First-Generation American Panoramic Windshields

General Motors usually set the styling theme pace for American carmakers from the late 1920s through the 1960s.  Of course there were exceptions.  Other firms sometimes introduced features before GM -- an example is placing headlights in front fenders.  And GM sometimes designed cars that didn't sell well -- the late 1950s, for example.

One styling feature that briefly dominated American design was the panoramic (or "wraparound" as we usually termed it in those days) windshield.  It was a pet project of GM's design supremo Harley Earl.  They first appeared 1950-51 on the LeSabre and XP-300 "dream cars."  Model year 1953 saw them on Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Fiesta convertibles.  And for 1954, Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs were redesigned with panoramic windshields.

Model year 1955 saw most models from the other carmakers sporting such windshields, although it took until 1956 for a few other brands to catch up.  Some models such as Studebaker coupes and Nash Metropolitans never went panoramic.

Not all brands from each manufacturer are shown below.  Only examples of each new windshield design are presented in the interest of keeping this post from becoming too long.  The only major omission is the 1956 Lincoln whose windshield was similar to other vertical A-pillar designs.

Gallery

1954 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - BaT Auctions photos
Here is GM's C-body version.

Windshield is tall and framed by A-pillars that are essentially vertical.

1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 - RM Sotheby's photos
GM B-body windshield.

Also tall, but the A-pillar slants forward.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air - car-for-sale photos
C-body cars were redesigned for 1955.

A-pillars are essentially vertical, a common solution.

1955 Ford Customline - car-for-sale photos
Fords were massively facelifted for 1955.  Roofs were flatter and windshields became panoramic, but not as high as the GM versions.

Again, a vertical A-pillar.

1957 Continental Mark II - car-for-sale photos
The Mark II appeared for model year 1956.  Its panoramic windshield is unlike the others shown here.  It does not intrude into the roofline.

A-pillars slant to the rear.

1955 DeSoto Firedome - Barrett-Jackson photos
Windshields used for Chryslers and DeSotos.  Not as tall as General Motor's versions.

The main difference was the aft-slanting A-pillar.  Same sort of pillar as before, but anchored farther aft.  This gave Chrysler cars a more conventional appearance and seems to have reduced or eliminated the distortion found on GM cars.  In 1956 my father test-drove Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets, experiencing annoying distortion.  So he bought a DeSoto instead.

1955 Dodge Coronet - GAA Auction photos
The panoramic on CHhysler Corporation's entry brands.  Its upper frame is aligned with the upper side window framing.

Another aft-slanting A-pillar.

1955 Packard 400 - Daniel Schmitt photos
Packard's strong '55 facelift included a panoramic windshield.

It's pretty much like the GM vertical A-pillar designs.

1955 Studebaker Champion - car-for-sale photos
Studebaker added panoramics partway in to the 1955 model year.

Similar to Chrysler's solution.

1955 Nash Ambassador - photo via Hemmings
Another facelift, but not as strong as Ford's or Packard's -- changes were at the front end, plus the windshield.

1955 Nash Ambassador - car-for-sale photo
Again, a largely vertical A-pillar

1956 Nash Rambler - car-for-sale photos
Rambler was redesigned for 1956, so its panoramic windshield was probably intrinsic to the styling.

From this photo, the pillar is vertical.  But back in the day, I always felt that the A-pillar tilted slightly aft.

1953 Nash Statesman Hardtop Walkaround

Around 1940, Nash cars were nicely styled, fitting well into the preferred mode of the time; I wrote about that here.  But when the American automoble industry launched its postwar redesignes around 1949, Nash became a styling outlier.  I posted about the '49 Nash redesign here and here.

Those 1949-1951 Nashes were bulky, having streamlined shapes that observers, including elementary school age me, called "upside-down bathtub."  Then Nash pulled another Old Switcheroo for its 1952 redesign.  Streamlining was abandoned, replaced by boxiness.

The major carryover feature was that front wheel openings were essentially eliminated, replaced by front fender sheetmetal.

Today's post featues a 1953 Nash Statesman 2-door hardtop, the short-wheelbase (114.25 inches, 1902 mm) alterative to the longer, more expensive Nash Ambassador.

Those enclosed front wheels and rounded slab-sides suggested that Nashes were quite wide.  Let's put that in context.  Nash Statesmen were 78 inches (1981 mm) wide.  Pontiacs were 75.8 inches (1925 mm), DeSotos 74.3 inches (1887 mm), Buick Specials 76.7 inches (1948 mm), and Mercury, also redesigned for 1952, 73.5 inches (1867 mm).  So most competing post- World War 2 cars launched prior to 1952 were two or three or even four inches (50-100 mm) more narrow.  One wider example is the Buick Super, whose width was 80 inches (2032 mm).

The car featured below is a 1953 Nash Statesman Country Club hardtop coupe listed for sale.

Gallery

Pinin Farina was credited by Nash publicity as the designer, though actually most of the design was via Nash's styling group and the NXI concept car designed by William Flajole.

Nash Ambassadors had longer hoods, so had slightly better proportions.

Nash backlight windows retained this three-segment design through model year 1955; most competing brands went to one-segment wraparound backlights earlier.

Basically, a tidy design aside from the width.  Imagine how it would look with flatter, slightly narrower side.

Slab side appearance was somewhat mitigated by the sculpting below the windows and the low, lengthy chrome strip.  Open front wheels would have helped even more.  But Nash president George Mason insisted on covered wheel for (dubious) aerodynamic reasons.

I suspect the width was to provide halfway acceptable turning radius for the enclosed front wheels.  Were front wheels exposed in a normal manner, the sides could have been made narrower without affecting interior width.

The hood was low, front fenders high, both in keeping with early 1950s styling fashion.

The centralized instrument panel was more typical of car brands with considerable sales in regions with different driving positions.  I doubt that applied very much to Nash.

Grille "Whiskers" on 1937-1938 Hoods

While there is no doubt that automobile styling has a considerable fad/fashion component, often styling fashions are influenced by what is technically available at the time.

Consider the late 1930s American situation.  The Great Depression of the '30s stimulated visual innovation as a means of attracting buyers.  Then there was the concept of "streamlining" -- actual or simulated improved aerodynamic efficiency of body shapes.  This interacted with improvements in sheet metal stamping technology so that rounded body surfaces could be mass-produced.  So American cars of that era tended to have rounded, sometimes lumpy appearances.

Once a production body shape was established, stylists then had to come up with largely decorative items such as grille shapes and details.  Often, such details were similar for competing brands (as is true today).

Today's post deals with what I consider a curious trim similarity found on cars from five different companies for the 1937 model year.  Then for 1938, two more companies' cars used the same idea.

Especially interesting, there was no 1936 American car with that feature.  A quick look at '36 French designs revealed the same thing, though I can't rule out an example from another country or a custom body that might have inspired it.  

From what I've read about the American car industry, a source of that similarity might have been stylists changing jobs and passing along information.  Or it might have been information leaked by parts suppliers.

And it's quite possible that the idea occurred because the 1936 fad for "fencer's mask grilles" led some stylists to the idea that such grilles could be closely linked to the nearby hood sides.

Let's take a look.

Gallery

1937 Studebaker President - Hyman, Ltd photo
Here the chrome strips along the side of the hood overlap the top of the grille itself.  Visually, this is the sort of thing I was discussing above, even though the streaks are not strictly grille bar extensions.

1937 Chrysler Royal - car-for-sale photo
Again, the grille itself isn't quite involved, though the visual concept is there.

1937 DeSoto - car-for-sale photo
DeSoto's hood streaks do seem to be grille bar extensions.  However, the top of the actual grille opening is probably around the "O" of the "DESOTO" on the vertical grille divider.

1938 DeSoto - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
DeSoto the following model year.

1937 Pontiac DeLuxe - Barrett-Jackson
A bit hard to see in this photo, but streaks extend from the grille bar zone.

1937 Willys - publicity photo
A small car with small grille-hood streaks.

1937 Nash Ambassador Eight - car-for-sale photo
A borderline case.  The upper grille framing is extended along the hood, but not as chrome strips.

1938 Graham 96 - Shannon's Melbourne Auctions photo
For 1938, we see those streaks on the redesigned Graham.

1938 Ford Standard Tudor - Mecum Auctions photo
Also on the entry-level Fords.  Though no chrome here for that low-priced car.

1941 American Grilles and Front Ends

In my book "Automobile Styling: From Evolution to Fashion" and elsewhere, I state that the period roughly 1930 (or thereabouts) to 1949 saw car design changing from boxy bodies with discrete elements such as fenders, headlights, etc. to bodies where such elements merged into what some call "envelope" bodies.  I usually cite the 1949 Ford as exemplifying the end of that evolution.

By the 1941 model year, most of the evolution had taken place.  Fenders were still distinct, though largely blended to the main body.  Moreover, car designs were no longer awkward, as they were earlier in the transition period.  An important factor was advances in technology -- sheet metal stamping, curved glass formation, especially -- that allowed stylists' speculative sketches to become implemented in production.

Today's post presents grille designs of the major 1941 model year automobile brands.  Until the late 1930s, grilles had vertical formats that coincided with the radiators paced behind them.  But by 1941, nearly all grilles had horizontal formats, a matter of fashion, nearly as much as technology.

Gallery

1941 Cadillac 62 - BaT Auctions photo
This is a classic grille design that influenced Cadillac styling for many years.  Part-architectural (the rectangular grille elements) and part Egyptian (those wings above the Cadillac crest), the overall composition is excellent.  Well, those round things (horn covers?) below the headlights would have looked better if they had been smaller.

1941 Buick Special - car for sale photo
Next down the General Motors hierarchy are Buicks.  Plenty of bold grille bars.  Note the frame shape -- Chevrolet's (see below) is similar.  And even Plymouth's has a hint of this.

1941 Oldsmobile 98 - Broad Arrow Auctions photo
Headlights are closer to the centerline.  Plenty of grill bars, many at right-angles to the others.  A very busy frontal design replaced by something even more odd for 1942.

1941 Pontiac DeLuxe - car for sale photo
An awkward photo, but included because it shows the red paint in the central details (most other Internet images show grilles where the paint has been worn away).  Pontiac's Silver Streaks on the hood are echoed below the headlights.  The overall effect is more coherent than Oldsmobile's.

1941 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe - car for sale photo
GM's entry-level brand's front mimics Buick's, as noted above.  Like Pontiac, there is red detailing in the central, vertical bar.  And there's more in pinstripe mode on the horizontal bars.

1941 Chrysler Royal - Mecum Auctions photo
Chrysler's grille is simple, though this photo does not show that, in plan view, the bars curve forward to meet at the lower extension of the hood prow.

1941 DeSoto DeLuxe - car for sale photo
This grille set the DeSoto vertical-bars grille theme that was continued through the 1955 model year.

1941 Dodge Custom - car for sale photo
A rather contrived frontal design.  Two segments divided by a painted central element.  Upward frame curves that blend with the headlight assemblies.

1941 Plymouth DeLuxe - car for sale photo
Very rounded frame aside from the painted central element that blends into the hood design.  Horizontal chromed prow strips as on DeSoto.

1941 Lincoln-Zephyr - Mecum
Another example of hood-prow blending.  This makes more sense when view at an angle -- not head-on as seen here.

1941 Mercury - car for sale photo
Central prow plus side openings.  Similar to the Chrysler Corporation brands shown above.  However, this composition is relatively simple while the framing relates to surrounding body sculpting.  Basically, a nice solution.

1941 Ford Super DeLuxe - car for sale photo
Three openings here.  Unlike many of the designs pictured above, there's no solid central element.  Instead, the central part is a vertical opening with a hole for a starter crank.  I suppose the shapes of the flanking openings are rounded to reflect the rounded shape of the main car body.

1941 Packard Clipper - Mecum
Another vertical central grille opening with flank openings.  But the composition is better than Ford's.  Plus, the top of the vertical framing carries on Packard traditional grille frame theme, an important marketing consideration.

1941 Hudson DeLuxe - car for sale photo
Similar in sprit to the Chrysler grille.  Hudson's body dates from 1936, but was heavily facelifted to keep it fairly up-to-date.

1941 Graham Hollywood - car for sale photo
Hupmobiles shared the same body and grille, though the upper zone lacked the chrome seen here.  This grille was applied to the1936-37 Cord body design, not in line with cars seen here that have recent body designs.

1941 Nash 600 - Mecum
Lots of grille bars along with a bold, chrome bow strip.  Very architectural, but pleasant.

1941 Studebaker Commander - car for sale photo
Yet another two-element grille.  Long before BMW grilles became famous.  Simple, something Raymond Loewy usually favored.

1941 Willys Americar - car for sale photo
Smaller than most '41 American cars.  Simple grille design with no central separation.