1953 Chevrolet Corvette Fenderline in Context

These days all the excitement is about the latest generation of the Chevrolet Corvette with its mid-engine configuration.  I'll probably get around to discussing that design, but for this post I'll focus on the original Corvette.

Setting aside mechanical and engineering considerations, let's focus on the Corvette's fenderline.  From today's perspective, it seems unexceptional.  But in the context of sports car styling around 1952 when the Corvette was designed, its fenderline theme was uncommon.

Below are examples of fenderlines Corvette stylists would have been aware of when designing the car.

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1953 Chevrolet Corvette
First-generation Corvettes were attractive.  My main quibble is the chromed shape behind the front wheel opening.  Note the flowing fenderline.  In the early 1950s, most European sports cars were either warmed-over prewar designs or else often had straight-flow slab-side fenders if their bodies were made by Italian coachbuilders.  A fairly common alternative was a flow-though front fender with a sketched, attached rear fender.

1948 Jaguar XK120
An exception was the Jaguar XK120 that had a flowing fender design far more exaggerated than the Corvette's.

1950 Cisitalia 202 by Pinin Farina
This classic design was influential, and the fenderline has a flow that's caused by the grafted rear fender shape.  As mentioned, most Italian sports car designs from the early 1950s featured a one-piece slab fender.  (My photo, taken at the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida in 2017.)

1952 C-Type Jaguar - Bonhams auction photo
Racing Jaguars featured fender flows less extreme than on the XK120s.  Corvette stylists must have known of this design that first appeared in 1951.

1951 Ferrari 340 America Spyder by Vignale
Another 1951 design with a flow at the rear fender position.  Not much different than the '53 Corvette, though General Motors stylists might not have been aware of this car.

1951 Nash-Healey
Also similar to the later Corvette was this Nash-Healy whose body might have been styled in England.

1951 Buick Special - Mecum auction photo
General Motors itself had that kind of fenderline flow on its 1951 B-body cars.  Harley Earl wisely had the fenderline dropped below the beltline as a means of avoiding a bulky, slab-side appearance.

Ur-Porsches

The Porsche brand is virtually unique in that the design theme of its rear-engine coupés has remained unchanged for more than 70 years.  The only exceptions I can think of include England's Morgan, which began building four-wheel sports cars in 1936.  The other is Volkswagen's "Beetle" design theme that was almost as long-lived as Morgan's, beginning with a few hundred prewar cars.  But serious production for the civilian market was not until postwar.  Production of the "New Beetle" ended earlier this year.

Production cars carrying the Porsche brand name did not appear until 1948.  However, hints of its design theme appeared in something called the Type 64, a three-car set of racing vehicles from 1939. One of those exists, and became the subject of an ill-fated auction in California this August.  (Here is a link to Forbes magazine's web site, 19 August 2019: "Porsche Type 64 Auction Disaster Upends 2019 Monterey Car Week.")  That aside, some purist Porsche fans do not consider the Type 64 a true Porsche because the brand did not exist in 1939.

The early Porsche production design was the model 356 produced 1948-1965 in "Pre-A," A, B and C variants. The currently active 911 Porsche line began replacing the 356s late in 1964.

The 64, Pre-A, and some later 356s are shown below along with an example of the 911 design.  Unless otherwise noted, images are of cars listed for sale or are factory sourced.

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The surviving Type 64, via Getty Images.

Now for three views of the 1948 Porsche 356 prototype No. 1.   These are my photos taken October 2018 at the Volkswagen display center on Berlin's Friedrichstrasse.

Being a roadster, this prototype does not seem very Porsche-like except in the previous image showing the front.

Note the row of tiny slots for cooling the air-cooled motor.

A 356 Porsche built in Gmünd, Austria around 1950 before production was moved to Germany.  The second prototype was similar to this.  Although a little crude, the basic Porsche design elements are here.

Gmünd-built 356s about to head for the 1951 Le Mans race.  Porsche won its class that year.

A German-built 356 from around 1952 at an Esso fueling station.  These early models can be identified by their two-piece windshields.

A 1951 "Split-Window" 356, body by Reutter in a photo via RM Sotheby's.

The same car, rear quarter view showing the air intake on the hood.

Publicity photo from 1952.

Another "Pre-A" 356, this from 1953.  The windshield is now one-piece, but the glass is bent at the center, following the two-piece derived sheet metal framing.

Publicity photo of a 1956 Porsche 356 A.  This refined design with a curved windshield and larger rear-wheel cut-outs set the scene for remaining 356s.

Finally, a 1966 Porsche 912, the four-cylinder version of the new 911 design.  My father owned one that looked like this.  Note the carryover of the 356 theme of sloping hood, higher fender fronts with headlights, and the fastback rear.

Bugatti Type 46 and 50 Superprofilés

General Motors' styling boss Harley Earl regularly went to Europe.  Partly for fun and relaxation, I suppose.  But the purpose was to keep informed about styling trends there, usually via the Paris early fall Salon de l'Automobile that included examples of custom bodies on luxury cars.

It was such custom or low-volume cars that could express various possible directions for future mass-produced bodies.  The Bugattis featured in this post were highly aerodynamic in spirit (if not actuality) for the very early 1930s.  For example, like the featured Bugattis, in mid-decade several British cars featured conventional front ends and sleek passenger compartments and tails.

The Bugattis are Type 46 and Type 50 models.  They are coupés called Superprofilé, having to do with a strongly raked flat windshield.  The existing Type 46 example shown below has a genuine Bugatti Type 46 chassis and motor, but its body is a replica of the original Superprofilés, as explained here.  It seems that only one original 46 Coupé Superprofilé exists, and is in the Schlumpf museum in France.  Regardless, this recreation sold for a very high price at auction.

The Type 50 Superprofilé was a notchback, not a fastback design.  Images below were taken many years ago.  A few cars might still exist.

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Type 46 Superprofilé

Snapshot of a Type 46.  The two-tone paint design is obscured because the two colors (likely black and dark red) appear dark.  I'd prefer the Superprofilés to be monochrome because the two-tone scheme detracts from the body design.  But who am I to quarrel with Ettore and Jean Bugatti?

Another example, perhaps at the 1929 Salon de l'Automobile.

Side view of 1931 model auctioned by Bonhams showing the extreme rake of the windshield.

Right front quarter.

This shows the fastback styling.  Small back windows due to use of flat glass.  The shaping of the aft ends of the rear fenders is odd, but perhaps was intended to avoid buildup of mud or ice aft of the wheels.

Type 50 Superprofilé

The Type 50 version seems less streamlined, though it's a more practical car due to its large trunk and rear-mounted spare tires.  (A Type 46 spare tire would have been inside the body, taking up storage room.)

Images of a 1930 Type 50 Superprofilé.

1932 Bugatti Type 50 Coupé Superprofilé - 1964 Pebble Beach concours d'élégance winner photo

Auburn, Cord Design Studio Displays

If any of you find yourself in the southern Michigan, northwest Ohio, northern Indiana area, I highly recommend visiting the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana.

A small part of the large facility is devoted to the Auburn styling section.  One display is devoted to Alan Leamy, a talented stylist who designed the distinctive 1929 L-29 Cord front end as well as many Auburns.  He also might have had a hand in designing the Duesenberg J, though the detailed link states that this is uncertain.

Another room shows the clay modeling technique promoted by famed stylist Gordon Buehrig, best known for designing the classic 1936 Cord 810 series.  Included is his drafting set.

Below are some photos I took in September 2019: click on them to enlarge.

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Photo of Al Leamy at his drafting board.

Scanning to the left of the recreated Leamy studio.  Assistants would work here.

Peering past his name.

Drawing board to the right, desk to the left.  Not the same board as in the photo, but perhaps from his era.  Examples of his work are on the foreground display table.  Elsewhere are some of his drawings.

Gordon Buehrig.

Clay scale model 810 Cords.  These are probably recreations for display purposes -- correct me if I'm wrong.

Buehrig was an early proponent of the styling bridge that allowed surface measurements to be taken.  This setup, including the clay-on-armature model, is almost surely a reconstruction of an original.

However, I'll admit that the platform and bridge do look old and might have been preserved by Buehrig for later, personal use.

More models in display cases.  The setup in the foreground is of a Cord 810 Westchester sedan.

Some Three-Door Sports Cars

Two-passenger sports cars are impractical when it comes to carrying things besides people.  Most can handle a couple of grocery bags or even a small suitcase or two for short vacations.  But household items can be beyond their capability.  For that reason, if one is determined to buy a sports car, yet can only afford to run one car, then a sports car with extra carrying capacity might make sense.

That might be why during the last third of the last century some sports cars appeared with fixed metal tops and an aft, hatchback type door.  Three such cars are treated here.

The first example is the MGB GT hatchback produced 1965-1980. (The roadster dates from 1962. Wikipedia entry for the MGB is here.)  According to the link, Pininfarina was responsible for the GT styling.

Next is the Volvo P1800 ES, a station wagon version of the coupé sports car (background here).  The sports cars were produced 1961-1973, but the ES version lasted only two model years, 1972-1973.

The most recent of the three is the BMW Z3 M Coupé, produced 1998-2002.  The roadster was produced 1996-2002.  Wikipedia entry here.

Images below are either factory publicity or cars listed for sale, unless noted.

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* * * * * MGB * * * * *

A 1963 MGB, a roadster style but with roll-up windows.

A MGB GT with its airy passenger greenhouse.

Side view showing how neatly the Pininfarina firm grafted the coupé ingredients to the basic MGB body.

Rear quarter view showing the hatchback door.  Many years ago a co-worker let me test-drive his GT when I was sports car shopping.  I had no problem with the styling, but the cramped driver area made me veto the MGB and I bought a Porsche 914 instead.

* * * * * Volvo P1800 * * * * *

1961 Volvo P1800 Coupé, Hyman Ltd. photo.  By the time the ES came along,  P1800s had been lightly facelifted.

1973 Volvo P1800 ES.

This side view makes it quite clear that the ES is more a staton wagon than a hatchback.  The aft side window is surprisingly long: I'd be tempted to make it a two-piece affair with a forward-sloping divider aligned above the after edge of the rear wheel.

Volvo advertising clearly stressed the station wagon aspect of the ES.

* * * * * BMW Z3 * * * * *

1996 BMW Z3 sports car.

1999 BMW Z3 M Coupé.  The greenhouse grafted onto the roadster-type body seems awkward from this angle.

The design details are professionally done.  But the problem has to do with the small size of the car and the the proportions of its main elements.  For example, the long, low hoodline and comparatively tall greenhouse extending to the rear of the car do not relate well.  The dipped fenderline inherited from the roadster results in side windows that seem too large.  A rising fenderline could cure some of this, but would have been too expensive to implement: apparently the budget for the Coupé actually was quite tight.

Therefore, the Coupé has to count as a design failure.  Seen on the streets and roads, they never looked right to me.  Not surprising that only 1,112 were built.