Nash in Transition: 1933-1935

Perhaps the most evolutionary period in automobile styling was the 1930s.  At the start of the decade, cars were boxy with functional elements such as headlights and fenders being distinct, separate elements.  By 1940, American cars had rounded bodies where formerly separate features were now largely integrated in the overall design.

One reason for this change was that by the mid-1920s cars were mechanically reliable to the point where appearance was becoming a more important sales factor.  For example, General Motors' styling department was established in 1927 and its design influence increased as years went by.  Then there was the Great Depression that resulted in a significant drop in sales numbers.  In desperation, car makers strived to make designs seem more "modern."

Today's post features the Nash brand, a mid-market American line that survived the Depression and became the instigator of American Motors Corporation.  I posted about "Nash Ambassador Sedan: Drastic Facelifts 1935-1940" here.  Here I deal Nash designs leading into that period.  For consistency, the top-of-the-line Ambassador model is featured, though 1935 images include the similar Advanced Eight due to a lack of available '35 Ambassador images on the Internet.  Unless noted, photos are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1933 Nash Ambassador
Nashes for 1933 were not largely different from 1920s design practice other than having more rounded shaping.

1933 Nash Ambassador
Rear quarter view of the same car.  The rounding is more apparent here.

1933 Nash Ambassador - owner's photo
1934s were facelifted '33s.  So use these 1933 images for comparison to the '34 photos below.

1934 Nash Ambassador
Various Internet sources state that the well-known stylist Alexis de Sakhnoffsky (1901-1964) either contributed to the 1934 Nash facelift or perhaps "influenced" the design.  The illustration in the ad card shown here is either his work or was created in the spirit of his rendering style.  Note how exaggerated the proportions of the car are.

1934 Nash Ambassador
Changes include a slightly sloped windshield, skirted fenders with sculpted detailing, a redesigned hood and grille, and a slightly reshaped trunk.

1934 Nash Ambassador - Hyman photo
Front quarter view.  A handsome car, but not as "modern" as 1934 LaSalles and Chrysler Airflows.

1934 Nash Ambassador
Same car, rear quarter.  The passenger compartment was carried over from 1933.

1935 Nash advertisement
The Nash line was redesigned for 1935, as this advertisement shows. The featured car appears to be Advanced Eight with a "beaver tail" rear.  Note especially the linear sculpted decorations on the fenders and body sides.  The red car at the bottom is an Ambassador Eight with its longer hood.

1935 Nash Advanced Eight - owner's photo
Or perhaps an Advanced Six.  Nash's design theme was called "Aeroform" for 1935.  It was indeed more streamlined than in 1934, but not in the same league as the Airflow.

1935 Nash Advanced Eight
Same car, showing the spatted rear fender and beaver tail.  The latter feature meant a small trunk, so larger, bulged trunks were added in 1936

1935 Nash Ambassador - unknown image source
Side view of what might be an Ambassador Six.

Buick Sweepspears - The First Series, 1949-1958

An important Buick visual brand identification item during the 1950s (and revived in recent years) was the "Sweepspear" -- a chrome side trim starting atop the front wheel opening and falling towards the rear wheel opening.  A variation was a secondary curve up and over the rear opening, then becoming horizontal towards the aft end of the car.  A brief Wikipedia note on it is here.

The image captions below trace major Sweepspear variations from its inception until its final appearance before being abandoned for the 1959 model year.  Unless noted, images are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible - Mecum auction photo
Sweepspears first appeared during the 1949 model year.  The car above is a pre-Sweepspear Roadmaster convertible.

1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible
And here is a Roadmaster convertible with a Sweepspear.

1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera - General Motors Heritage Center photo
Sweepspears also appeared on the new-concept hardtop convertible.  For 1949, they were found only on Roadmaster convertibles and hardtops.

1950 Buick Roadmaster Sedan - The Henry Ford photo
Buicks were redesigned for 1950.  Sweepspears again were only on top-of-the-line Roadmasters that year.

1951 Buick Special
Specials did not use the "A" bodies of Supers and Roadmasters.  But for 1951, all Buicks sported Sweepspears.

1951 Buick Super Tourback Sedan - Mecum photo
Here is a Sweepspear on a 1951 Super.

1952 Buick Super Riviera - my photo
Sweepspears lost their aft chrome splash panels in 1952.

1953 Buick Skylark
Buicks sporty Skylark had round wheel openings front and rear, and the Sweepspear was extended over the rear opening.

1953 Buick Super Convertible
Other Buicks retained 1952-version Sweepspears.

1954 Buick Super Riviera - Mecum photo
The Buick line was redesigned for 1954.  Sporty models had round rear wheel openings, so the 1953 Skylark Sweepspear design was used.

1954 Buick Super on Argonaut Building roof
Buicks lacking round rear wheel openings got Sweepspear extensions fitting the openings' contours.

1955 Buick Super - Mecum photo

1956 Buick Century - Mecum photo
No important Sweepspear changes over the life of the 1954-1956 bodies for the lesser Buick models.

1956 Buick Roadmaster
However, line-leading Roadmasters had Sweepspears that did not drop to the rocker panel.

1957 Buick Special
The redesigned Buick line for 1957 also had the less-shapely Sweepspears.  This is an entry-level Special sedan.

1957 Buick Roadmaster - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
A top-of-the-line Roadmaster.

1958 Buick Super Riviera
General Motors cars received a crash facelift for 1958.  The results for Oldsmobile and Buick were especially garish.  Now the Sweepspear is an extension of headlight assembly décor.  Round rear wheel openings were abandoned so that the strange faux air exhaust panel could be incorporated in the visual clutter.  Aft Sweepspear segments were altered accordingly.

Speculation

1947 Buick Roadmaster Convertible - Mecum photo
Perhaps there is a true explanation for the origin of the Sweepspear, though I haven't come across it yet.  However, I have a hypothesis.  It's possible that the Sweepspear was an evocation of Buick's distinctive 1942-1948 fenderline seen on many Supers and Roadmasters during that period.  Note that the redesigned 1949 bodies (used by Buick for that modeler year only) lacked the fender dip (that reappeared on senior Buicks for 1950 and later).  Perhaps Buick stylists and marketers wanted to preserve that distinctive Buick trait, and a tacked-on price of chrome would do the job.

Also, it's interesting to compare the Sweepspear design on that 1957 Roadmaster above with the upper front-and-rear fender profile of the 1947 Buick shown here.  Not identical, of course, but in the same spirit.

1955 Chrysler, Imperial and DeSoto Variations

Whereas General Motors' redesigned 1954 Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs with their panoramic (wraparound) windshields seemed flashy and futuristic when introduced, in retrospect I think the 1955 Desoto/Chrysler/Imperial body design was the most satisfying of the mid-1950s American models.

They were styled under the leadership of Chrysler's new Design Vice President Virgil Exner.  Work began apparently in 1952, a very short development timeline for a line of cars to be introduced towards the end of 1954.  It was fairly quickly decided to base the design on Exner's 1952 Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton -- of which three were built and all still exist (though extensively facelifted).

I posted on 1955 DeSotos here, Chryslers here, and Imperials here.  Today's post covers much of the same ground, but takes a slightly different perspective.  Here are featured exterior trim variations used on four-door sedan and hardtop coupé bodies for the three brands using the same basic bodies.  Differences in grille design are ignored in order to simplify the presentation.

Unless noted, image sources are of cars listed for sale or are factory publicity photos.

Gallery

1952 Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton
The basis for the 1955 basic body.

1955 Imperial Newport -- RM Sotheby's auction photo
Imperials featured restrained, dignified trim aside from their gunsight taillights.

1955 Imperial Sedan
Sedans and hardtops shared the same side chrome strip.

1955 Chrysler 300 - Mecum auction photo
Chryslers had odd, tacked-on looking taillights.  The sporty 300 model had a very simple side chrome strip.

1955 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Nassau - Mecum photo
Entry-level Windsor hardtops also featured simple side trim.

1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe St Regis
But the upscale New Yorker St Regis hardtops had a bold two-tone paint scheme.

1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Newport
More conservatively-inclined New Yorker hardtop buyers could opt for the Newport with its simpler two-toning.  Both models had about the same price, but the St Regis outsold the Newport by a 2:1 ratio.

1955 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Sedan
Again, simple side trim for some Windsor sedans.

1955 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Sedan
But others received fancy lower-body two-toning.

1955 New Yorker Deluxe Sedan
New Yorker sedans and Newports shared the same side trim.

1955 Chrysler Deluxe Summer Special Sedan - Bonhams auction photo
But, in a mid- model year effort to boost sales, some New Yorkers received trim incorporating Windsor along with New Yorker two-tone areas.

1955 DeSoto Firedome Sportsman
Attractive side chrome trim that follows the fender shape.

1955 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman
Less attractive was DeSoto's two-tome scheme.  Taillights are a more logical design than Chrysler's.

1955 DeSoto Sedan

1955 DeSoto Firedome Sedan - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
DeSoto sedans featured the same trim schemes as the hardtops.

1955 DeSoto Fireflite Coronado - photo via Hemmings
However, a three-tone paint scheme was added during the model year.  Some 1955 Dodges also were three-toned.

1936 Buick Special Walk-Around

General Motors' Buick brand was in serious trouble during the early years of the 1930s Great Depression.  But it was saved when Harlow "Red" Curtice was put in charge.  Given the fact that it takes a few years to develop new automobile bodies, his early rebuilding efforts using body styles already in the pipeline were fairly effective.  Nevertheless, it was the 1936 model year's redesigned line that solidified his effort.

For example, model year 1935 production of Buick's entry-level Model 40 was around 38,000.  For 1936, Model 40 (now given the name "Special") production was about 122,000, a gain of more than three times.

The images below are of a 1936 Buick Special model 41 four-door sedan listed for sale on the Internet.

Gallery

"Fencer's mask" (strongly convex) grilles were all the rage in America in 1936, so Buick got one.

Bodies were "all-steel" including roofs: GM's Fisher Body division called them "Turret Tops."

Curves and roundness were everywhere, contrasting 1920's boxiness.

Bulged trunks were virtually common by '36, though they were small by later standards.

Plain rear end designs were the norm for 1936.   I wrote about that here.

This Buick had "suicide" rear doors, their hinges high on the exterior of the C-pillar.

The rounding theme was carried as far as window outlines.  This was a sign of thematic consistency.  But its defect was that it made the overall design seem soft -- too soft, in my opinion.

In the 1920s and early 30s radiators and grilles were close to the front axle line.  But the Chrysler Airflow's configuration placed the motor farther forward.  Other brands followed to one degree or another. This Buick's back seats remain over the rear axle, but the engine and radiator are farther towards the front, the grille nearly touching the bumper.  On the other hand, the position of the headlights did not change much.  Around 1930 they were usually in front of the radiator/grille, but on this Buick they are mounted on the grille assembly.