Four-Door Ford Thunderbirds 1967-1971

Ford's sporty Thunderbird line (Wikipedia entry here) was produced model years 1955-2005 save 1998-2001.  For all but five of those production years, Thunderbirds had only two doors.  But for model years 1967-1971, four-door Thunderbird sedans were also marketed.  Wikipedia calls this the 5th generation, and its write-up about that is here.

During 1967-1970, two-door Thunderbirds has wheelbases of 114.7 inches (2913 mm), trivially lengthened to 115 inches (2921 mm) for 1971.  Four-door T-birds were based on a 117.2 inch (2977 mm) wheelbase that was shared with the Lincoln Continental Mark III starting 1968.

Early sedans sold fairly well in 1967 and 1968, but production numbers dropped rapidly after that.  Production for '67 was about 25,000, and around 8,400 in 1970.   So the sedan idea was dropped for the 1972 redesign.

Those T-bird sedans were marketed as "Landaus," having faux landau irons attached to Vinyl covered tops.  This was in an effort to position Thunderbirds as being upscale as well as sporty.  Landau coupes (with Vinyl covered tops, but no landau irons) strongly outsold their plainer stablemates 1967-71.

Below are images of 1967 Thunderbird Landau sedans and a 1970 facelifted version.

Gallery

1967 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - Ford photo
An almost too-simple grille design.  Edge sections pivot to reveal quad headlights.

1967 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
Plenty of front overhang provides a long hood line.  The landau iron flows downward from the chrome upper window framing.  That's a nice touch that almost (for me) justifies their phony inclusion.

1967 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Basically a nice, trim body design typical of 1960s U.S. styling -- a golden era for many car brands.

1970 Thunderbird Landau hardtop coupe - Ford photo
I don't have a good overhead photo of a '70 Landau sedan, so this image of a coupe will have to provide a view of the long-nose frontal facelift.

1970 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
Side view showing door cut lines.  Note how the rear door's cutline is partly framed by the landau iron.

1970 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
Doors-open view.  Like 1960s Lincoln Continental 4-door models, the rear door is "suicide" hinged.  Also note that there is a full-height B-pillar, making this a sedan, and not a hardtop (pillarless) sedan, as some might think, given the design's era.

1948 Ferrari 166 Coupés and Berlinettas

Many observers, me included, consider Italian car styling from the late 1940s through much of the 1950s to be a kind of design golden age.  Today's post presents some designs from early in that era.  All are based on the Ferrari 166 (Wikipedia entry here).

Details are in the captions below.

Gallery

1948 Ferrari 166 Inter Coupé by Stabilimenti Farina, Giovanni Michelotti designer
I wrote about this and other Stabilimenti Farina designs for Ferrari 166s here.  Lacking on this design is the Ferrari oval grille with egg-crate bars introduced by Carrozzeria Touring on the 166 Barchetta.

Ferraris had V-12 motors in those days, justifying a long hood.  The side view is pleasing, very classic postwar Italian styling.

1947 Cisitalia 202 Berlinetta by Pinin Farina
But the design strikes me as being highly derivative of the classic (honored in a 1951 exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art) Cisitalia 202, often cited as setting the tone for Italian design.  The basic Cisitalia design was by Giovanni Savonuzzi, productionized by Pinin Farina.  Cisitalias had small Fiat motors, so the car was small and the hood not as long as the Ferrari's.  Derivative items on the latter include the aft roof profile, the fender design, and the side window theme.  Stabiliment Farina also built some Cisitalias to the Pinin Farina design, so the firm might have been quite familiar with it when the Ferrari was styled.  The hood on the Ferrari is higher and shaped differently, so maybe that was much of Michelotti's contribution.

Unlike the Cisitalia, the Ferrari has a trunk lid.  The tail light/reflector ensemble is awkward.

1948 Ferrari 166 MM Panoramica by Zagato, Luigi Rapi designer - photos via carrozzieri-italiani.com
The lower body is in the spirit of Touring's Barchetta design, including a variation of the grille.

Where the design fails is the side windows that curve up onto the top of the roof.  Zagato built a number of cars with this unfortunate feature that I discussed here.

The car is something of a hatchback -- note the cutlines near the backlight window.  All things considered, the passenger compartment greenhouse is too tall relative to the lower, Barchetta-influenced lower body.

1948 Ferrari 166 Inter Berlinetta by Touring, Federico Formenti designer
Early postwar, Touring made many cars based on the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 platform.  A common Touring feature there was sculpted character lines on both front and rear fenders.  That feature is seen here too.

The greenhouse's rear profile seems a little awkward, but that is because Barchettas often had back seats requiring passenger headroom, whereas Coupes did not.  That said, this car had only a bench in back that might be used as a seat briefly.

The backlight window is large for its time.  I think the design would be improved if it was a bit narrower and less high.

The 1948 Ford Muroc Concept Model by Gil Spear

One label for this post is "Concept Cars." But the subject never made it beyond the scale model statge.  One reason might have been because concept cars were not a thing in 1948 America.  The first post- World War 2 Dream Car / Concept Car was General Motors' Le Sabre that was revealed in a December 1950 Life magazine issue that I wrote about here.

Nevertheless, the 1948 Ford Motor Company's Muroc model received some exposure:

It's that red car at the upper left of this 1953 paperback book from Motor Trend magazine.

The book "Ford Design Department: Concept & Show Cars 1932-1961" by Jim and Cheryl Farrell credits (pp. 77-79) the design of the Muroc to Gil Spear, whose career is summarized on page 78.  He entered automobile design at General Motors, then moved to Chrysler Corporation around 1939-40 after a short time with Norman Bel Geddes' industrial design firm.   I wrote about his Chrysler work here.

He joined Ford in 1947 and the Muroc model was completed in late 1948.

The Farrells write:

"It was the first 3/8-sized concept car specifically designed by Spear for review by his still-skeptical bosses in the Engineering Department.  Spear knew he had a 'hot," different [sic] and an attention-getter, but that it also had to be within the package set by Engineering.  The hood could be lower than the package, because no one knew how low engines or radiators would be in the future, but Engineering wouldn't let the roof or windshield to be raked as Spear wanted... From the prespective of 50 years later, Spear still thinks the roof and windshield look stuffy."

Images of the Muroc are in the Gallery below.  They were originally from Ford.  Color photos were found on the Internet.  Black and white photos are from the Farrell's book.

Gallery

The Muroc as found on a 1952 Ford Advanced Studio display.  That's Gil Spear sketching it. The wide, vertical grille bars are suggestive of those later seen on 1950 Buicks.  The Farrells stated that it was completed towards the end of 1948, but did not mention when it was first revealed to the public.  1950 Buick Specials were announced 8 August 1949, so its grille design was probably set sometime in 1948.  Ford's Mercury brand cars had grilles with vertical bars starting in 1946, though these bars were very thin.

An image apparently scanned from a publication.  The basic body is unreasonably low, making the passenger greenhouse appear unreasonably tall.  The wheels and tires seem smaller than the American norm for 1948.  There are bulges above all wheel openings, though the front ones would have been unnecessary from a wheel jounce standpoint.

Same viewpoint, but with a model of a driver at the wheel.  The driver might not be at 3/8 scale, given the relationship to the steering wheel.  On the other hand, steering wheels were large in those pre- power steering days.  If the driver were indeed 3/8 scale like the model, then the passenger compartment would be excessively tall.  Since the model was built to Engineering's package specifications, I'll assume the driver model is a little below 3/8 scale.

Rear quarter view.  The greenhouse window patterns is awkward.  Trunk capacity (if there even is supposed to be a trunk) is negligible.  Those lethal looking "Dagmars" at the rear predate the famous ones on 1952 Cadillac front bumpers.

Seriously Rounded 1936-38 Hudsons and Terraplanes

In America, the 1930s saw the transformation to all-steel car bodies.  Sheet metal stamping technology limitations and perhaps a desirability to compactly stack stamped parts led to car designs featuring large-radius curved surfaces.

This styling variation reached its peak around 1935 or 1936 with new designs in the form of cars such as '35 Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles, along with '36 Buicks and Hudsons.  The latter is the subject of this post because I judge Hudson's styling ever-so-slightly more rounded than the General Motors variety.  That's mostly due to the shape of Hudson's grille.

Note that Terraplane offered what amounted to re-branded, less-expensive, shorter Hudsons.  For model year 1938, the formerly separately-branded Terraplanes became Hudson-Terraplanes, and for 1939 the name Terraplane was abandoned.

Examples of Hudson and Terrplane body types are presented below.  Unless noted, images are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1936 Hudson Sedan
This viewing angle shows the roundedness of the sedan body.  Items such as fenders and catwalk fronts  might be expected to be rounded in the mid-1930s.  The front fender seen here are quite wide, typical of that era in the USA.  What is less expected is how rounded the passenger compartment greenhouse is -- the curved roof shape and the window profiles.  Also note how the body sides tuck under towards the running board.  This appears light, contrasting with the body above the beltline that seems heavy by comparison.

1936 Terraplane Deluxe Touring Sedan - Burns & Co. Auctions photo
The rounded window profiles are seen better here.  The profile of the hood's front / fencer's mask grille is hinted.  Note the rounded rear wheel opening.  This was found on 1936 models and replaced by a smaller opening for 1937.

1936 Terraplane Touring Brougham
More rounding: after roof line, backlight window profiles, bulged trunk lid.

1937 Terraplane Utility Coupe
Terraplanes, had shorter wheelbases that accentuated rounding when seen in side views.  The smaller wheel openings at the rear result in more rounded fender sheet metal, creating a heavier appearance.

1937 Terraplane Super Convertible Brougham - Broad Arrow Auctions photo
Rear wheel openings are skirted.  The fender-mounted spare tire adds to the rounded theme.

1938 Hudson Terraplane Touring Sedan
This model year saw the first of Hudson's facelifts that kept its designs somewhat competitive through the 1947 model year.  For '38, the main change was the abandonment of the fencer's mask grille -- though the central chrome sweep theme was carried over.

"Breezeway" Mercurys of the 1950s and 1960s

A late-1950s - mid-1960s concept that reached production, yet did not become an American car industry fad such a tail fins and panoramic windshields, was the retractible backlight window.  This yielded what folks nowadays call "Breezeway" passenger compartments.  The idea being that air admitted from windshield area intake vents or "ventipane" windows would exit through a backlight zone at the rear.  The result would be a breeze from front to rear of the compartment.

Wikipedia's Breezeway entry is here.

I wonder how this worked when a breezeway car was at highway speed and the backlight window was rolled down.  Perhaps air turbulence aft of the top edge of the roof might be overwhelm the breeze flow and impact back seat passengers.  Let me know in a Comment whether that was the case.

The first Mercury Breezeways (model years 1957-58) were called Turnpike Cruisers, retaining some features from a concept car of the same name.   I wrote about the 1956 XM Turnpike Cruiser concept car here.  More Turnpike Cruiser background is here.

As noted in the Gallery, there were Breezeway Lincolns in the late 1950s.  Mercury reintroduced Breezeways on some models 1963-66, and some '63 versions are pictured.

Gallery

1953 Packard Balboa concept car - Packard photo
An early American breezeway design was this Packard concept car.  Note the slanted backlight window.  It was designed to roll down, but the mechanisms were never installed.

1956 Mercury XM Turnpike Cruiser concept car - Mercury photo
The concept Turnpike Cruiser.  The center section of the backlight was flat glass that was not retractible, alhough in theory a production version might have included that feature.  The XM's passenger compartment greenhouse extended over the trunk, and the spare tire was positioned centered below the aft edge of the greenhouse.  Since it certainly looks like the center window pane could have been retractible by reconfiguring the trunk, I'll call this an "honorary" Breezeway design.

1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III - car-for-sale photo
A rolled-down Breezeway window on a 1958 Lincoln.  Only Continental Marks III-IV (1958-60) had breezeways.  Total production was around 34,000, much less than Mercury versions.

1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser hardtop sedan - Mecum Auctions photos
Most production Breezeways were Mercurys.  Intake vents are atop the windshield.  Side window ventipanes also admitted air streams.

Again, the Breezeway window is retracted.

1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser hardtop coupe - car-for-sale photo
Mercury also made two-door Breezeway cars.

1963 Mercury Monterey Custom hardtop coupe - car-for-sale photos
Breezeways were reintroduced on some 1963 Mercurys.  This is a top-of-the-line version.

Rear quarter view showing the window arrangement.

1963 Mercury Monterey Custom hardtop sedan - Mercury publicity photo
The sedan hardtop's rear doors had small triangular upward extensions on the aft beltline.

1963 Mercury Monterey Custom 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
All Breezeway Mercury's and Lincolns had wide, V'd C-pillars.

Opel GT Walkaround

Above is a 1969 Opel GT 1900 listed for sale
Back in 2015 I posted "Opel's Corvette-Like GT."  Since then, better images have appeared on the Internet, so this might be a good time for a Walkaround post about the design.

Opel GT's Wikipedia entry is here.  And its link to Clare M. "Mac" MacKichan, who was in charge of Opel styling when the GT project was launched, is here.  It mentions: "Based on Opel Kadett mechanicals, and with a body designed by Erhard Schnell, MacKichan was the driving force behind creation of the GT."

Also mentioned is that MacKichan worked on Corvette styling before being assigned to Opel in 1962. That included work on the redesigned 1963 C2 Corvette, some of whose prorportions are echoed in the GT design.  However, the main Corvette influence was the C3 Corvette that entered production in 1968.

C3 Corvette, probably a car-for-sale photo. Opel GT production also began in 1968, so there surely was communication between General Motors styling staffs in the USA and Germany during development of styling.  Main similarities are the front end and fender designs.

The walkaround car below is a 1970 Opel GT 1900, photos via Gallery Aaldering.

Gallery

Another front-quarter view: compare to the Corvette image above.

Headlight assemblies rotated to exposed position.

Proportionally long hood with the driver's head positioned abaft of the wheelbase center.

No attempt made to relate the shapes of the backlight and rear-quarter windows.

Aft sculpting, bumpers and tail lights are similar to those of C3 Corvettes.

Simple shapes and no chrome trim aside from window framing.

Body is that of a coupe and not a B-pillarless hardtop.

An attractive design, very much in the 1960s General Motors idiom set by styling honcho Bill Mitchell.

As noted, quite similar in concept to the C3's front end.

What American Cars Had the Tallest 1950s Tail Fins?

I remember Chrysler Corporation publicity that tried to make a functional case for tail fins by presenting images of a Convair jet fighter (either the XF-92 or F-102) and a Gold Cup racing hydroplane, each having triangular vertical tails.

While there indeed might have been enhanced vehicle stability at high speeds due to tail fins, from a practical standpoint, they were mostly a styling gimmick.  I should add that one justification I saw in a car hobbyist magazine when tail fins were new, was that stylists could alter their shapes from one model year to the next to freshen a design.  That indeed happened.

I discussed early tail fins here, including Chrysler Corporation's 1956 models that were a transition from 1955 not-fins to the 1957 redesign that included fins as a prominant, basic feature.

As for the fin fad, it rapidly faded during the early 1960s.

Just for fun, the present post poses the question: Which American cars had the tallest tail fins when the fashion was at its height?

Gallery

1957 Chrysler Saratoga - possible car-for-sale photo
Chryslers and DeSotos had the simple fin design shown here for model year 1957.  The corporation's Plymouths and Dodges featured more elaborate designs.  The high point of the fin appears to be a short, but noticeable, distance above the cowling at the base of the windshield.  (Note that the lower edge of the body is essentially parallel to the lower frame of the image, the car being nose-heavy.)

1958 Studebaker Commander Starlight - car-for-sale photos
An example of another brand's tail fins.  These seem to be a little lower than Chrysler's, though still prominent.

1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille - car-for-sale photos
There is a Cadillac, the brand that introduced decorative tail fins on its new 1948 design.  The fins seen here are clearly taller than Chrysler's.

1957 Chrysler Saratoga - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
Now for some rear-quarter views.  This looks like the Saratoga in the photo above.  The fins appear higher  from this perspective than from the  side view.

Again, the Studebaker's fins are shorter than the Chrysler's.

While the Caddy's fins are clearly the tallest.

1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz - Broad Arrow Auctions photo
Side view of Cadillac fins on a convertible.  In recent years, they have become a cult-object, epitomizing the excesses of 1950s American styling.  That aside, they strike me as being ridiculous, a last-gasp of Harley Earl's declining abilities as GM's styling vice president before he reached mandatory retirement age.