"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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.