Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow: Aimed at the Future

The Great Depression was in full force.  The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company luxury automobile maker in Buffalo, New York was on a fatal downward trajectory despite being under the control of Studebaker, which also was suffering.

Those times forced carmakers to abandon slow product changes in an effort to attract customers.  The result was that the decade of the 1930s saw the most radical change in the appearance of production cars ever in that span of time.

Pierce-Arrow did its part by creating the Silver Arrow, a show car for the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress fair.  A few were made to that design, and some more conventional looking Silver Arrows were built by Studebaker.

The Silver Arrow's stylist was Phillip O. Wright, who years later designed the Aero Willys cars.

Background information regarding the Silver Arrow can be found here on RM Sotheby's web site related to a Silver Arrow they had up for auction.

Unless identified otherwise, the photos below were taken by me several years ago at the Blackhawk museum in Danville, California.

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1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow, Barrett-Jackson auction photo.  Wright retained the 1933 Pierce-Arrow grille design, but raked it back slightly and shaped the lower part into a very modest shovel form.  The brand's traditional headlights-atop-the-fenders feature was also retained, though he extended the headlight housings far to the rear.  In sum, the front of the car that must have seemed radical in 1933 strikes one now as being its most old-fashioned design aspect.

For about as long as I can remember, observers have commented that the Silver Arrow "predicted" the fender design of General Motors' initial postwar restyling.  Perhaps "anticipated"might be a better term, but the relationship is clear when comparing the first image above and this one of a 1948 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 fastback.  Surely Harley Earl and members of his styling team were aware of the Silver Arrow design, but I cannot say that they consciously copied it.  More likely, the combination of a swept back front fender and distinct rear fenders was one logical way to deal with "envelope" bodies.  This fender theme was being explored around 1940 by Italy's Touring coach building firm, another possible inspiration.  (The 1947 Studebaker line also had such fenders, but the basic '48 GM C-body design was probably nearly set by the time those Studebakers were revealed in June of 1946.)

Side view via RM Sotheby's.  From the aft edge of the front wheelwell to the rear of the car, the styling was nearly ten years ahead of its time.  Note the taut lines of the fastback, windows and side trim.  Very impressive considering that design work was done in 1932.

Silver Arrows must have seemed highly futuristic when viewed from this angle -- just what a show car needed.  But looked at 85 years later, the tapering of the main body seems impractical due to the resulting small trunk.  Of course, integral trunks are rare indeed in 1933, and the taper doubtless was inspired  because of its supposed aerodynamic quality.  More questionable is the odd-looking back window design, possibly a consequence of the glass forming technology state of the art back then.  I think Wright could have come up with a decent-looking backlight using two larger planes and a touch of sculpting to frame them.

General Motors' 1959 Four-Door Hardtops

During most of the 1940s and 1950s General Motors produced cars using one or another of three basic bodies -- the term "platform" is used today, carrying some of the previous meanings of "body."

GM's A Body was used for its entry-level (and by far its best-selling) brand, Chevrolet.  Most or all Pontiacs (depending on the year) used this body too.  Entry-level Oldsmobiles also sometimes had A bodies.  The B Body was sometimes used by Pontiac and always for many Oldsmobile and Buick models.  C bodies were for upscale GM models: all Cadillacs and senior Buicks (Supers and Roadmasters), and around 1950 for Oldsmobile Ninety-Eights as well.

A while back I posted this fascinating Special-Interest Autos magazine article dealing with GM's use of its B and C bodies around 1950.  Definitely worth reading.

General Motors styling hit the wall in the 1957 and 1958 model years when Harley Earl lost his touch, no longer having a sense of styling trend directions.  One result was declining sales.  Another was a crash project to correct this starting with the 1959 model year.

To make this happen, GM dropped its three-body policy and used a single body for all five brands.

By "single body," this includes detail variations by type -- hardtop convertibles, station wagon, two- and four-door sedans and such, each variation used from Chevrolets all the way up the hierarchy to Cadillac with few exceptions.

The present post illustrates this using four-door hardtop (lacking the above-the-beltline B pillar) models from each brand. Unless otherwise noted, images are of cars posted for sale on the internet.

To set the scene, I first show examples of 1958 model year A, B and C body hardtops.

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A Body: Pontiac Star Chief Catalina Sedan.

B Body: Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Sedan.

C Body: Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs were redesigned for 1957.  Chevrolets and Pontiacs were all-new for 1958, a highly unusual one-year-only run terminated by the need for fresh styling in 1959.  All the bodies used the same wraparound windshield style and their cowlings look like they might have been the same.  The similar beltlines are not structural, mostly a corporate style signature.  Definite differences are in the C-pillars, back windows, and the size of the passenger compartments.  All this changed for 1959.

* * * * *

Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan: wheelbase 119 inches (3023 mm).  Observe in the following photos that passenger greenhouses and doors are consistent across all brands in 1959, while wheelbase and overall lengths differ.

Pontiac Catalina Vista Sedan via RD Classics: Wheelbase 122 inches (3099 mm).

Buick Electra 4-door hardtop: wheelbase 123 inches (3124 mm).

Pontiac Bonneville Vista Sedan: Wheelbase 124 inches (3150 mm).

Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday Sedan, Mecum Auctions photo: Wheelbase 126.3 inches (3208 mm).

Cadillac Sixty-Two four-Window Sedan: Wheelbase 130inches (3302 mm).

The Chevrolet again, for comparison with the Cadillac.  The Cadillac's wheelbase is 11 inches (280 mm) longer.

1952 Packard Pan American Show Car

Following the December 1950 appearance of General Motors' Le Sabre "dream car" (see my post about that here), other American automobile makers soon began coming up with their own versions of what are now called "concept cars."  Some of these, even from GM (the 1953 Pontiac Parisienne, for example), were little more than customized production cars.  One of those was Packard's 1952 Pan American.

Some background in formation on the Pan American can be found here, here and here.

The Pan American was essentially a customized 1951 Packard 250 convertible.  It was built by the Henney Motor Company, maker of ambulances, hearses and other special body type conversions of production cars.  It styling has been credited to Richard Arbib, who was an employee of Henney at the time.  The Pan American was well received, and at least five more were built, some of which survive.

The Pan American, which was too expensive to productionize, led to the more conventional Packard Caribbean extra-sporty convertible line produced 1953-1956.

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Publicity photo of the Pan American.  The 250 convertible body was "sectioned" (a horizontal strip removed).  Its hood was replaced by one with an air scoop.  The grille was given different upper framing and grid elements were placed in the central units.  Its back seat was removed to make it a two or three passenger car.  The initial Pan American had no convertible top, partly because its construction was a rush-job to get it into the New York auto show.

View showing grille details.

As a design, the main shortcoming was that the removal of the back seat was not accompanied by a shortening of the wheelbase.  That is, its tail -- the zone abaft of the passenger compartment -- is a little longer than it should be in terms of good proportions.  The addition of the "continental" spare tire kit seen here added to this problem.

1951 Packard 250 Convertible, for sale photo.  This was the kind of Packard used for conversion to the Pan American.

Mecum auctions photo of a 1953 Packard Caribbean.  Its body and ground clearance are stock.  The main difference is the hood with an air scoop and lack of side trip aside from the chrome at the bottom edge and surrounding the wheel openings.

Quarter view, same car.  The round rear wheel opening is a Caribbean exclusive for 1953.   Caribbeans had continental kits as standard equipment for 1953 and 1954: later Caribbeans did not.

Fading Away: 1936-1939 Lincoln K

The Great Depression hasn't ended, though the economy has been slowly improving.  You are in charge of a large car maker's luxury brand that just introduced a line of upper-medium price models featuring advanced styling that promises to sell much better than your expensive V-12 line.  You could drop the latter, but that could cheapen your brand's hard-won image.  Or you might choose to retain that luxury line even though sales prospects are not good.

As you can tell from this post's title, the subject is the Lincoln K model.  Edsel Ford, Lincoln's president, opted to continue building K-series cars following the 1936 introduction of the Lincoln Zephyr.  I wrote about Zephyr's first restyling here.

Lincoln Ks were redesigned for 1937, their front fenders and headlight assemblies given a Zephyr touch.  But demand for a very expensive line of cars, many of which were given low-production bodies by major coachbuilders, continued to weaken.  The last Model Ks were built in 1939 and a few were sold as 1940 models.

This post shows some 1936-1939 designs, some with factory bodies and not the semi-customs just noted.  As will be seen, little effort was made to facelift these low-production cars.

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1936 Lincoln K Sedan - Mecum Auctions
A pre-redesign Lincoln K from the model year the Zephyr was introduced.  The car in the photo lacks windshield wipers and door handles, but otherwise seems complete enough.

1937 Lincoln K Limousine - for sale in Germany
The redesigned K.  This Limousine has a factory body with six side-windows,  The windshield is a two-piece V'd affair.  Front fenders and headlight assemblies appear to be those made for Zephyrs -- an inexpensive way to made Ks seem more modern as well as strengthening brand identity across two dissimilar designs.

1937 Lincoln K Limousine - Mecum

1937 Lincoln K Sedan - RM Auctions
Side views of a Limousine and what seems to be called a two-window sedan.  The factory body is the same aside from the number of windows and the shape of the aft doors.

1938 Lincoln K Limousine - Barrett-Jackson Auctions
This, and at least one other 1938 Limousine I found on the Internet, feature a flat, one-piece windshield.  The rest of the passenger compartment differs from the factory body shown above, looking a lot like the 1936 car in the first image -- note the windshield wipers mounted at the top and the shape of the windshield.  Perhaps some leftover '36 bodies were still used in 1938 with a dash of customizing.  The front of the car is unchanged from 1937 aside from the vents on the side of the hood.

1939 Lincoln K Limousine - Mecum
The final production year for the Lincoln K.  Few were made, and there is no obvious facelifting.

1939 Lincoln K Willoughby Sport Sedan - Bonhams Auctions
A coachbuilder '39 K.  The body looks like that of a 1937 factory sedan with less-rounded side windows.  Not far from mainstream 1939 styling fashions, but this would have seemed out of date by 1940.

Maybach Zeppelin Stromlinien by Spohn

I am not sure where the above photo was taken.  It might have been at the Maybach works in Friedrichshafen or perhaps at the Spohn coachbuilders facility not far away.  Regardless, the subject of this post is at the right of that slightly blurred photo.  It is the 1932 Maybach DS8 Typ Zeppelin Stromlinien, body by Spohn.

Brief background on the Zeppelin line is here, and a fairly detailed treatment of the car is here.

As the latter link mentions, only one such car was built, and it was destroyed in a bombing raid during World War 2.  All that remains are a few black and white photos of it, most of which are displayed below.

The Stromlinien (streamliner) does not follow the Jaray teardrop streamlining style.  That makes me wonder if the body shape was tested in a wind tunnel at the nearby Zeppelin works.  If not, it most likely would have been sketched by a designer at Spohn or perhaps a Maybach engineer.

Regardless, its style was advanced for its time as well as being more attractive than Jaray  streamliners.  The most obvious feature is the pontoon fender, envelope body design that began appearing on European road racing cars such as the BMW 328 MM in the late 1930s and on American production sedans not long after the war.  Other style features were less advanced, as will be noted in captions below.

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Front quarter view.  The grille is traditional, modified only by its shovel shape.  Given the large V-12 motor and its need for a large radiator, it might not have been possible to design a lower hood with a different grille.  Headlights are separate elements and not blended into the body like those on 1934 Chrysler Airflows.

Side view showing the curved fender line and the fastback aft end of the car.  The passenger compartment looks good from this angle.  Doors are hinged on the B-pillar that is probably wider below the beltline than on the greenhouse.

However, this rear quarter view depicts a less-graceful aft.  The central windsplit is a nice touch on some designs, but does not work its magic here.  That's because the fastback area is so wide that the windsplit is overwhelmed by all that real estate.  A one-piece backlight plus some trimming might have been a better solution.  Note the dual trunk lids -- integral trunks of any kind on four-door sedans were rare in 1932.

Aft view of car.  Heavy looking.  Note that the "fenders" are really little more than small, sculpted extensions of the envelope body.

Another quarter view.  The paint job seen here and in all the previous photos has the sides and hood dark and the upper areas light.  The images below show the car in a reversed paint scheme.  Perhaps they date a year or two later, as they find the car at a show, likely Berlin's.

The Maybach area with the Stomlinien and a V-12 motor on display.

Closer view of the car.  The dark paint and reflected lighting give the fastback area a more graceful appearance than in the previous images showing the light paint there.

Another view, this also taken a day or so before the automobile show opened.  A photographer can be seen in the background, and the V-12 motor is draped.  The aft windows are not rectangular, as now can be easily noticed.

Frontal view taken the same day: some cars in the background are draped.

General Motors' New 1961 Compact Cars and Standard Models

Model year 1961 saw major new designs from General Motors.  Swept away were panoramic (wraparound) windshields.  Nearly eliminated were tailfins.  But the big news was the launch of smaller cars for Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick that were generally called "compacts."  Production of larger, "standard size" cars continued, the compacts being an adjunct brought to life in reaction to increasing sales of smaller cars in America.

The bodies of GM's compact line differed noticeably from those of standard models.  So the obvious styling tactic was to place brand identification cues on the compacts so as to link them to the host brands in the minds of potential buyers.

How this was attempted is shown below.

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First, Pontiac.  Its compact line was named Tempest.  The first image appears to be a factory photo of a coupe, the second is a "for sale" photo of a coupe's rear quarter.

Here are standard size Pontiacs, a Ventura hardtop coupe (Mecum auctions) and a Catalina four-door sedan for sale.  1961 was the second year of Pontiac's to-be-traditional two-segment grille theme.  The first model year was 1959, but 1960 Pontiacs had a different theme.  The designs differ, with Tempests having oval-shaped openings that harken to BMW grilles, whereas standard Pontiac grilles were more angular.  Rear-end styling was similar in that both versions had tail lights with the same basic shape along with a recessed panel setting for them.

The smaller Oldsmobile was called the F-85, seen here respectively in factory and "for sale" photos.  The shoulder level character sculpting seems the same as that of the Tempest.  There is additional sculpting reinforcing the side chromed strip.  These features are absent on standard Oldsmobiles.

Standard size Olds' shown above are of the same Dynamic 88 Holiday Sedan offered for sale.  Unlike Pontiac, Oldsmobile's grille theme is found on both compact and standard cars.  Otherwise, the designs are different.

Buick resurrected the Special name for its compact line. The upper photo is a car show view of a four-door sedan, the lower is of the same model in a factory image.  The strong side sculpting is largely the same as that of the F-85: differences are at its front and rear.

The Standard 1961 Buick images here are of the same Invicta hardtop sedan that was for sale.  At the rear, the tail lights have horizontal profiles, but that is the only similarity aside from the word Buick on the back of the trunk lids.  Brand theme unity is found via the spear-shaped front fender ends and the similar grille layouts.