Panhard PL 17, Facelifted Dyna Z

The Panhard PL 17 pictured in the publicity photo above was a freshened Dyna Z , a model I wrote about here. PL 17s were produced 1959-1965.  The PL 17's Wikipedia entry is here, mentioning:

"The model's name was derived from 'PL' for 'Panhard et Levassor' (the original full name of the company), with the '17' coming from the sum of 5+6+6, being 5 CV (fiscal horses, in the French power rating system) plus 6 for the car's six seats, plus 6 for the car's economy of 6 L/100 km ...."

As noted in my Dyna Z post, styling was aerodynamically influenced.  But the facelift attempted to slightly disguise that.

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

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Dyna Z front quarter view via Mecum auctions.  The main PL 17 sheetmetal change seen from this angle was for the grille / front air intake.  Otherwise, modifications were trim additions.

PL 17: The bumper is simplified.  Turn signal lights are moved from near the doors to the ends of the car.  Chrome splashes are over the headlight assemblies, then trail along the front fender.  That's probably a fake airscoop extending across the front of the hood: not all PL 17s had this.  The windshield surround is now chrome instead of black rubber.

Dyna Z rear end view.

The greatest shape change was at the rear where the trunk was raised and its opening cutlines changed.  Some cutlines correspond to chrome "eyebrows" over the taillights.

Showing B-pillar hinged doors.

The changes, especially those at the rear, have the effect of reducing the visual and actual curved shape of the Dyna Z.  All this was to bring the design more into line with comtemporary styling fashion.

Some Massive Facelifts

I can think of three instances of American facelifts that were so extensive that the facelifts appeared to be complete redesigns.  I dealt with Chrysler Corporation's 1939 facelifts here.  Ford's 1955 facelift was mentioned in this post.  And I recently discussed Chrysler's 1953 facelift here.

Today's post brings those three cases together so that readers might better appreciate what was done to considerably "freshen" the appearance of cars without spending for total body retooling.

For 1939, DeSotos and Dodges received the same kinds of changes as the Chryslers shown below.  Model year 1953-1954 changes for Mercury were as extensive as those for Ford.   DeSoto shared Chrysler bodies affected by the 1953 facelift.  No comparisons for those brands are shown here in order to keep the presentation fairly brief.

The images below are arranged with front quarter view comparisons shown first, followed by side view comparisons.  My intent is to first illustrate how different the designs would seem to most observers, then indicate body structure similarities.  Photos are of cars listed for sale or from Chrysler unless noted otherwise.

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1938 Chrysler
Late 1930s Chryslers featured all-steel bodies that were strongly rounded.

1939 Chrysler New Yorker
The facelift created a leaner appearance.  Note the windshield change from an old-fashioned one-piece flat affair to a "modern" two-piece V'd design.

1938 Chrysler Royal

1939 Chrysler Royal Windsor
The body structure was greatly changed abaft of the C-pillar that too had its upper part reshaped.  If you look closely you will see that the front door shape was unchanged, as was most of the expensive cowling.  Peering into the aft windows, it's evident that the position of the back seats is the same.

1954 Ford Crestline - Mecum auction photo

1955 Ford Fairlane
Major changes for Ford seen from this perspective were the panoramic (wraparound) windshield, a new grille design, more radically "frenched" headlight assemblies, new side sculpting, and side two-tone paint.

1954 Ford Customline

1955 Ford Fairlane - photo source unknown
This side view comparison reveals that, aside from the new windshield, the passenger compartment greenhouse structure was unchanged from 1953.  Ditto the front door.

1952 Chrysler Saratoga - image via Hemmings
1949-1952 Chrysler Corporation cars seemed boxy, though a mild 1951 facelift rounded off hood noses from what had been more of a ship's prow shape.

1953 Chrysler New Yorker Newport - Mecum photo
Facelifted Chryslers look sleeker.  But compare the front end forward of the cowling to that in the previous image.  If this photo had been of a '53 Chrysler Windsor, the grilles would have been the same along with the rest of the front body clip.

1951 Chrysler Windsor
The Chrysler line used the same bodies for model years 1949-1952, so 1952 Chryslers looked like this '51 model.

1953 Chrysler Windsor
Aside from the change from a V'd windshield, the bodies are the same from the B-pillar forward.

Another Murphy Doors-Into-the-Roof Design

The Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California was an important West Coast coachbuilding firm from 1920 to 1932.  Murphy specialized in luxury cars such as Duesenberg for a clientele that included many in the Hollywood set.

In its final years, personnel included important stylists such as Frank Spring (who later led Hudson styling), Phil Wright (who designed the futuristic-at-the-time 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow), and Frank Hershey (background here and here) who later designed such cars as the 1955 Ford Thunderbird.

An important Murphy product designed by Hershey was the 1931 prototype Peerless V-16 that I wrote about here.  Its most distinctive feature was doors that extended into the roof.

I thought that was unique until I came across a photo of a Cord L-29 with similar doors.

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1931 Peerless V-16 by Murphy
The V-16 had clean, somewhat rounded styling that was slightly ahead of its time.

In those days roofs tended to be flat and thin, unlike the rounded top shown here.

The door cutlines are difficult to see in these old photos.

But all is revealed in this image of the car with opened doors.

Cord L-29 Sport Sedan by Murphy
Here is the circa-1931 Cord L-29 with similar doors whose cutlines are barely visible.  Hershey is credited with this design.

Citroën DS Successors

I suppose a typical non-French car buff would be aware of three historical Citroën models: the Traction Avant launched in the 1930s, the small, postwar 2 CV, and the DS produced 1955-1975.

The stylist responsible for the DS was Flaminio Bertoni (1903-1964).  Upon his death he was succeeded as styling chief by Robert Opron (born 1932) who in 1975 left Citroën when it was acquired by Peugeot.  Over his career he also worked for Simca, Renault and Fiat.

Opron's major projects at Citroën were the GS produced 1970-1986, and the CX produced 1974-1991. Another design of interest from that period was the SM (1970-1975), a DS follow-on powered by a Maserati motor.

Today's post presents some images of the DS, SM, GS and CX to provide an introduction to Opron and his Citroën styling language.  However, note that Opron's designs were created within a few years of one another during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Unless noted, the photos below are factory-sourced images.

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1956 Citroën DS 19
Bertoni's design, radical in its day.

1973 Citroën DS Pallas - auction photo
A fairly late DS with facelifting styled under Opron's direction.

1972 Citroën SM - Bonhams auction photo
A new design, Opron retained the feeling of the DS.  The main differences were the passenger compartment greenhouse and rear fender treatment.  Similarities include the smooth sides and the wheel openings (or lack thereof at the rear).

Citroën GS
The DS was a four-window sedan and Opron's GS has six windows.  Sides are plain aside from a character line shoulder-high.  Carried over from the DS is the round front wheel opening, while the rear wheels are only partly skirted.

Citroën GS
Rear quarter view showing the considerable glass area.  The GS was lower-priced than the DS, intended to fill a market category lower than the increasingly expensive DS line.

Citroën CX
The CX was the DS replacement.  Its window treatment is similar to that of the GS.  Smooth sides and wheel opening treatments are not far removed from those on Bertoni's original DS 19s.

Citroën CX - for sale photo
Front quarter view.  Unmistakably a Citroën -- those chevrons on the grille were hardly needed.

Three Surprisingly Similar 1975-Vintage European Cars

I recently wrote about the design similarity of the Volkswagen Passat (B1) (produced 1973-81) and the Renault R20/R30 (produced 1975-84) -- see the comments for information on the Renaults design ancestry.  In today's post I add the Simca 1307 (produced 1975-86) to the mix.

To a considerable degree the appearance of these cars from three different manufacturers was due to the styling fashion of the time -- angular, "three-box" formats featuring large windows.  The key origin design for the cars discussed here was that of the Audi 80 B1 (Audi Fox in the USA) that entered production in 1972.  Its designer most likely was Giorgetto Giugiaro, as noted in the German language Wikipedia entry here.

Design of the Renault R20/R30 is credited to Gaston Juchet, that of the Simca 1307 (also Talbot 1510) to Englishman Roy Axe.  That said, one might not be criticized for thinking that all three designs came from the pen of Giugiaro.

Some comparative images are presented below.

Gallery

1973 Volkswagen Passat (B1)
The Passat was a fastback version of the Audi 80.  Note the side window profile and how it compares to those of the Renault and Talbot (Simca) below.

1976 Renault R20
The R20/R30 was longer than the VW, having a wheelbase of 2625 mm (104.7 inches) compared to 2470 mm (97.2 inches).  The Simca/Talbot about 61 mm (1.8 inches shorter than the Renaults.

Talbot 1510
It might have come off the same assembly line as the R20 in the previous photo.

1975 Volkswagen Dasher - for sale photo
Giugiaro's VW aft end featured D-pillar sail panels framing a large backlight window and sloping upper trunk sheetmetal.  Due to its shorter length, the VW's C-pillar angle differs from those on the longer Renaults and Simca/Talbots.

1976 Renault R20
That aft design also appears on the Renault shown here.

Talbot 1510
Here the sail panels are absent.  Otherwise, the rear is similar to that of the VW.

Newport Rhode Island's Audrain Automobile Museum

Newport, Rhode Island is a town that became quite ritzy during the late 1800s and continued in that vein through the 1930s.  Its southeastern coast contains many mansions built for the hyper-wealthy of those times.  1930s America's Cup sailing races were held in nearby waters.

Today Newport is more of a tourist attraction, and one attraction for car fans is the small Audrain Automobile Museum that's named for the building where it's housed.

When I visited in early June, the exhibit combined cars with women's fashions of the same years. This was much like what I saw a few years ago at the Museo Automovilistico y de la Moda in Málaga, Spain (my post dealing with it is here).

About half the floorspace was devoted to pre-1927 automobiles that I seldom write about.  Below are some iPhone photos I took of 1930-1941 cars on display.

Due to its small size, the museum isn't likely to be worth a special trip for folks living more than a couple of hundred miles away.  But if you happen to be in Newport, it's worth an hour or so of your time.

Gallery

1938 Ford by Brewster (owned by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt)
An unlikely basis for a customized body.  Perhaps Vanderbilt simply used the car as a Newport area runabout.  Or maybe he liked custom details but felt a Ford would seem less ostentatious than a customized Packard during the Great Depression years.

Side view.  The side quarter windows are covered over by the vinyl-like top.  Otherwise the exterior is largely 1938 Ford DeLuxe Fordor.

1941 Cadillac 67 Fleetwood Limousine (owned by Countess Széchényi - Gladys Vanderbilt)
This car seems to be essentially stock.

1938 Packard Twelve Landaulet by Rollston (owned by Doris Duke)
Made the year Rollston went out of business.

Interior view.  Note the window crank and instruments on the back of the chauffeur's compartment.

1930 Duesenberg Model J Town Cabriolet by Murphy (owned by Nanaline Holt Inman Duke)
Murphy was based in Pasadena, California and catered to the Hollywood set.

Rear quarter view with fashion item.  That's the Packard in the background.

1936 Auburn 852 Speedster
I failed to take a photo of the information plaque, so am not certain this is a 1936 model.  Nor do I know if it was owned by anyone famous.

Nevertheless, it's a fine example of a classic design.

In the background is the 1938 Ford.  Its backlight windows seem to be stock, not customized.

The Speedster's cockpit.

1955 Plymouth Side Décor

Mid-1950s America was a heyday for "two-tone" paint schemes on cars.  In those days there were even three-color paint-jobs, as I wrote about here.  But today I focus on two-tone usage on Chrysler Corporation's Plymouth brand.

Plymouth, along with the rest of the Chrysler line, was redesigned for the 1955 model year.  Plymouths and Dodges shared the same basic body that had sides with almost no metal sculpting.  This acted as a kind of artist's canvas for stylists to place chrome trim and various painted areas.

Single-color paint schemes were available, but seem to have been ordered by far fewer buyers than the more elaborate trim options.

Images below are mostly factory-sourced or are of cars listed for sale on the Internet.

Gallery

1955 Plymouth Plaza four-door sedan
Plaza was Plymouth's entry-level line that began the model year with no side trim at all.  Note the windshield and backlight framing in rubber rather than chrome-covered rubber.  Very Spartan, though this factory image shows a two-tone paint scheme..

1955 Plymouth Savoy Club Coupe, Mecum auction photo
Plymouth's mid-range line was the Savoy.  These had a half-length chrome strip on the front fender and most of the front passenger door.

1955 Plymouth Savoy four-door sedan
Now for a set of side views of 4-door sedans.  Besides the chrome strip, the alternate color is on the roof, but not the door frames.

1955 Plymouth Savoy 4-door sedan
Later in the model year this side two-tone scheme was offered on Savoys.

1955 Plymouth Belvedere 4-door sedan - Mecum photo
Belvederes were the top-of-the-line Plymouths.  The chrome strip extends along most of the side.

1955 Plymouth Belvedere 4-door sedan
This more elaborate design was offered as well, but not at first.

1955 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe
This scheme was standard on Belvedere hardtops and convertibles, later made available for sedans, as shown in the previous image.