Oldsmobile's Mid-1950s Facelifts

A while ago I wrote about the extensive Buick facelifts during its 1954-1956 bodies' production cycle.  I mentioned:

"The idea [of facelifting] was to make the next year's model different enough from the existing one that potential buyers would be pleased to be seen driving a car that was truly 'new.'  And drivers of previous-years cars might be made to feel that their car was 'old,' and so be tempted to replace it with a 'new' one.

"That was what stylists referred to when they said that the first design on a multi-year production run was the most 'pure' -- the often-arbitrary facelifting degrading that purity.

"Another purpose for facelifting was to preview some styling features that were set to appear on the next complete redesign.

"So what often happened for three or four year production cycles would be as follows.  The first model year would feature the supposedly 'pure' design.  Intermediate years would find arbitrary detail changes.  The final-year styling would include a few 'preview' details.  An example is its Pontiac brand for model years 1955-1957."

Perhaps because General Motors was prosperous during the 1950s, those non-trivial Buick facelifts were justified for marketing reasons.  Also, as my post indicated, planned future changes regarding grilles and front bumpers were considered while the 1954 design was still gestating and then implemented for the 1955 intermediate model year facelift.

Something similar, but less drastic, was the case for Oldsmobile during that same 1954-1956 production cycle.

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1953 Oldsmobile Super 88 2-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
Oldsmobile styling for the final year of the previous body production.

1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe - car-for-sale photo
GM's new B- and C-bodies were, at their introduction, seen as futuristic, especially due to their wraparound (panaormic) windshields.  To maintain brand identity, Olds stylists carried over important details from the 1953 design.  These themes included the grille shape, bumper guards and side chrome trim.

1955 Oldsmobile 88 2-door sedan - Gallery Aaldering photo
Facelifted Oldsmobiles got an oval-shaped grille and somewhat split front bumpers.  The side trim theme was replaced.

1956 Oldsmobile 88 2-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
The final year of the body found a cleaned-up grille whose oval opening was surrounded by a massive bumper.  Side trim was changed again.

1953 Oldsmobile Super 88 2-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
Now for rear end changes and similarities.

1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe - Mecum Auctions photo
Tail lights and backup lights are similar to those on '53 Oldsmobiles.

1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe - car-for-sale photo
No intermediate-year change at the rear aside from the bumper.

1956 Oldsmobile 88 2-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
Aft edge of the fender are slightly extended.  Tail lights and backup lights are in the same positions, but reshaped a little.

Classic Porsche 986 Boxster, Non-Classic 718 Boxster

I probably confess much too often that I once owned a Porsche 914.  It was powered by a Volkswagen motor located between the back of the driver's seat and the rear axle.  That qualified it as a "mid-engine" car.

Porsche's next mid-engine production car was the Boxster roadster launched in 1996 and its Cayman coupé variant marketed for the 2006 model year.  The Wikipedia entry for those is here.

Today's post compares the Boxster's original design with that currently in production.  Photos of the 1996 Porsche 986 are of a car listed for sale.  Those of the circa-2016 Porsche 718 are from Porsche or its publicity contractors.

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1996 Porsche 986 Boxster
A pleasant, functional design including bits of characteristically Porsche details such as the headlight assemblies.  If I had had the money to buy one, I would have been greatly tempted. 

2016 Porsche 718 Boxster
Details aside, the basic body is not much different from the original.  But those details matter, and not necessarily in a good way.  The overall effect is more crisp thanks to tighter-radius curving and rectangular openings below the bumper.  The earlier design flows better.

The only questionable detail here is the side air intake.  Its location and size were probably largely determined by engineering considerations.  And its curved shape in is tune with body curvatures.  Somehow, I want something different, yet don't quite know what.

A much larger intake here, blended into the body by sculpting.  But the side sculpting detracts from the purity found on the 1996 design.  I think the wheel openings for the larger-diameter wheels are too large aesthetically, though they're probably justified for performance reasons.

The only styling-purity flaw here is that the aft trunk/engine access lid's aft cutline does not relate to the tail light assemblies.

That defect is somewhat cured here at the cost of increased detail fussiness in conformity with recent styling fads.  Though it could have been worse.

Winston Churchill's 1939 Daimler Drophead Coupé

This post is one of several dealing with English Daimler cars that were sporty, rather than formal Royal Family types.  The subject is a 1939 Daimler DB18 Drophead Coupé, body by Carlton.  The Wikipedia entry for Daimler DB18 is here.

That entry (as of late April 2024) mentions: "In 1939, Winston Churchill commissioned Carlton Carriage Co to build a drophead coupe on a DB18 chassis, chassis No.49531.  He used it during election campaigns in the later 1940s."

That does not seem to be so.  Several other sources state that Churchill never owned the car.  According to this:

"Chassis 49531 – resplendent in Carlton Carriage Company bodywork – was retained by the Daimler company itself until 1950, so that it could be used for special occasions.  These occasions included two separate loans to Winston Churchill, once in 1944 and once in 1949, during which he sat on the rear deck to address the crowds as he was driven through various cities, helped by large speakers temporarily attached to the bonnet."

Setting its provenance aside, it's an attractive car combining traditional British features with "streamlined" details current in Europe in the late 1930s.

Unless noted, images below are via RM Sotheby's auction house.

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I don't know the sourcce of this news photo of Chrurchill campaigning in the car.

Unlike the competing Rolls-Royce, Daimler's grille ensemble is more rounded, blending -- rather than contrasting -- with the curvy body.  I think contrast can work just as well from a composition viewpoint.  it all depends on how the design is done.

The two-tone paint scheme is somewhat unusual in the it is not based on body sculpting or chrome outlining aside from abaft of the rear wheel.  I suppose some design purists might complain that its use here is not "functional."  I think it's effective.  An interesting touch is the chrome sculpting across the upper part of the door.

Speaking of contrasts, the hood is tall and straight, whereas the aft is rounded downwards.  The paint scheme and chrome strip add to the sense of falling away from the car's frontal section.

Rear quarter view showing the top raised.  Note the unusual design of the rear wheel spat combining circularity with echoing of the rear fender's upper profile.  As noted, here is where the two-tone paint relates to body detail shaping.

Side view with top raised.  The wheelbase is on the short side for a Daimler, being 114 inches (2900 mm).  This results in a fairly short hood.

Interior view via the Daily Mail.

1947 Dodge Four-Door Sedan Walkaround

Try to picture this.  It's Fall, 1948 and you are in Seattle.  You're on your way to an evening Cub Scout Den meeting.  Of course it's raining.  Maple leaves are scattered on the wet grass and pavement.  The scene is lighted by glows from living room windows along the darkened street.  The big, solid-looking car arrives.  Doors open.  You stretch your leg to reach that high running board.  Then you are aboard, safe and secure in the large, warm, dry interior.

I can picture that because that's the way I remember it.  To this day, I have an appreciation for mid-size American sedans of that vintage, even though they have become something of a footnote in automobile styling history.  A footnote because they were facelifted prewar styles awaiting circa-1949 redesigns.

The example car I selected for this post is a 1947 Dodge.  Dodges were slotted into Chrysler Corporation's brand hierarchy between entry-level Plymouth and the more upscale DeSotos and Chryslers.

Images are of a car listed for sale.

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Prewar Chrysler Corporation cars' front fenders extended only to the leading edge of the front doors.  Postwar Plymouths retained that, while Dodges and the rest featured the extensions onto the doors as seen here.

The fastback profile is not a smooth curve downwards toward the rear bumper.  Instead, it subtly flows.

Rear fenders have a cut-line attachment.  This didn't improve appearance, but removability might have saved some money repairing fender damage.

That's a brake light in the assembly above the license plate.  Chrysler abandoned this feature for 1949, but high brake lights were later regulated into use by the U.S. government.

This view also illustrates the fastback shaping.

Side chrome trim elements are all horizontal.

Note the contrast between the V-shape hood plan and the squared-off plan-view flat fender tops and catwalk zone.

Postwar Chrysler Corporation grilles were "busy" in terms of multiple grille bars.  This worked due to the contrast with the otherwise fairly plain body.

1952 Ford Greenhouse: From USA to UK and Germany

Post- World War 2, Ford's European subsidiaries' styling differed from designs originating in Dearborn.  Well, that was the general rule, but there were a few exceptions.  Some models received Thunderbird-like broad C-pillars, a simple modification for many basic designs.

But there was one major exception where passenger compartment greenhouses closely mimicked those of U.S. Ford sedans.

Examples are shown below.

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1952 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan - Mecum Auctions
American Fords were redesigned for the 1952 model year.

1962 Ford Zephyr Mk. II 4-door saloon - car-for-sale photo
Proportions differ, but the window design of this 4-door Zephyr saloon is nearly the same as in the '52 Ford in the previous image.

1952 Ford Customline Tudor Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Here is a 1952 Ford 2-door sedan.

1960 Ford Taunus 17 M 2-door - car-for-sale photo
And a German version (disregard the C-pillar chrome trim).

1952 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan - Mecum Auctions
Front-quarter view.

1959 Ford Zodiac Mk. II 2-door saloon - via Rods'n'Sods UK
Note the similarities of the water gutters above the various windows on this and the preceding car.

1952 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan - Mecum Auctions
Rear-quarter view.

1962 Ford Zephyr Mk. II 4-door saloon - car-for-sale photo
Again, the same window shapes.  European Fords were smaller than the American variety, so tooling was different, not re-used Dearborn stuff.
What puzzles me is how this similarity came to be.  Perhaps some European Ford styling was done in America -- or maybe some American stylists were working overseas at the time.  Maybe the Europeans thought that the 1952 Ford greenhouse was worth copying.  Knowledgeable readers are encouraged to comment on this matter.

Bentley Pourtout/Embiricos-Inspired Homage Roadster

Featured here is the 1936 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre homage to the Pourtout crafted "Embiricos" coupé designed by Georges Poulin.  This roadster version was constructed by Chalmers & Gathings.  Some background on the 1938 coupé is here.  The roadster by Chalmers and Gathings was based on a 1936 Bentley 4 1/4 litre car with serial number B25GP and engine number N8BU.

Hemmings had information regarding the homage car here, including:

"An award-winning one-of-a-kind car, this Bentley was designed and built over an eighteen-year period, conceived, and developed by its enthusiastic first owner, a graduate of Art Center College of Design (the premier automobile design college) and founder of his own design office.  A longtime Bentley enthusiast and prior long-term R-Type Continental owner, his love of Bentley cars spanned more than thirty years including ownership of many Derby Bentleys and a one-off Vanvooren drophead that placed second in class at Pebble Beach under his ownership.

"Initially penned as a series of design drawings in 1992, the commissioning owner, designer, and builder of this 4 ¼ liter Derby Bentley began construction in 1993.  The original donor car was outfitted with Gurney Nutting coachwork which was sold to another enthusiast for use in a separate restoration.  The rolling chassis and driveline were comprehensively restored over the next eight years in the talented hands of dedicated craftsmen at MD Coachworks in Van Nuys, CA.  Concurrent to the detailed and authentic running chassis restoration, Art Center collaborators and the commissioning owner prepared full scale lofts for fabrication of a wooden body buck and ash frame, both of which were constructed by Doug Chalmers.  The all-aluminum body was hand fabricated using the master body bucks by expert metal craftsman Bill Gathings, thus creating the name Chalmers & Gathings, in keeping with coach work traditions.  The resultant exquisite body work is inspired by the work of Georges Paulin, a prolific designer including the masterwork “Embiricos Bentley” from which this car evokes a great deal of influence in both style and proportion."

I need to note that some observers hate the practice of creating retro cars, even when based on source period components, such as the situation here.  I am ambivalent on the issue.  The present case is essentially the figurative removal of the coupé's passenger compartment greenhouse to create a roadster or cabriolet.  Topless cars of almost any sort can be more attractive (if less practical) than closed-body versions with all the shaping and detailing such greenhouses require.  The homage car here is very attractive, as can be seen in the images below.

Photos of the homage car are via Hemmings.

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1938 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre 'Embiricos' Special by Pourtout - unknown date of photo.

Rear quarter view of the 1938 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre 'Embiricos' Special by Pourtout - unknown photo source.  Compare fender area details with those of the homage roadster in the photos below.

Frontal styling is the same, aside from the roadster's lack of a bumper.

The cockpit is short, and there's no compartment for a canvas top that I can see.

Compare this quarter view with that of the Pourtout car above.  Both cars feature catwalk areas next to high, peaked, teardrop-shaped fenders fore and aft.  The forward catwalk design is of particular interest.

Buried in those wide catwalks are tapered headlight assemblies that echo fender plan-views -- but without the trailing crease.

Overhead view showing the tapered fender and boat-tail trunk elements.

The windshield differs from the original, but is in keeping with a sporty 1930s style.

British Ford Mark III Zephyrs and Zodiacs

I don't watch television much, but when I do it tends to be British police series in settings of decades ago such as this one.  Its setting is the mid-1960s to early '70s.  Of course the cars used by the featured players as well as background vehicles are period-correct, as best I can tell.

It happens that I've been car-conscious as long as I can remember.  But didn't become seriously so until the 1950s when I passed through junior high school, high school and most of my time at university, then in the 1960s while in the Army and grad school.  Those were years when automobile styling was particularly varied and interesting both in Europe and the USA.  Those American car designs are seared into my memory, the foreign ones not so much.  The foreign cars I know fairly well are the ones imported to America along with exotic ones featured in Road & Track magazine and elsewhere.

On the television program cited above, many of the cars shown were not imported to the USA.  I was particularly struck by a rear-quarter view of a car that seemed large, luxurious and like nothing I'd seen before.  It was a British Ford Zodiac Mk. III saloon from 1962-1966, the executive version of the Ford Zephyr (Wikipedia entry here).  The reality was less large and luxurious that it first seemed.  Wheelbase was 107 inches (2718 mm) -- not small, yet hardly in 2019 Bentley Flying Spur territory: 125.7 inches (3194 mm).  That said, it looked impressive on TV next to more everyday English cars in the same scene.

Styling credit for Mark III Zephyrs and Zodiacs goes to Roy Brown, who survived his background of having been in charge of Ford's Edsel styling.

Lets' take a look.

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1964 Ford Zodiac Mk. III - Bonhams Auctions photo
This was the appearance I noticed on that TV show.  What caught my eye besides its unfamiliarity were the angular rear fenders, the six-window passenger greenhouse, and those horizontal chrome strips.

Zephyr/Zodiac advertisement
Showing side views of the Mark III design.  The main difference is that the Zephyr has four windows and a Ford Thunderbird style wide C-pillar.

1962 Ford Zephyr 4 Mk. III - factory photo
This is the four-cylinder Zephyr with its simple grille.

1962 Ford Zephyr 6 Mk. III - factory photo
Six-cylinder Zephyr grilles had a central, vertical divider and more elaborate framing.

Tailfins had largely disappeared from American cars by 1962, but Brown's Zephyr/Zodiac retained them in modest form.  The overall design is simple and nearly ornamentation-free.  Those fins are tied to some subtle beltline-area sculpting.

1959 Ford Zephyr Zodiac Mk. II - car-for-sale photo
Dropping back a few years.  The horizontal strips at the rear were introduced to better distinguish Zodiacs from Zephyrs and were carried over to the Mark IIIs.  Note that the passenger greenhouse window design is quite similar to that of 1952 American Fords.

1966 Ford Zodiac Mk. III - Historics Auctioneers photos
Now for an abbreviated walkaround.  Zodiacs were given quad-headlights (ugh!) and a different grille bar theme.

Besides those chrome strips, taillight assemblies differ slightly from Zephyr's.

Like American cars, the hood (bonnet) is comparatively short and the trunk (boot) long.  The C-pillar seems almost too insubstantial: this was before rollover safety became an important matter.

Given the simplicity of the body design, that grille strikes me as overly flashy.  A touch of chrome trim on the sides would create less contrast, add better visual balance.