Kaiser Grille Designs

America's Kaiser brand lasted less than ten model years (though production continued in South American a while longer).  During that time only two basic body designs were used, the original one plus a complete redesign launched for the 1951 model year.  To freshen the designs, grilles were restyled on occasion, the subject of this post.  I wrote about 1954 Kaiser styling here.

Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale.

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1947 Kaiser
Here is an early Kaiser.  The grille opening is the rectangular element immediately above the bumper.  The raised ornamentation between it and the Kaiser name simply covers some hood sheet metal.

1949 Kaiser, RM Sotheby's auction photo
The original grille was carried through the 1949 model year.  The 1950 redesign shown here is much more bold, featuring the kind of large, fat chrome bars that were fashionable on postwar American cars.  This design is much cleaner and more attractive than the rather fussy earlier one.

1950 Kaiser Virginian, Mecum auction photo
The grille seems unchanged (those fog lights are add-ons).  Frontal design finally received a hood ornament -- something found on other American brands for years, but not on Kaisers until now.

1951 Kaiser
The redesigned '51 Kaiser was an attractive car.  Its grille design is a slimmed, simplified variation on the 1949 theme.

1952 Kaiser
Apparently is was decided that the 1951 grille was too delicate, so a bolder version was introduced for the '52 facelift.  Note how the upper bar follows the sheet metal sculpting of the '51 design.  The previous interior horizontal bar is replaced by a bold bumper guard link theme.  That "V" on the front of the hood suggest the presence of a V-8 motor, yet all Kaisers were powered by inline six cylinder engines.

1953 Kaiser
I am not sure of the photo source here.  Perhaps the main change in frontal styling is the addition of the tiny "wings" on each side of the headlight bezels.  What appears to be an air scoop atop the hood is the redesigned hood ornament casing a shadow.

1954 Kaiser
I discussed the design of the facelift 1954 Kaiser in the post linked above.  Basically the frontal design was copied from the 1951 Buick XP-300 dream car.  This was the final American Kaiser design.

Oldsmobile's 1954 Corvette-Based F-88 Concept Car

General Motors' Motoramas of the early-to-mid 1950s featured one or more show cars from each of the Corporation's divisions.  Many were unique, but some others were based on cars currently in production or about to be introduced to the market.  An example of a production-derived dream car is the 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 (Wikipedia entry here).

As should be evident from the images below, the F-88 clearly resembles the Chevrolet Corvette.  The Corvette first appeared in the 1953 Motorama as a show car, and was in limited production by late that year.  As for the F-88, it was likely okayed around that time.

Unless otherwise noted, images are factory publicity photos.

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1954 Oldsmobile F-88

1954 Chevrolet Corvette
Although the link states that the F-88 was Corvette-based, there are significant differences.  The cockpits and windshields look about the same, but the door cuts are different -- the F-88's extends closer to the rear wheel opening, and those wheel openings are wider than the Corvette's.  In combination these details alter the apparent proportions.  Hood lines and the forward parts of rear decks are similar, as are rear fenders.  The F-88 has more conventional headlight placement, though the streamlined, transparent caps are a Dream Car feature.

Another view, perhaps a factory photo.

Here is a publicity photo contrasting the F-88 with an early Oldsmobile "curved dash" model from half a century before.

Here are three Barrett-Jackson auction images providing a walk around of a surviving F-88.  The oval grille is typical of 1950s Oldsmobiles.

Side view.  The chrome trim is a miniature version of the design found on production Oldsmobiles starting in 1953.

The rear end treatment is jazzy Dream Car eye-candy: not Corvette-like at all.

American Motors' Stubby Pacer

In the mid-1970s American Motors Corporation (AMC) launched a different kind of car -- the Pacer.  That act was more risky than usual for a car industry firm because of all the "unknowns" that the effort faced.  (Even playing it safe by launching an utterly conventional car has its risks.  Such as the car being perceived as being bland and a bit old-fashioned.)

What AMC did was create a small car by American market standards simply by making it shorter than standard cars.  Not shorter and narrower -- overall, smaller -- but just as wide as conventional cars.  Width was even a point stressed in early Pacer advertising.

Pacers sold fairly well for the 1975-76 introductory period, but then dropped off noticeably.  The link above cites some reasons.  I recall that the reason had to do with the recent gas crisis still worrying potential buyers and that Pacers were not seen as being much less fuel-thirsty than regular cars.  In that context, the Pacer's main virtue was that its short length made it more convenient to park on crowded city streets.

I briefly wrote about the Pacer here.

Pacer styling was under the direction of Dick Teague (Wikipedia entry here), an experienced styling director.  Therefore, its packaging concept aside, the car was cutely styled, though it has a chubby appearance.  One interesting feature was that the passenger-side door was longer than the one on the driver's side, this to allow easier back seat access when loading by a street curb.

Pacers were produced 1975-1979, production ending in December of the latter year with fewer than two thousand 1980 models built.

Unless noted, the images below are AMC- sourced.

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Front view of a 1975 Pacer.  The image fuzzes over the grille, but it's basically a horizontal band with thin, horizontal bars.  Teague used horizontal bands on his major-facelifted 1955 Packard line.

Aft quarter view.  Pacer coupes were hatchbacks, a feature that was never hugely popular in the USA.  Note the extensive glass area.  Automobile shatterproof glass is heavy, and that added to the Pacer weight and fuel economy problem.

For a quick break from factory furnished images, here are two photos of a 1975 Pacer auctioned by Barrett-Jackson.

A 1977 Pacer showing the wide passenger-side door (compare B-pillar cut lines) and offering a sense of the car's profile.

For 1977 Pacer introduced a station wagon variant, but this did little to help bolster sales.

A V-6 motor was added for 1978, so the hood had to be raised and the grille redesigned.

Front quarter view of a 1980 (or perhaps 1979) Pacer -- the hood ornament is the main car spotter tipoff for those model years.

Maybe Not All 1942 Chevrolets Had GM's A-Bodies

During the 1940s and 1950s General Motors used three body platforms.  In those days before the American auto industry began the proliferation into compact, subcompact, SUV and other body types, those cars were all what can be termed "standard-size" though they did vary in wheelbase, numbers and shapes of windows, and other distinguishing details.  GM labeled these bodies A, B and C, and they roughly corresponded to the corporation's brand hierarchy progression of Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac.

(I presented a Special-Interest Autos magazine article dealing with B and C body variations here that's well worth reading for background on what GM was doing body-wise.)

The A Body was the entry-level one, never found on Buicks or Cadillacs. According to this Wikipedia entry, "Starting in 1936 through 1958, GM used four different designations for various bodyshells/platforms with the A-body for Chevrolet, most Pontiacs, and the Oldsmobile Series F and Series 60."  That is, Chevrolets were expected to sport A bodies.

However, that was not entirely the case for the 1942 model year, when General Motors plunged heavily into fastback designs.  For 1942, only B-Bodies and C-Bodies included fastbacks.  So the '42 Chevrolet two-door fastback was based on the B-Body version.  (I don't know whether or not GM considered that an A-Body -- but the images below show its B-Body heritage.

Also seen below ares some 1942 (and 1941!) Chevy four-door sedans based on C-Bodies.  Images are either factory-sourced or are of cars listed for sale.


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1942 Chevrolet brochure images of A-Body sedans

1942 Chevrolet brochure images of a C-Body 4-door sedan and a B-Body fastback

1942 Chevrolet Fleetline DeLuxe Aero Sedan
Compare windows and fastback curve to the B-Body Cadillac Series 61 Sedanet a few images below.

1942 Chevrolet Fleetline Sportmaster sedan
Compare to the C-Body Buick in the bottom image.

1941 Chevrolet Special DeLuxe Fleetline 4-door sedan
Here is the 1941 version: production was low compared to other '41 Chevy four-door sedans.

1942 Cadillac Series 61 Deluxe Fastback Sedanet
B-Body fastback two-door.

1942 Buick Super 4-door sedan
C-Body four-Door sedan.

Chevrolet Impala Side Trim Evolution

I wrote about the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Impala in this post.  But what about earlier designs launched intermittently starting with the 1958 model year?

General Motors' entry-level brand is Chevrolet, and such brands seems to care less about styling feature continuity across redesigns compared to upscale makes such as Roll-Royce, or Packard in its day.  Chevy's Impala model is a case in point, as can be seen below.

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1958 Chevrolet Impala, Barrett-Jackson auction photo
First-generation Impalas featured a complicated side-trim composition.  There was a long, horizontal spear shape from which a link was provided to curved chrome trim along the edge of rear fender sculpting.  Aligned (almost) with the forward point of the latter is a vertical decoration mimicking exhaust venting that also sports four horizontal "speed lines."  Abaft of the rear wheel opening is a spear form that blends with rear bumper shaping.  It contains four vertical chrome hash marks.  There are also four chrome hash marks on the front fender immediately aft of the headlights.  Taken together, these represent side-view characteristics of the Impala as it was first hatched.

1959 Chevrolet Impala, Mecum auction photo
Unusually, the 1958 Chevrolet (and Pontiac) bodies were in production for only one model year, being replaced for 1959 by a set of bodies shared across all GM brands.  Here the Impala retains only a variation on the horizontal spear theme.

1961 Chevrolet Impala, Mecum photo
For its next redesign, Impala featured a side spear that widened as it extended towards the rear.

1965 Chevrolet Impala, Volo photo
Then for 1965 the spear theme was discarded.  Nothing remained from the model's launch theme.

1971 Chevrolet Impala, unknown photo source

1977 Chevrolet Impala, factory image
The next two redesigns contained nothing suggesting Impala aside from the word placed below the C-pillar in the car shown here.

1994 Chevrolet Impala, via Automobile Magazine
By 1994, all Impalas were four-door sedans.  That body was wide and heavy-looking -- not graceful like the creature the model was named for.

2000 Chevrolet Impala, factory image

2006 Chevrolet Impala, sales photo
The following two designs can be characterized as nondescript.  The only Impala features visible are medallions on the C-pillars.

2014 Chevrolet Impala, factory photo
Then for 2014 a hint of original Impala styling returned in the form of rear-fender sculpting echoing that shown below in a repeat of the initial Impala image.

1958 Chevrolet Impala

1973 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
As an aside, the 1958 Impala rear fender chrome trim shape was revived for this 1973 Monte Carlo in the form of raised sculpting.

Redesigned 1941 Nash: Fastbacks and Notchbacks Too

By around 1940 American automobile makers were mostly thinking that streamlined (in the visual sense) sedans with fastback (smooth, curved transition from the roof to the aft of the car) designs were the wave of the near-future.

All three Ford Motor Company brand sedans featured fastbacks.  Chrysler Corporation sedans were fastbacks slightly modified by slight curve to improve trunk capacity.  General Motors cars were mostly notchback, but fastback designs were in the works for the 1941 and 1942 model years.  Less wealthy manufacturers such as Hudson and Studebaker did not add fastbacks to their sedan lines.

But relatively prosperous Nash offered both notchback and fastback sedans on their redesigned 1941 line.  As some observers have noted, Nash was hedging its bets on styling direction, and this was a somewhat costly way to do so.

For now, I'll ignore the new entry-level 600 model that featured unit-body construction and focus on the traditional body-on-frame Ambassador series.  Actually, 600s and Ambassadors looked very similar aside from their 9-inch (22.5 cm) difference in wheelbase.

Images below are of Ambassadors listed for sale or are factory-sourced.

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Advertising photo of a 1941 Nash Ambassador four-door "Trunkback" sedan.

The same type of car, but with "woodie" side detailing.

Here are some photos of a 1941 Nash Ambassador "Slipstream" four-door sedan.

The two body types are identical from their C-pillars forward.

Even the aft side windows, rear fenders and back window are the same.

General Motors' 1941 B-Body Sedans: All Fastback

Around 1940, it was not clear whether the dominant future American sedan body type would be fastback or notchback.  Some manufacturers such as Ford Motor Company marketed virtually their entire sedan lines with stern profiles in one smooth curved sweep.  Others such as Nash and General Motors hedged their bets by offering both styles.

General Motors offered redesigned A-Body and C-Body cars for the 1940 model year.  These sedans featured moderate notchback styling.  Then for 1941 their B-Bodies were redesigned and the sedans were all fastbacks.

That model year B-Bodies were used by Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick, though the former two also used A and C bodies, and two Buick lines had C-Bodies.  Some B-Body fastbacks are pictured below.  Images are of cars listed for sale or are from factory sources.

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Pontiac Streamliner Torpedo four-door sedan
B-Body four-door sedans were six-window types.

Pontiac Streamliner Torpedo Sedan Coupe
I suppose Pontiac marketers used the term "Sedan Coupe" because back-seat room was fairly constricted in coupe-fashion while there were no other two-door sedan-like bodies offered.  Compare the positions of the back seats shown in these photos in relation to the rear wheels.  Also note that the two-door car has a sleeker fastback profile.

Oldsmobile Dynamic Cruiser 76 4-door sedan
Oldsmobile B-Bodies were used on the 76 and 78 series cars.

Oldsmobile Dynamic Cruiser 4-door sedan
Four-door B-Body fastback quarter view.

Oldsmobile Dynamic Cruiser Club Sedan
Two-door B-Body fastback quarter view.

Buick Special 4-door sedan

Buick Century 4-door sedan
Buick used B-Bodies for its entry-level Special and performance-based Century lines.  Centurys had a longer wheelbase than Specials -- the difference can be seen in the relationship of the forward front door cutline and the rear of the front fender on each car.

Buick Special Sedanet

Buick Century Sedanet
The same applies for two-door B-Body Buicks for 1941.