under the respective names "Galibier," "Ventoux," "Stelvio," and "Atalante."  Some background on Galibiers is here.

Galibiers and Ventouxs were made by Bugatti, some custom body examples excepted.  Bugatti-designed Stelvio bodies were sub-contracted to nearby coachbuilding firm Gangloff Frères.  Atalantes appeared in 1936 and apparently were Bugatti-built, aside from the usual buyer option for ordering a custom body.

In the Gallery below are examples of Type 57 Galibiers for each year of their main production run that lasted from late 1933 to perhaps early 1940.

Unless identified, images below are from photo sources unknown to me.

Gallery

1934 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via RM Sotheby's Auctions
The Type 57 was introduced in October, 1933 at the annual Salon de l'Automobile de Paris.  Earliest versions had exterior door handles for both front and rear doors, but that detail was soon changed, as this photo indicates.

1935 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Tous les voitures Françaises 1935
Included in this scan is the the Ventoux, or "coach" Type 57 variant.

1936 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Artcurial Auctions

1937 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Gooding Auctions
This sorry looking car is the only true 1937 Galibier I could locate.

1937 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier
This is an interesting design, but I am having serious trouble dealing with it.  In the authoritative Tous les voitures françaises 1937 by René Bellu, page 16, this photo is captioned La berline Galibier sortie au cours de l'anée 1937.  On the other hand, it is illustrated as the Galibier in Bugatti's 1938 Type 57 brochure.  But note that it shares the hood-side air vent design as the 1937 car in the previous image.  Moreover, it's the only photo of this car that I could find.

1938 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier
This 1938 Galibier has a slightly different body than the supposed 1938 Galibier in the brochure just noted.  For example, rear window profiles differ, and include segmented glass (the previous image suggests no or partial window glass).  That car was most likely a prototype, the one shown here, a production car.

1938 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Tous les voitures françaises 1938
Another production 1938 Galibier.

1939 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier
Basic 1939 Galibiers had headlights blended into the catwalks, as seen here.  However, customers could and did order conventional, freestanding headlights.

1954 Chrysler-Ghia GS-1 Low-Production Car

Chrysler Corporation sponsored several Italian-style concept cars designed by Vigil Exner in the early 1950s.  They were built by Carrozzeria Ghia.  A few of these designs became low-production models built by Ghia.  Among them was today's subject, the 1954-vintage GS-1 coupe.

The GS-1s ancestry began with the Exner-designed 1952 Chrysler SS (Styling Special), pictured in the factory image below.

It was built on a shortened chassis.   Chrysler Export Division president C.B. Thomas was so taken by the design that he ordered a version based on a '53 Chrysler New Yorker chassis with a notchback, rather than a fastback design.

The car pictured above is not Thomas' but one of about a dozen other Chrysler Specials by Ghia intended for sale in Europe.  I have no information as to the designer.  Given its Eurocentric origins, I'm inclined to think that Ghia was responsible, as they were obviously capable, and probably got Chrysler Corporation's approval.

The design was modified for Ghia's 1954 Chrysler New Yorker based GS-1 (probably fewer than a dozen made).  RM Sotheby's auctioned one of the early ones.  Its web page writeup here included the following:

"Chrysler’s Export Division had two 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe chassis, each with a 125.5-inch wheelbase frame, a 235-horsepower Hemi V-8, and a PowerFlite automatic transmission, and they were delivered to Ghia to be bodied with variants of the Special design.  These two cars were distinguished from other Ghia Specials by their four-passenger interiors and flat exhaust tips, and they borrowed numerous Chrysler parts throughout, including the bumpers, taillights, steering wheel, dashboard gauges, and even the sexy wire wheels, which were a dealer accessory on Grandma’s Chrysler.  These two GS-1 Specials are believed to have been used by Chrysler for its own promotional purposes on the European continent, including the Turin show of 1954."

Below are an image of the GS-1 in preparation for the 1953 Paris automobile show, along with three images of the GS-1 auctioned by RM Sotheby's.

Again, I could find no solid information as to the designer.  Note that Export Diviion provided New Yorkers to Ghia for customization. That can explain why GS-1s included stock bumpers, taillight assenblies and such.  Easy Chrysler touches without any special effort from Exner's staff in Detroit.  So once more, I'm included to favor Ghia as the design source.

Below are photos from Hyman, Ltd. of a 1953 Chrysler Special and a 1954 GS-1 that they had for sale.

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The 1953 Chrysler Special.

The 1954 GS-1.  Differences visible here include the stock bumper, the rocker panel chrome strips and the  altered fender design.  The fender sculpting is an echo of that on the 1952 Chrysler Parade Phaetons as well as that found on the 1953 Chrysler d'elegance show car built by Ghia.

Rear quarter views.

Production 1954 Chrysler items include the bumper, tail light assemblies, and a variation on the symbol on the trunk.  Note that the rear end is basically like the 1953 version, unlike the rear end picured for RM Sotherby's auction.

Finally, a semi-walkaround of a GS-1 auctioned by Bonhams.  The grille is similar to that on the RM Sotheby's car, though lacking the golden horizontal bars.  These are placed over the vertical bars as seen on the blue Hyman car above.

This shows the revised fenderline better.  As often the case, details get busy around C-pillar's location.

Borrowed 1954 Chrysler details can be found here.

Rear view of a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker (via Mecum Auctions).  The Chrysler name in script on the panel below the trunk lid seems to be the same as seen on get trunk lid of the GS-1 in the previous photo.  Other carryovers are the bumper, taillight assemblies and the V on the trunk lid.