Chevrolet's Massive 1941 Facelift

Back in 2022 I wondered if the 1961 Chevrolet (and by extension, other General Motors cars) were drastically facelifted 1959-1960 models.  I'm still not certain.

However, there's more certainty regarding GM's A-body facelift of 1940's design for the 1941 model year.   Some Pontiac and Oldsmobile models were A-body based, while all Chevy cars used A-bodies.  Which is why I'm featuring Chevrolets in this post.

Automotive guru Ken Gross in his article in Special-Interest Autos magazine No. 45, June 1978, page 14, mentioned:

"Chevrolet engineers and designers were careful not to do anything too radical [given 1930s successes], but 1940 marked a complete departure in Chevy's evolutionary styling.  The 1941 model was a facelift on the 1940 theme..."

Besides changing most of the bodywork, Chevrolet wheelbases were lengthened: 1940 wheelbase - 113 inches (2870 mm); 1941 wheelbase - 116 inches (2946 mm). That three-inch (76 mm) change was an important factor in the facelifted styling.

Why did GM spend so much money to strongly facelift a brand new body?  All the men who were in the decision-making process are gone.  Possibly some might have left recorded reminiscences in corporate or other archives.  Maybe there is documentary evidence someplace.  All I can do as a blogger is speculate.

I think 1941 GM B-body redesign was the main factor.  It was probably felt that its sleeker design needed to be somewhat matched by A-body styling for brands such as Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Chevrolet (starting in 1942) that used B-bodies as well as A-bodies.

Gallery

1940 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Town Sedan - Auctions America photo
Compare the hood and windshield to those on the 1941 model below.

1941 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photo
They are the same, aside from the '41 windshield being slightly shorter due to the 2-inch (51 mm) reduction in height for '41 Chevrolets and the hood's frontal cut line.  (Pay careful attention to the hood's prow cut lines in this image, as they're hard to see.)   Hood side-trim is similar, occupying the same space.  The main retained areas from 1940 are in the expensive to change cowling-firewall and A-pillar zone.  Note the '41 model's wider doors that flow over the running boards -- a styling fashion popular that year and later.  Grille and front fenders are new, as is the bumper.

1940 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Sport Sedan - Mecum Auctions photo
Most 1941 changes are abaft of the A-pillar.

1941 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photo
The reduced height was in the passenger compartment greenhouse, affecting all shapes in that part of the design.  Rear doors are now hinged on the B-pillar, so it's wider.  The front door seems to be unchanged apart from lower height, aft window frame rounding and the running board overflow.  The rear passenger door does not intrude into the rear fender zone as much, due to the longer wheelbase.  (It's this part of the body where the added length was applied.)  The after part of the roofline is more rounded and the aft side window reshaped.  So are the rear fender and trunk lid profile.

1940 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Town Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Now for two-door sedans.  This body style was popular in those days.  One factor was that 2-door models were less expensive, a financial consideration.  (For the model shown here, the difference was $41, nearly $1000 in 2026 dollars.)

1941 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Town Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
Similar changes as mentioned above, aside from the lack of a rear passenger door here.  That said, the greater distance from the aft door cutline to the forward edge of the rear fender is clear when comparing this image to the one above.

1940 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe Business Coupe - BaT Auctions
Now for the coupé body type.

1941 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Coupe - Mecum
Again, a lower height.  The lengthened, lowered greenhouse and aft end are much more attractive than the previous design.  One of many reasons what cognoscenti (me too) consider the 1941 model year as among the very best for Chevrolet design.

Figoni's Talbot-Lago New York Type "Goutte d'Eau": Multiple Views

This post is a follow-on to my post "Figoni et Falaschi: From Delage 135 to Talbot-Lago 'Goutte d'Eau'."

It mentioned that, in 1951, New York's Museum of Modern Art had an exhibit titled "8 Automobiles."  The concept was to present a variety of design approaches to cladding basic automotive functionalism.  MoMA's exhibition press release's statement regarding the Talbot-Lago on display was as follows:

"A third way to combine the essential elements of a car is illustrated at its most extreme by the Talbot, a French three-passenger sport and touring car lent by Carroll Bagley.  This car combines separate envelopes for each part in a composition of similar shapes, and, as a whole, forms an expressive symbol of streamlining."

There were 11 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS New York-type Coupés made, only one of which seems to have disappeared.  These cars are highly regarded, bringing multi-million dollar auction sales prices.  The body was designed by Giuseppi (Joseph) Figoni of the Figoni et Falaschi Carrossiers firm.

In preparation for this post (late August 2026), I failed to find enough images of a New York type Goutte d'Eau (teardrop) Talbot for a typical Walkaround post.  Instead, the Gallery presents a variety of views of a variety of cars.

Gallery

1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS No. 90106 - My 2019 Mullin museum photo
The museum's lighting interfered with presentations of body shaping on my photo set, so this will have to do.  Note the "shovel" transition from the hood to the windshield -- unusual and outstandingly done.

1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS No. 90109 - Bonhams Auctions photo
Images below are of a car with covered front wheels.  This photo is included to show the more sensible uncovered version found on the majority of the cars.

1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS No. 90107 - Gooding Christie's Auctions photo set
The two-tone paint scheme serves to emphasize the voluptuous, spatted fenders.  Another nice view of the hood-windshield transition.

Long hood, long trailing edge fender and body profiles.  The nearly-horizontal hood line provides contrast to the curves to prevent the design from being overly rounded, hence less interesting.  Ditto the nearly straight profile taper towards the rear.

The trunk lid spine and chrome trim are features Figoni liked to employ on some of his late-1930s designs.

The covered front wheel openings required the fender's side bulges seen here.  I suppose Figoni's design was partly aerodynamically inspired and partly aesthetic.  From a practical standpoint, open front fenders are better. 

They had tiny tail lights in those days.

Now for some overhead views.

Although the 1930s trend was toward integrated, "envelope" bodies, Figoni's design has the major elements as distinct, teardrop-type shapes.  Headlights are the one major feature he chose to integrate -- on the catwalks.

1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS No. 90110 - RM Sotheby's Auctions photo
The dashboard.  Although in France one drives on the right side of a road, luxury French brands usually had English-style right hand steering positions in those days.

General Motors' Early-1960s Transition to Nested Trunk Lids

One design detail Bill Mitchell instituted after becoming General Motors' design vice president at the end of 1958 was trunk lids nested by the upper edges of rear fenders.  It took a few model years for that to happen.

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.

Gallery

1960 Pontiac Bonneville
A Pontiac shorn of its 1959 model year fins.

1961 Pontiac Bonneville
Next year we see Mitchell's nested trunk lid concept in action.

1962 Pontiac Catalina - Mecum Auctions photo
Tail lights creep onto the fender aft ends.

1963 Pontiac Catalina - Mecum
Now they are narrow, like the restyled fender tops.  This is Mitchell's concept in pure form.

1960 Oldsmobile Super 88
Now Oldsmobile.  The aft of this post-fin facelift is quite flat.

1961 Oldsmobile Super 88
A new rear end theme.  Still nearly flat.

1962 Oldsmobile Super 88
This facelift has new aft end fender shaping.

1963 Oldsmobile Super 88
But serious nesting isn't in play until '63.  Oddly, the fender tops are mini tail fins.

1961 Buick Electra 225
Buick aft ends were flat for 1961.

1962 Buick Electra 225
Restyled, and still pretty flat.  But some relief in the form of a central sculpted element echoing the nearby fender tops.

1963 Buick Electra 225
Finally, strong nesting between sharp fenders,  Not as attractive as for 1962, I think.

France's "Big Three" Styling Variations 1937

In the late 1930s automobile manufacturers were largely concentrated in five countries: United States, England, Germany, France and Italy in descending order of production.

France, like the USA, had three dominant carmakers plus a number of lesser firms.  Unlike America in those days, styling offerings by those companies -- Renault, Citroën and Peugeot -- was notably varied, also true for most French competitors.  I posted "Styling Variety: 1930s French Cars" here.

The present post focuses on berlines (4-door sedans) listed in the 20,000-22,000 francs range, a step up from entry-level.  The Renault is the Primaquatre, Wikipedia entry here.  The Citroën is the 11 CV Légère, general Traction Avant entry here.  Finally the Peugeot is the short-lived model 302, entry here.

The Gallery below presents three-views of each example plus single views of contemporary American "Big Three" models, illustrating styling variability or its lack.

Gallery

1939 Renault Primaquatre Sport Berline - car-for-sale photos
Renault was France's leading carmaker in terms of production.  Styling of most models, including the one pictured here, was the most conventional in the context of its time.  I have trouble finding usable images of many French cars, so this 1939 model will have to represent one from 1937.  The main difference seen here is the grille.

1937 Citroën 11 BL Légère Berline - RM Sotheby's Auctions photos
The basic Citroën Traction Avant design appeared for the 1934 model year, so some details were already old-fashioned by 1937.  On the other hand, its front wheel drive feature permitted a lower-to-the-ground body, creating a racy appearance difficult for conventional rear wheel drive competitors to match.  Note the lack of a running board, radical for 1934.

1937 Peugeot 302 Berline - Bonhams Auctions and car-for-sale photos
Peugeots have tended to feature conservative styling.  But that was not the case in the late 1930s on its xx2 models.  The most radical feature is the Chrysler Airflow- like front end with Peugeot's own positioning of the headlights behind the grille.  Also no external running board.

1930s French cars often featured beltlines that fell off to the rear, as can be seen here.  All three cars shown here have doors hinged on B-pillars.  Related to that, the C-pillar zones are wide.  The attached trunk is the other main 1939 feature.

The low profile slightly exaggerates the already large height of the windows.  Front wheel drive places the grille at about the same point as the front axle line; late '30 cars were tending to have grilles moved forward, as can be seen in the Renault image above.

Profile is similar to the 1934 Chrysler Airflow, though lower and more streamlined than the CU sedans.  Also similar are the spatted rear wheel openings and their winged decorations.

As mentioned, the trunk was added for 1939.  Citroëns began to get such trunks model year 1951.  Note the Renault's large for its time, one-piece backlight window.

I don't have a left-facing rear view photo of this car: sorry.  Again, note the proportionally massive passenger compartment greenhouse.  The lower body and fenders seem more fragile by comparison.

Rear styling is similar to that to 1934 Chrysler CU Airflow 2-door coupés, aside from the exposed spare tire cover.
For some context, below are three 1937 sedans from America's leading carmakers. Their styling is more uniform than what was pictured above.

1937 Chevrolet Master Deluxe - car-for-sale photo
General Motors was the styling leader in those days, so competitors tended to follow its lead.

1937 Plymouth De Luxe - car-for sale photo
Chrysler's entry level Plymouth's styling is in the same general vein as GM's entry-level Chevrolet's, as seen above.

1937 Ford DeLuxe - car-for-sale photo
Fords were more individualistic, perhaps because Henry Ford did not like to copy competing cars' features such as inline-six cylinder engines and independent front suspensions.  He wasn't much interested in styling, a domain of his son Edsel.  The individuality here is front end styling.  Note the headlights blended into the fender-hood catwalks instead of free-standing as on the other cars.  All told, less individuality here than on the contemporaneous French cars.

Peugeot 203 Walkaround

Peugeot is, and was for decades, one of France's three leading domestic automobile brands, along with Renault and Citroën.  World War 2 and its economic aftermath retarded development of replacements for its prewar line until the 203 was announced to the public in the Fall of 1948, the same time as Citroën's famous 2CV.  Renault's 4CV debuted in the Fall of 1946 and began production a year later thanks to development work done during the war..

Shown here is a Peugeot 203 displayed at the October 1948 Salon de l'Automobile in Paris, the 203's début.

The Wikipedia entry for the 203 is here, and my earlier post about the car is here.

I don't have a complete walkaround image set for the Peugeot 203, so below is a composite from two different cars.  The pale blue Peugeot is a 1949 model that was auctioned, though I don't have the exact photo source.  The wine-colored car is a 1958 model listed for sale.  As can be seen, exterior differences are trivial, despite the large model year difference.

Gallery

The license indicates that car was in the Bouches-du-Rhone département, where Marseilles is located.  My general impression is that it seems more American than sometimes quirky French designs such as Peugeot's own prewar "Fuseau-Sochaux" 202, 302 and 402 models.

What I see here is a scaled-down version of 1942-1947 General Motors styling.  Proportions are not the same due to its smaller size, but note some similarities.  These include the front fender overlapping the front door, the hood profile, the sides of the car flowing over the running board, the horizontal belt line (French ones usually dropped downward towards the rear) and the fastback profile.  A non- postwar GM feature is the front door's "suicide" hinging on the B-pillar.

Aft end styling reminds me of the Saab 92 that entered in production in 1949, its prototype appearing in 1947.  The two designs were likely developed independently of one another.

Rear styling was rather spartan in those days.  Note the shape transfer where the fastback meets the fender-aligned part of the trunk lid.

Wide C-pillar zone.  A three side-window arrangement could easily be called for from a practicality standpoint.  Perhaps the added cost of materials and assembly nixed the possibility.

Aesthetically, however, the two-window design seems more attractive than a three-window version would have been.

The flat windshield was old-fashioned from an American perspective, but practical from a postwar French one.

Simple grille, unlike the distinctive ones found on the prewar Peugeots mentioned above.  Lacks character and brand identity.  But it's practical, maybe a result of French logique.