LaSalle Grilles 1934-1940

As long-time readers of this blog know, I like grille themes and other brand-identification details that persist over many model years.  Today's example is LaSalle's grille designs used 1934-1940.  It might have persisted into 1941, but the brand was discontinued, facelifted into Cadillac's model 61.

For some background, I wrote "General Motors' Companion Cars (4): Cadillac and LaSalle" here.  The original LaSalle grille along with other styling aspects is mentioned in "Hispano-Suiza and the 1927 LaSalle" here.  That grille design theme was continued through 1932: eight model years. The only unique grille was 1933's; I posted "1933 LaSalle Walkaround" here.

The 1934-1940 grille theme lasted for seven years, but might have lasted eight, had the brand not been discontinued.  That theme is the one most people think of with respect to LaSalle.

Gallery

1927 LaSalle - photo via forums.aaca.org
The original LaSalle grille design.

1930 LaSalle - RM Sotheby's auction photo
Several model years later, the grille frame seems unchanged.

1933 LaSalle - car-for-sale photo
The transitional design.  It's wider than the 1934-1940 versions, but the grille bar theme was carried over to the redesigned 1934 cars.

1934 LaSalle - Driehaus Collection photo
The 1934 frontal design was iconic.  Besides the grille, fender chevrons continued for two more years, and vertical marks and variations on the catwalks are found most future model years.

1935 LaSalle - RM Sotheby's
Little change from '34 aside from the more substantial (but less interesting) bumper.

1936 LaSalle - via thelastdetail.com
Similar grille, but more horizontal bars.

1937 LaSalle - car-for-sale photo
LaSalles got new bodies and Cadillac V-8 motors.  The grille bars appear to be a mesh with slight horizontal dominance.

1938 LaSalle - Mecum Auctions photo
The same theme, but wider.

1939 LaSalle - car-for-sale photo
The grille was drastically narrowed for '39, the thin bars horizontal.  The vertical catwalk chrome strips cover a lower air intake opening -- a functional use for what had been brand identification decoration.

1940 LaSalle - Mecum
This is a Model 52 LaSalle on a new body design.  (Model 50s on the previous body continued in production for '40, but its front end was essentially what we see here.)  This frontal design, along with the 1934 version are what come to my mind when I think "LaSalle."

Proposed 1941 LaSalle front end design - General Motors photo
A more "squared-off" theme.  Had LaSalle continued into 1942, I think there was a good chance the vertical grille element would have disappeared.  That's because the American industry standard  at that point was bold, horizontal grilles.

Jaguar XK120 Fixed Head Coupé Walkaround

The Jaguar XK120 (Wikipedia entry here) is a classic sports car design.  It first appeared in 1948 as a roadster.  A Fixed Head Coupé (as the British put it) did not appear until the 1951 model year.

The coupé is interesting in that it carried over some of the spirit of the 1938 SS Jaguar 100 prototype coupé and the contemporary postwar Mark IV and Mark V saloons with their tight, even curved-down aft roof profiles.  In other words, a case of visual brand identification. 

The design is less pure than that of the roadster XK120s due to the added passenger greenhouse elements, but is still iconic of the marque and its times.

Featured car photos below are of a silver 1952 Jaguar Fixed Head Coupé are via Broad Arrow Auctions.

Gallery

Establishment view: note all the rounded shapes and profiles.

In contrast to the rounded hood, fender fronts and rears, greenhouse roof, trunk lid, etc., much of the sides are flat, vertical.

Side view: there is a lot of shaping activity where the top, windows, trunk and rear fender are near one another.

For some context, here is a 1951 Jaguar Fixed Head Coupé without the rear wheel opening cover (Gallery Aaldering photos).  That visual activity increases where fender skirts are absent.  Ordinarily, I prefer unskirted wheels, but skirts are better on XK120 FHCs.

The tucked down roof works well here, contrasting with the curves of the rear fender and trunk lid.

The fussiness noted above being exaggerated when rear wheels are exposed is more evident from this perspective.  Lots of visual activity in a small area.  Those flat sides create some contrast, possibly avoiding curvaceous overkill.

The rounder roof and small backlight window create an old-fashioned (1930s) appearance when seen from the rear.

I like the XK120 FHC design, but am curious how the car would look if  the lower window profile was straighter.  The window shape might possibly be a case of one curve too many.

Classic 1930s British front end elements are retained: good.

And the British wooden dashboard is a nice touch on a car that transitions from the 1930s to the 1950s.  But the steering column and steering wheel hub combination looks lethal.

The Slinky Second-Generation Chevrolet Camaro

Searching for Internet images of 1970 second-generation Chevrolet Camaros, I found almost no examples that weren't high-performance-appearing.  That is, nearly all cars up for auction or direct sale featured elaborate wheels, often sporting large tires.  Plus fancy two-tone paint schemes.  Also aft-end aerodynamic spoilers.  Putting this another way, I found almost no conventional Camaros such as a close lady friend of mine bought in 1971.  And from a styling blog standpoint, all those spoilers, paint-jobs and monster wheels obscured the basic design.  The two images above were among the best I could find showing "pure" Camaros (yes, the blue car has big wheels and tires, but no extra trim).

For an overview of early Camaro generations, see my post "Fifth-Series Chevrolet Camaros -- Searching for a Theme."

Today's post presents facelifts of the second-generation Camaro over its 12-year (1970-1981) production run.  The suggestion is offered that the basic design could be seen as a modernized classic 1953 Studebaker Starliner.

Unless noted, photos are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1970 Chevrolet Camaro SS
This car has a full-width grille, but a two-segment grille was on some cars.

Minimal chrome trim.  The B/C pillar zone is wide, restricting vision for back-seat passengers.  But it looks good.

No trunk lid spoiler, but the rest of the jazz is here, including a too-glossy paint job.

1975 Chevrolet Camaro - Gallery Aaldering photos
A large, federally mandated front bumper appeared for 1974.  This entailed a redesign of the front end, including the grille and headlight assemblies.

This car has a functional chrome strip along the side that offers some rub protection.  Doesn't improve the car's looks.

The backlight window is now panoramic, echoing General Motors' early hardtop convertible versions.

1979 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta
The big bumper is now clothed in urethane and the grille is modified.  This was an important improvement over the 1974-78 frontal design.

This car has a "T" roof.

Also a rear spoiler.

1979 Chevrolet Camaro
Compare this '79 Camaro to the Studebaker below.

1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner
A classic design.  The Camaro strikes me as having the same "feel" even though details are almost entirely different.  

Giving the 1940-1941 Graham Hollywood New Respect

1941 Graham Hollywood, Mt. Baker Washington - unknown photo source

1937 Cord 812 Westchester - for-sale-car photo
An interesting sidelight to the 1930s American automobile production/marketing/design situation was the use of basic car bodies from other carmakers.  Some of this happened previous to the Great Depression, but the best-known (in reality known mostly by folks seriously interested in automobile history) happened late in the decade.   For example, I posted "Failing Brands, Shared Body: Graham and Reo" here.  Today's post deals with the case of "Hupmobiles and Grahams with Cord Bodies" that I wrote about here.

Specifically, I'm featuring the Graham version of the facelifted, re-engineered Cord design marketed by that firm and Hupmobile.  The Hupp version sold in significantly lower numbers than the Graham Hollywood.

A Cord and Graham Hollywood are compared in the images above.  Below are images dealing with some aspects of the revised design.  In a sense, it's a mini-walkaround.  But a Walkaround post will appear later.

I need to add that, for most of my adult life, I held the Hupp/Graham design in contempt.  The Cord design was breathtaking to junior-highschool aged me when I saw a yellow sedan like the one at the top of this post cruising along Bothell Way in Seattle's Lake City Neighborhood.  The Hollywood? -- a disgrace!

Now I have mellowed.  I finally can set aside the Cord comparison and to some degree consider the Hollywood in its own right.  As this post's title states, I give it new respect.

Gallery

1941 Graham Hollywood - RM Sotheby's photos
Scattered Internet sources credit the Graham/Hupp facelift to John Tjaarda.  The grille design features a somewhat vertical element on the front of the hood and horizontal openings at the front of the catwalks.

Those freestanding headlight assemblies add visual clutter.  Worse, they were archaic style-fashion-wise in the early 1940s -- a potential marketing problem.  Otherwise, the facelift of the Cord design was largely successful.

Unlike Cord, the hood projects ahead of the fender.  And front fenders are more stubby than Cord's.  Other than a side-view such as this, there's no real aesthetic problem.

Like Cord, attractive from this perspective.

1941 Graham Hollywood - Driehaus Collection photos
The Driehaus Collection has a number of seriously fine styling examples, so having a Hollywood in the mix adds credibility to its design.

Nice view of frontal sculpting.  Essentially everything forward of the passenger compartment is the facelift.  Absent those headlights, this would be a near-classic design.

Edsel's Only Facelift

It's ancient history for most folks these days, but Ford Motor Company's 1958-1960  Edsel brand fiasco was famous.  Nevertheless, car buffs and business schools still find it of interest.

I posted "Edsel's Three Model Years" here, and "Making 1958 Edsels from 1957 Fords and Mercurys" here.  The present post builds on those, focusing on 1959 Edsel design, the brand's only facelift.  (The few 1960 Edsels were new designs, based on the redesigned 1960 Fords.)

Model year 1958 Edsels came in two body platforms.  Entry-level Edsels used Ford bodies and came in two ranges: Ranger and Pacer.  Upscale Edsels were Mercury-based: Corsairs and Citations.  But for 1959, all Edsels were Ford-based, the model line reduced to Ranger and Corsair.

For detailed coverage of the Edsel saga, read "Disaster in Dearborn: The Story of the Edsel" by Thomas E. Bonsall (Amazon link here).

It seems that Ford management was starting to sour on the project even before the 1958 models were introduced to the public in early September of 1957.  By late 1957, sales data revealed that the cars were not selling as well as anticipated.  Given the lead-time to the introduction of 1959 models, it's likely that the decision to drop Mercury-based Edsels was made some time in 1957, not 1958. 

In the Gallery below, 1958 and 1959 Edsel styling themes are compared.  Some 1959 Ford images are included to indicate changes made to create Edsels.

Gallery

1958 Edsel Corsair hardtop coupe - car-for-sale photo
A Mercury-based Edsel with the then-controversial grille design.

1959 Edsel Ranger hardtop coupe - car-for-sale photo
Frontal design was simplified.  Headlights were moved from the fender fronts to the grille zone.  The vertical grille element was somewhat integrated with the rest of the grille by adding horizontal bars.  My opinion is that this resulted in a bland Edsel-look.  I'd be tempted to put sone vertical bars in the vertical element.  That would have toned-down the original grille's visual shock while still being proudly (enough) Edsel.

1959 Ford Galaxie Club Victoria - BaT Auctions photo
The basis for 1959 Edsels, in this case a two-door hardtop.

1959 Ford Galaxie 4-door sedan - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
Galaxie was Ford's most expensive line.  For 1959, it and mid-range Fairlane 500s were given wide C-pillars in Thunderbird fashion.

1959 Ford Custom 300 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
Ford's entry-level Custom 300 line received thinner C-pillars with panoramic backlight windows.  This version was used on '59 Edsels.

1959 Edsel Ranger 4-door sedan - BaT
The Ford fenderline was retained.  Wheel openings were slightly different, along with the rear door's aft cutline.  Edsel sides received new sculpting below the fenderline and, of course, new side trim.

1959 Edsel Corsair 4-door sedan - BaT
Entry-level Ranger side trim differed from that of the senior-level Corsair shown here -- though the upper chrome pieces seem similarly placed.

1958 Edsel Pacer 4-door sedan - BaT
Original Edsel rear end design on a Ford-based body.

1959 Edsel Ranger 4-door sedan - BaT
For '59, trunk lid shaping was little changed, but not the rest of the rear.  Ford invested in some new tooling here as well as on the sides and front end.

1959 Ford Custom 300 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
Ford rear ends were clearly unlike Edsels despite having the same basic body structure.