1953 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

The image above shows the defining features of the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, the first Caddie model bearing that name.  To begin, it's a convertible (hartop models appeared for 1956, and starting in model year 1967, all Eldorados became coupes until 2002, the final year for them).  Most important from an historical perspective is the panoramic or wraparound windshield, the first on a production General Motors car.  The other feature is the fenderline-echoing beltline dip.  Like the wraparound windshield, this appeared on GM's redesigned 1954 Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs.

The '53 Eldorado was one of three GM special-edition convertibles.  The Oldsmobile Fiesta also had a panoramic windshield, but the Buick Skylark did not -- I wrote about early Skylarks here.

Cadillac built 8,899 convertibles for 1953, only 532 of which were Eldorados.  Price might have been a factor because while regular convertibles were listed at $4,144, Eldorados were $7,750, an 87 percent increment.  As for the others, 458 Fiestas and 1,690 Skylarks were built.  The production total for all three was 2,680.  Even with their high prices compared to mainstream convertibles, I doubt that GM made a profit on them.  Most likely, they were loss-leader marketing tools that might have helped the buying public accept the 1954 redesigns.

Below I compare an Eldorado to a standard Cadillac 62 Convertible.  The Eldorado is painted blue, photos are from Barrett-Jackson auctions.  The red standard model photos are from Mecum auctions.

Gallery

1953 Cadillac 62 Convertible.  Curved windshield and straight beltline.

The Eldorado's body was the same as the 62's, aside from the details mentioned above.

Rear quarter view.

The Eldorado's rear is the same as the 62's.

Left side.

The panoramic windshield's frame required some new tooling where the A-pillar linked to the cowling structure.    But the door cutlines are the same.  The beltline dip meant additional stamping.  I'm not a body engineer, so cannot guess how expensive these changes were.  I assume they were not cheap, and costs were unlikely to have been amortized on such low production runs, high list prices notwithstanding.

Finally, a Cadillac publicity photo of a 1953 Eldorado.

More Studebaker-like Rootes Cars

England's automobile maker, the Rootes Group hired industrial designer Raymond Loewy's firm to assist its stylists in dealing with post- World War 2 design trends.

I wrote here about the 1957 Sunbeam Rapier's resemblence tp Loewy's classic 1953 Studebaker coupes.

It seems that Studebaker-like styling also applied to some of Rootes' saloons.  Below are images comparing a Studebaker sedan to a Singer Gazelle and a Hillman Minx.  Photos are either factory-sourced or are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner and Raymond Loewy
First, a reprise of hardtop coupé designs.  Above is the classic Studebaker.

1957 Sunbeam Rapier
Similarities to the Studebaker include the passenger compartment greenhouse window treatment, "frenched" headlight assemblies, and the fenderline.

1953 Studebaker Land Cruiser
A large '53 Studebaker sedan.

1963 Singer Gazelle IIIC
Again, the greenhouse, fenderline and "frenching" are Studebaker carryover themes.

1957 Hillman Minx
These Hillmans shared bodies with the Gazelles.

Studebaker similarity is quite apparent here, when proportion allowances are made.

Rear quarter view where the main Studebaker carryovers are the C-pillar and backlight window.

Coupes Converging Towards 2-Door Sedans 1935-1953

Automobile body type naming is not scientific taxonomy.  Originally, body types were carryovers from styles of horse-drawn carriages because car coachbuilders either had previously done pre- motor car work or else patterned designs after traditional styles.

But cars are not carriages, and carriage body traits became less and less distinct on automobiles.  By the 1930s, few car bodies were coachbuilt, and sales and marketing people were applying fancy coach labels to production cars in an effort to entice sales.

The present post deals with coupes (as coupés are spelled and pronounced in the USA).  In the 1920s and much of the '30s, a coupe was a single bench seat affair, the passenger greenhouse set between the hood and a bustle back.  During the 1940s and into the early '50s coupe greenhouses became longer (Studebaker was the main exception).  Eventually, though coupe greenhouses were shorter than those on 2-door sedans, they were long enough to allow a cramped, back bench seat.  Coupes were becoming 2-door sedans.  And by the mid-1950s, the term "coupe" had essentially disappeared for closed American car bodies.

Below are some examples of coupes along with two-door sedans.  Unless noted, photos below are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1935 Chevrolet Master De Luxe Coach
Master De Luxe cars had redesigned Chevy bodies for 1935.

1935 Chevrolet Master De Luxe Coupe
Here is the four-window coupe version.

1935 Chevrolet Master De Luxe Sport Coupe - factory image
There also was this two-window coupe, here with a rumble seat.  These coupe bodies are quite distinct from those on two-door sedans.

1950 Hudson Pacemaker Brougham
Hudson's postwar 2-door sedan body.

1950 Hudson Pacemaker Coupe
And the coupe variant.  Clearly not identical, with a shorter greenhouse.

1949 Ford Custom Tudor
Ford's postwar design.  The two-door sedan is easy to identify thanks to the aft quarter vent window.

1949 Ford Coupe
Like the Hudson, the coupe-sedan designs are nearly the same aside from greenhouse length.

1950 Oldsmobile 88 2-door sedan - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Olds 88s shared General Motors' A-bodies with Chevrolet and Pontiac for 1950.

1950 Oldsmobile 88 Club Coupe
Oldsmobile's only 1950 coupes were found on 88s.  The greenhouse is long enough to house a cramped back seat.

1953 Chevrolet Bel Air 2-door sedan
Chevrolets and Pontiacs were given what seemed to be a restyling.  Though as best I can tell, body components were passed along from 1951 B-bodies and even 1949 A-bodies.  This two-door appears to have B-body components.

1953 Chevrolet Two-Ten Club Coupe
But the coupe's passenger greenhouse seems to be the A-body version (compare to the Olds above).  The rear seatback can be glimpsed through the window.

1965 Six-Window Chrysler and Dodge Sedans

American sedans with six side-windows (one window being abaft of the C-pillar) have faded in and out of fashion.  Mostly out, though they have reappeared in recent years.  That feature was common from the 1920s through the 1940s.  But by the mid-1950s they had become rare.  A few new designs appeared in the very early 1960s (Plymouth Valiant, some '61 Cadillac and Buick models, and General Motors' 1961 first-generation "compact" Pontiac Tempest, Oldsmobile F-85, and Buick Special).

Aside from a few limousine Imperials and Cadillac 75s, that was the end for 1960s six-window types.  With one notable exception: this post's subject.

That exception was the body for Chrysler Corporation's 1965 Chrysler Newport Town Sedan, New Yorker Town Sedan, and Dodge Custom 880 Six-Window Four-Door Sedan.  However, those models also offered four-window sedans, and the six-window option soon faded.  Chrysler seems to have had six-window sedans for the 1966 model year, but Dodge did not.  After that, the style was dropped.

Below are some examples found on the Internet along with comparable four-window models.  Unless noted otherwise, images are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1965 Dodge Custom 880 six-window sedan - factory publicity
A fairly early example of Chrysler Corporation styling under the Elwood Engel regime.  (He became styling head late 1961, and it took three or so product development years for his true impact to be felt).  The result is a clean-looking "three-box" design.

1965 Dodge Custom 880 six-window sedan

1965 Chrysler Newport Town Sedan
The Chrysler version receive different side sculpting.  Newport Town Sedans were entry-level.

1965 Chrysler Newport four-window sedan
This is the four-window version.  The difference is that there is a fashionably wide C-pillar where the aft side window was on the six-window car.

1965 Chrysler Newport Town Sedan
Front quarter view.

1965 Chrysler Newport Town Sedan
Rear quarter view.

1965 Chrysler New Yorker Town Sedan - Mecum Auction images
Line-topping Town Sedans were New Yorker models.  The grille has an added egg-crate motif.

A chrome strip was added to the lower side sculpting.

More chrome on the rear part of the trunk lid.

Stutz Four-Passenger Boat Tail Speedster?!?

For me, the terms "four passenger" and "boat tail speedster" don't go together.  When I think "speedster," I visualize a two-passenger roadster or possibly a seriously sporty cabriolet.  And "boat tail" means an even more racy variation on the speedster theme, harking mostly to the late 1920s to mid-1930s.

However, in the late 1920s Stutz marketed a few four-passenger speedsters, some of which had boat tail styling.  Actually, I don't know categorically that those names were used by Stutz to describe those cars, as my research material on Stutz is limited.  Perhaps they have been applied retroactively.  Or maybe, if the bodies were coachbuilt, the coachbuilders used them.

That said, until this post was conceived, I was unaware of open-top, four-passenger cars sporting a boat tail rear.  I remain unaware if anything similar was built on other brands's chassis'.  Please comment if you have information.

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1928 Stutz BB Four Passenger Speedster by Philips - RM Sotheby's photo.  The term "Speedster" puzzles me because this car is clearly a convertible sedan or phaeton.  But there it is.

Now for a 1928 Stutz BB Black Hawk Four Passenger Speedster - via Steve Sexton, Flicker.  These cars lack foldaway canvas tops. 

1928 Stutz BB Black Hawk 4-Passenger Speedster - Hyman photo.  This appears to be a boat tail design, given the lack of a folded canvas top.  Usually Hyman presents multiple views of its cars, but this is the only image I was able to turn up on Internet searches on Google and Bing.

1929 Stutz Four Passenger Boattail Speedster - Ex-Harrah Collection via Christies.  The back seat is covered by a tonneau.

1927 Stutz AA Black Hawk Four Passenger Speedster - Simeone Museum via Automobile Quarterly.  This was the image that caught my eye, revealing the boat tail on a four passenger body.

Kia Amanti/Opiris and Optima/K5

For model years 2003-2012 the top-of-the line Kia was its Amanti/Opiris (names used in different markets).  Its wheelbase was 110.2 inches (2800 mm).  The design was bland.  Seeing one from a block or two away, my first thought often is that the car might be a Mercedes, but on closer inspection the grille bars reveal a Kia.

During the Amanti's production run, Peter Schreyer (1953 - ) was brought in to manage Kia styling.  His work was highly successful, in part due to his creation of the "tiger nose" or "tiger mouth" grille frame design, an effective brand identification element.

This is evident on the Kia Optima/K5 line, 2006-plus model years successor to the Amanti-Opiris, having nearly the same wheelbase.

Images below are either factory-sourced or are of for-sale cars.

Gallery

2004 Kia Amanti/Opiris
I suppose the reason I sometimes mistook Amantis for Mercedes at a distance was the shape of the grille and, especially, the headlight scheme.

Nothing wrong with the styling from this viewpoint, but it's not exciting or even interesting.

The same might be said regarding the aft end of the car.

2011 Kia Optima
Schreyer's similar-sized car does feature interest and even some excitement (though I think the wheel cover design is silly).  Note the grille with the slightly pinched center area.

Besides the grille, I like the C-pillar styling.  The curve extending above the window framing and continuing down to the trunk lid was carried over to the 2016 and 2021 redesigns.

2016 Kia Optima
This redesign retains the character of the 2011 model while revising the front detailing and de-emphasizing the high fender character line.

The softening of the sides was continued at the rear.

2021 Kia K5
The recent redesign has a stronger profile arch, due in part to a sharper hood curve above the grille.

As in 2016, the earlier C-pillar treatment is replaced by a six-window arrangement.  The rear sculpting is much fussier than before, though more in line with recent styling fads.

I think the most interesting feature is the chrome strip that extends from A-pillar to A-pillar, wrapping under the backlight window framing.