Post- World War 2 Davis Three-Wheeler

In the USA, it seems that in every decade since 1940 somebody starts an automobile making company.  This was despite the presence of three large, strongly-established manufacturers plus some lesser firms for a while and eventually strong foreign competition.

The years immediately after the end of World War 2 witnessed a small surge of new companies hoping to successfully break into the car market.  The most successful was Kaiser-Frazer, which hung on for nearly ten years.  Perhaps the most famous failure was Tucker.

Aside from temporarily successful Kaiser-Frazer, all the other entires I can think of promoted unconventional designs based on idealistic concepts that had been considered and rejected by the mainstream firms, at least for the American market.  The startup companies that actually built a few examples were able to attract some financing, often in the form of selling dealership franchises.  In addition to essential uncertainties, the immediate postwar economic future was especially hard to predict, making such financing perhaps more risky than usual.  On the one hand, many knowledgeable people expected a renewal of the 1930s Great Depression, or at least a strong recession.  Others knew that wartime restriction of car production combined with many potential customers with saving of wartime earnings might result in strong demand for cars regardless of overall economic conditions.  As it happened, there indeed was strong demand while a recession held off until 1949.

The car featured in this post is the Davis, a three-wheeled vehicle of which 13 examples were made over 1947-49.  Its Wikipedia entry is here.  As the entry mentions, all sorts of claims were made of the car having to do with performance.  But from a styling standpoint, the most relevant claim was that it could hold four people on its single bench-type seat.  Several publicity photos were taken to demonstrate this, but the people posing were probably on the small side and were definitely crammed in.  In practice, the Davis could accommodate three people, but the four-passenger claim was probably made as an excuse for the car having only one seat instead of conventional front and back seats: that is, it could hold just as many people as small regular sedans and coupes.

Below are some publicity materials for the Davis along with three photos I took of one of the 12 surviving Davis cars, this a restored one in the Petersen automobile museum in Los Angeles.

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Cover of publicity material.

A publicity photo illustrating its supposed capacity for seating four people.  There also are four women shown in the Davis in the first image above.

A Davis posed by a T-33 Air Force trainer jet, perhaps the prototype, as it lacks a "buzz number" on the front side.  Viewers were expected to notice the similarity of nose shapes.

Here is a Davis being loaded on an Eastern Airlines DC-4 cargo plane.

Davis styling was simple, functional, and therefore somewhat dull.  The shape of the front was dictated by the fact that there was only one wheel there.  Absent is a radiator grille.  The air inlet was small and located below the bumper (it can be seen in the previous photo).

Simple rear styling was slightly relieved (and improved) by the crease running down the center.  Rear wheel spats are simple rectangular panels.

The interior was also Spartan, but in line with the Davis' intended low price point.

First and Last: Citroën Traction Avant

Citroën's Traction Avant (front wheel drive) series was in production from 1934 into 1957 with some time out during World War 2.  Over that span, there were three basic models.  The entry-level was the 7 CV (tax horsepower), the main version was the 11 CV, both models powered by four cylinder motors, and a six-cylinder 15 CV.  There were three major sedan body styles: a short four-window sedan, a somewhat longer four-window sedan and a long six-window sedan.  There also were coupés, cabriolets, and sedans with commercial vehicle features among the lesser types.

Over the long (for its time) production run, Traction Avant styling changed little.  When researching this post, I found a number of images on the internet whose model year identifications were wrong -- in at least one case, it was off by more than ten years!  Which is why the model year identifications below need to be taken with caution; I tried my best given the sources in my library, but I could easily be off by a few years.  Citroën mavens should feel free to provide corrections in comments.

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Citroën 7A of 1934 or 1935.  For 1936 grill frame brightwork was eliminated and headlights received curved lenses.

A 1934 vintage 11 CV coupé.

This 1936 11 CV seems to be a factory test car; note the lack of horn grilles and grille medallion.

A 1939 11 BL (B Légère -- short body).

By 1947, Citroën Traction Avants had louvres on their hoods rather than doors.  Headlight assemblies are painted rather than chromed.

Here is a 15 CV from 1952.  The 15s can be distinguished by the convex shaping of their grilles.

This 1955 11 CV exemplifies Citroën Traction Avant styling the year the new DS line appeared.  Horizontal front bumpers were on 11 CVs in 1951 and on 15 CVS the year before.

And in 1957 the final Traction Avant, an 11 CV, left the production line.

Updating the 2005 Chrysler 300C

For some time now, I've been thinking that I ought to write about the 2011 facelift to the Chrysler 300 series introduced for the 2005 model year.  But I couldn't quite make up my mind what to say.  And for 2015 there came another, lesser, facelift.  Now that it's 2017, more delay is hard to excuse, so here I go.

I wrote about the 2005 Chrysler 300 here.  I mentioned that the initial photos I saw were not appealing, but after seeing the cars on the streets and roads, they interested me to the point that I actually bought one.

The 2011 facelift changed the character of the design, and not in a good way, in my opinion.  It seemed like changes were made for the sake of change.  Actually, there was a new design theme, but it was not strikingly clear to me.  I'll describe it in the photo captions below.

As for the latest facelift, it marks an improvement over the previous one.  In several respects, the 2011 facelift should have used the 2015's features.  That's because the '15 returns partway to the 2005 roots, correcting what I consider the mistakes of 2011 that never should have happened.

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The 2005 Chrysler 300C.

Here is the 2011 frontal facelift.  The grille's grid pattern of bars is replaced by sculpted horizontal bars.  This softens the car's face, making it look less aggressive, a big change from what was supposed to be a "performance" car.  Apparently product planners wanted 300s to be seen as upper-medium priced town sedans rather than rubber-burning street rods.  Headlight assemblies were restyled to conform to the new fad of LED pattern creation.  Hood stampings, the strike panel and the Chrysler emblem were also changed.

The main 20015 changes were a revised strike panel, a reshaped chin air intake and a different grille.  Gone was the bright grille frame with the Chrysler wings.  The wings moved onto the grille face where the horizontal bars were replaced by a mesh design.  The overall effect is increased boldness, a partial return to the 2005 version's character.

The 2005 Chrysler 300C as seen from the rear on its way into Palm Springs, California.

The front wheel opening lip on this 2011 model is linked to a more strongly defined upper-fender character line crease.  This stronger crease destroyed the unity of the side aspect of the original design by emphasizing the contrast between the rounded wheelhouse and the rising line to the rear.  The trunk lid is new, its bottom fold aligned with the side cut line of the strike panel which also was reshaped.  The extreme rear of the fender lines are now slightly peaked, the apexes aligned with with thin, vertical accents on the tail lights.  The overall effect is increased formality and less aggression, as was the case at the front.  I always disliked these tail lights because they seemed so unlike what I expected of a 300.

For 2015, the rear features a redesigned strike panel and exhaust pipe lips.  Better yet, the tail lights revert to something like the 2005 pattern on lesser (non-300C) 300s.  As with the front, the rear seems more like a road car than a town car.  The sculpting of the side character line seems to have been reduced, bringing it more in line with 2005.

Studebaker Hawk: Second Series

As I mentioned in the previous (16 October 2017) post about the First Series Studebaker Hawks, the company was unable to afford to redesign its sedan and coupe bodies following their 1953 introduction.  So it became a matter of facelift after facelift until Studebaker left the automobile business in the mid-1960s.

This post deals with the final iteration of the classic Raymond Loewy designed Starliner coupe.  A major 1956 facelift introduced the Hawk name to the lineup: Golden Hawk, Silver Hawk, Power Hawk and Flight Hawk.  By the 1960 and 1961 model years the line had been reduced to the Silver Hawk, a coupe with a solid B-pillar.

Studebaker rolled the dice one last time in 1962 for its coupe body in the form of the Gran Turismo Hawk, a major facelift styled by industrial designer Brooks Stevens.

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This is a 1956 Sky Hawk to provide a sense of what Stevens had to work with.  The high hood and grille were retained through 1961.  Tail fins were added to Golden Hawks in 1956 and the lesser Hawks in 1957.  The 1953-vintage side sculpting was dropped in 1957.

This and the following two images are from Mecum Auctions.  Stevens retained the frontal styling aside from a few details that did modify its feeling.  The grille got more massive framing while side-grille openings lost their chromed frames.  Chrome strips were added to the tops of the fenders.

Tail fins were eliminated, so rear fenders are back about to where they are seen in the top photo above.  Stevens' major restyling was the rear part of the roof.  Aft side windows were reshaped and the wraparound backlights were replaced by flatter units.  The C-pillars were styled in Ford Thunderbird fashion to give the car a more formal appearance.

GT Hawk grilles received a nested-grid pattern for 1963.

Finally, three Mecum photos of the 1964 GT Hawk.  Grille mesh was changed and a few medallions were added.

Side view.  After all those post-1953 changes, it's still a nice looking car.

The main 1964 change was a smoothed-off trunk lid.

Studebaker Hawk: First Series

Aside from its low-volume, fiberglass-bodied Avanti built in 1962-63, Studebaker could not afford to develop completely new designs.  Instead, it had to rely on its 1953 sedan and coupe designs for the rest of its existence as an automobile manufacturer.  This post deals with the first version of the Hawk line, introduced for the 1956 model year as a successor to its classical Starliner coupe.

Wikipedia deals with the top-of-the-line Golden Hawk model here.  And I posted about Studebaker's hellish 1955 facelift of the Starliner coupe here.  That, in turn, led to the 1956 facelift that became the Hawk.

Hawks were given a small facelift for 1957 and until the 1962 model year changes were trivial.   What I'm calling the Second Series Hawk appeared as a major facelift for 1962.  I will deal with that in a later post.

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This is a 1955 Studebaker Speedster, a Starliner with a restyled grille and hood, plus lesser trim changes.  Photo from Branson Auction.

And here is a 1956 Golden Hawk.  Again, there is a new hood and grille.  The vertical grille was a bold step at the time, because styling fashion called for wide grilles.  This photo and the one below are from Mecum Auctions.

The Golden Hawk was given tail fins -- this for the same model year that Chrysler Corporation was introducing them as facelift items on its 1955 redesign.  The Hawk trunk styling was also new.

This is a 1956 Power Hawk, a coupe with a B-pillar and a V-8 motor.

A '56 Sky Hawk pillarless coupe with a six cylinder motor.  Rounding out the line was the Flight Hawk, a six with a B-pillar.

Tail fins became better integrated for 1957.  The side sculpting from 1953 has been eliminated.  I consider this the most attractive First Series Hawk.

Auctions America photo of a 1958 Golden Hawk.  Grids have been added to the side grille openings and a different medallion is on the main grille.

This 1958 Golden Hawk has a horizontal bar in each of the side grilles.  Mecum photo.

Golden Hawks were gone by 1959.  What remained was the Silver Hawk with its fixed B-pillar.  Parking lights have moved from atop the fenders to the side grilles.  Mecum photo.

This "for sale" photo shows a 1960 Silver Hawk.  The grille medallion has been moved and a few chrome bits added to the fore end of the tail fin ensemble.

Another "for sale" photo, this for a 1961 Silver Hawk.  The medallion has moved again, but that's the only change I notice.  Big things were coming for 1962, however.

Chrysler's Europe-Oriented 300M

Back in 2001 I was in London, strolling through the Eaton Square area, when to my surprise I noticed a Chrysler 300M.  As I now discover reading its Wikipedia entry, it turns out that the 300M was originally conceived as an Eagle Vision scaled to a five-meter European size class with the idea that it could be exported to Europe more easily.  It was an LH platform car, but was noticeably shorter than domestic LH platform Chryslers because front and rear overhang were trimmed.  Because the Eagle brand was dropped, it was rebadged as a Chrysler 300 even though it lacked the high performance engineering expected of 300 models.

The 300M was produced for model years 1999-2004.  For 2005 it was replaced by a new 300 line that remains in production as this post was drafted.

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1998 Chrysler Concorde, an LH platform car from which the 300M was derived.

A 1999 Chrysler 300M. The hood, headlight assemblies, grille and front cap are different.  Note the vertical cut lines forward of the front wheel openings; the 300M's is closer to the opening than the Concorde's.

Side view of a 300M.

Rear 3/4 view of a 2002 Chrysler Concorde.

The shaved-down rear of the 300M.  I think Chrysler stylists did a better job here than at the front, which strikes me as being a bit forced.

Cadillac's 1948 Redesign Brand Image Continuity

I point out in my e-book "How Cars Faced the Market" that upscale makes tend to maintain visual brand identification continuity over a body redesign transition.  I dealt here with example of top-of-the-line Oldsmobiles that received General Motors' new C-body for the 1948 model year.  It turned out that Oldsmobile stylists did a good job of carrying over the grille theme and side trim to the new shape.

The only other GM division using the 1948 C-body that model year was Cadillac.  The present post treats how Cadillac made its transition from 1947.

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To set the stage, here are two Hyman auction photos of a 1947 Cadillac 62.  Details to consider include the grille, chromed side trim and the backlight window.

I'm also including this Bonhams photo of a '47 62 Cabriolet because this car has the more common running lights that flank the grille.

Front view of a 1948 Cadillac via Mecum Auctions.  Its grille retains egg-crate gridding, a theme used by Cadillac for many decades.  The stacked, two-level profile of the grille is carried over, but the opening is smaller and the design is simplified.  The V-plus-crest theme at the front of the hood is retained, though details vary.  The rectangular flanking running lights are another carryover.

Side trim is quite similar for both model years, especially the rock-guard-plus-strip on the rear fender.  Also, aside from the chrome panel by the front wheel opening, both designs otherwise lack major side brightwork.

The rear has the least brand retention compared to 1947.  Placement of the V-plus-crest on the trunk as well as the hood serves as brand identification (the tail fins became a strong Cadillac symbol, but this wasn't known when the car was styled).  The one aft-end carryover is the three-piece backlight theme.  All things considered, the Oldsmobile team maintained brand consistency somewhat better than did Cadillac stylists.  Barrett-Jackson photo.