Those that are linked are where the Hemmings Daily posts SIA Flashbacks. This is a fine feature since SIA is long gone, yet its content is often pure gold for automobile history buffs. One article yet to appear on the Internet is from SIA #39 titled "Body Politics" by Richard Howard Stout. The title seems a bit misleading because it goes into great detail regarding how General Motors B and C body elements in the early 1950s could be arranged and rearranged to yield designs with different impacts. I found this fascinating, and I think it should be of great interest to readers of this blog. Especially helpful are the fine illustrations by Harry Bradley.
By the mid-1950s Stout was working at Ford Motor Company and created presentation material largely like that in the article. It opened management eyes to ways of making better use of body resources. A byproduct of this revelation (that's what it was) was aiding people who were pushing a concept that resulted in the Edsel brand.
A big problem for me is that, even though the article appeared more than 40 years ago, it is surely still under copyright. Yet due to its importance (as I see it) I'll risk presenting scans of it below in the hope that Hemmings will see fit to post their own, better scans on their site in the near future.
Be aware that if Hemmings asks me to delete this post, I will do so.
The images below can be enlarged, but the scan quality is such that the text can be hard to read in places.
1 comment:
Whew!!! what a mental workout. I have to reread this a couple of times and use a triangle to show the relationships of door to wheel etc. What has always puzzled me is the relationship of the bodies of the 1954-56 and 1957-58 Olds 88 and 98 bodies. Wheelbase and rear overhang.
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