The Rise and Long Decline of Pontiac's Grand Prix

In my opinion, Pontiac's finest design was the 1963 Grand Prix hardtop coupe.  I wrote about it here.

The Wikipedia entry for the Grand Prix is here.  I question its early generational definitions, but will let that pass for now.  Below are profile views of cars from each redesign generation with the exception of 1963 where that fabulous facelifted Grand Prix emerged.

What happened was fairly typical of American automobile marketing.  A new top-of-the-range model is introduced, then later on a new line-topper replaces it and the former leader's name is preserved, but dropped down a notch.  Then perhaps it might drop to another level even later.  There are exceptions such as Ford's Mustang and the Chevrolet Camero.  But the Grand Prix, though it mostly remained a coupe, became less glamorous within Pontiac's model list.  It did stay near the top if Pontiac's price range, but was usurped by the Parisienne in 1983, and by Bonneville in 1987 and later.

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

Gallery

1962 Pontiac Grand Prix - Mecum Auction photo
The original Grand Prix, based on Pontiac's 1961 redesign.

1963 Pontiac Grand Prix
The classic Pontiac Grand Prix design.

1965 Pontiac Grand Prix - Mecum
A redesign that's more bloated.  The concave backlight window and C-pillar profile feature is retained.

1969 Pontiac Grand Prix
Starting here, the classic Grand Prix elements disappear.

1973 Pontiac Grand Prix
Now for the Opera Window fad.

1978 Pontiac Grand Prix
This Grand Prix is fairly small, its wheelbase of 108.0 inches (2743 mm) is down from the previous design's 116.0 inches (2946 mm).  The classic Grand Prix's wheelbase was 120.0 inches (3048 mm).

1988 Pontiac Grand Prix
This Grand Prix's wheelbase was similarly short.

1997 Pontiac Grand Prix
Some '97 Grand Prix's were four-door sedans, along with the coupe model shown here.

2004 Pontiac Grand Prix - factory image
All 2004 generation Grand Prix's were sedans.  Not a bad looking car when viewed from other anlges, but with no trace of the classic design.

1948 Tucker: Mixed Walkaround

I wrote a fairly lengthy post titled "1948 Tucker: Intriguing Styling, But Not Really Ahead of its Time" here.  So I have little to add in the way of general remarks.

One point worth mentioning is that the Tucker had a 128-inch (3251 mm) wheelbase.  This was shorter than those of American limousines, but slightly longer than 1948 cars such as the Cadillac 62, Chrysler New Yorker, and Packard Custom 8 -- all expensive cars.  Slightly longer was the '48 Buick Roadmaster.

Today's post delves more deeply into styling details using the walkaround format.  Although photos of a car up for auction are often pretty comprehensive, for some reason I couldn't find what I consider to be a complete walkaround set for a single Tucker.   Therefore, the images below are of several different Tuckers.

Gallery

1948 Tucker - Gooding aucion photo
Tuckers had rear-mounted air-cooled motors, so the front grille did not serve a radiator.  Air intakes were mounted at the front of the rear fenders.

1948 Tucker - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
Styling was attractive in the context of its time.  Fastbacks were fashionable, but soon to disappear.  The side window profile was distinctive for '48, especially the dog-leg cut of the aft window.  The front fender was a clever, distinctly different take on the popular fender-over-front-door theme found on postwar General Motors and Chrysler Corporation cars and Packards.  Its shape isn't beautiful, but is memorable indeed -- a good marketing tool.

1948 Tucker - RM Auctions photo
At the rear is another air intake grille.  Tail light assemblies perched atop the rear fender are similar to those found on the redesigned 1949 Chrysler Corporation line.

1948 Tucker - RM Auctions
The passenger compartment greenhouse tapers in true postwar USA fastback fashion.  Those cut lines are not for the trunk, but instead are for the hood over the rear-mounded motor.

1948 Tucker - RM Sotheby's auction photo
One thing Tucker lacked was chrome side trim.  Given the fender and window shaping, that was mercifully unnecessary.

1948 Tucker - RM Auctions
Though a large car, Tuckers in side-view were taut, aggressive-appearing, belying that size.

1948 Tucker - via Haggerty
A Tucker as might be viewed by someone approaching it.  The front trunk lid (faux-hood) is 1940s boat-prow style, appropriate for the overall design.

1948 Tucker - RM Auctions
That central headlight pivots when the wheels turn.  Like the distinctive front fender profile, this is an excellent brand-recognition feature.

1937 Chrysler Rag-Tops Versus Steel Tops

In the mid-1930s American cars began receiving all-metal tops in place of tops having fabric inserts.  Bodies were now all-steel instead of metal cladding of wooden framing.

Car body metal stamping technology was in its early stages in those days, so many body segments were formed with large-radius curving.  That included the shapes of passenger compartment greenhouses and even rounded window profiles.  The result was cars looking more bloated than svelte.

However, there was one exception: convertibles.  Having no steel tops or rounded-off side windows, they looked better than their stablemates.  Today's post provides some examples in the form of 1937 Chryslers.  Unless noted, images below are of for-sale cars.

Gallery

1937 Chrysler Royal Business Coupe
Lots of rounding here.  Note all the curves associated with the passenger compartment.

1937 Chrysler Royal Convertible Coupe
Those curves are gone.  But the short hood concentrates frontal rounding.

1937 Chrysler Imperial Touring Sedan
Chrysler's premium Imperial line featured longer hoods, but the passenger compartment styling remains rather dumpy.

1937 Chrysler Imperial Convertible Sedan - via Hemmings
Now much of the dumpiness is removed.  Note the after door is hinged on the B-pillar, not the C-pillar, as on the sedan.  The open zone of the car is long, creating a somewhat boxy feeling.

1937 Chrysler Imperial Convertible Sedan - Hyman Ltd photo
Another Imperial Convertible Sedan as seen from the front quarter.  That boxy look is apparent here as well.

1937 Chrysler Imperial Convertible Coupe
The long-hood imperial Convertible Coupe is by far the most attractive 1937 Chrysler, in my opinion.

The rumble rear opening city lines car be seen here as well as the entry step on the right rear fender.

The thrusting prow works well here, complemented by the downward curve at the rear.

Even the canvas top is attractive when raised.  Too bad other '37 Chryslers look so homely in comparison.

Where the 1953-55 Sunbeam Alpine Came From

When I was young I didn't appreciate the styling of British cars aside from Jaguars and Austin-Healeys.  And in Seattle back in the 1950s there were other kinds of British cars such as the Sunbeam Alpine, the subject of this post.   I previously wrote about its design here.

British cars struck me as being rather old-fashioned compared to the futuristic 1954 Oldsmobiles and Buicks that were beginning to hit the streets.  Nowadays, I look more fondly on 1948-1955 vintage British car styling -- for a few brands, at least, including the Sunbeam Alpine.

Today I want to trace how Alpines were descended from Sunbeam-Talbot 90 sedans -- or saloons, as they are called on their home turf.

Most cars pictured below were listed for sale on the Web.

Gallery

1948 Sunbeam-Talbot 90 Saloon
An early 90 with headlights closer to the ground than later, when they were raised to meet US standards for export purposes.

1948 Sunbeam-Talbot 90 Saloon
The fenders flowing over the front door were fashionably "American" in 1948, resembling such fender lines found on such brands as DeSoto and Packard.  However, American cars also had distinctive rear fenders.  Note that the beltline drops to the rear.  Also the higher headlight position compared to the car in the previous image.

1953 Sunbeam-Talbot 90 Saloon
Rear quarter view showing the ample trunk (or "boot") and aft fenderline sculpting.

1955 Sunbeam 90 Mk III Drophead Coupé
A late-model Convertible (Drophead Coupé).  For 1955 the Talbot name disappeared while Buick-style portholes appeared. 

Most of the sedan body was retained.  Differences include the front door forward cutline and trunk lid modifications allowing for the folding top ("hood").

Another difference is that the beltline does not curve downwards.

1955 Sunbeam Alpine Mk III - Bonhams auction photo
The back seat was eliminated and the aft, trunk-related sheetmetal replaced, now curved, conforming with the rear fenderline.

The car looks nice from this perspective.  In my post linked above, I mentioned that the car would have looked better had the driver's compartment been moved aft a short distance.  But that probably would have increased to price of the car too much due to the need for a new cowling, hood lengthening, and so forth.

1953 Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine
Now for a partial walkaround of an early Alpine.  The front ensemble with the traditional vertical grille and teardrop fender line is attractive.  The auxiliary air intakes flanking the main grille detract from the design, being cramped between the grille and headlights.  On the other hand, they likely were functionally necessary for motor cooling -- though a modern chin-scoop intake might have worked as well.

The car looks good in profile, though I would like a subtle sculpted hint of a separate rear fender just below beltline level.

The rear aspect is also pleasing.

General Motors' Short-Lived 1950-1951 Lesser C-body Sedans

During the 1940s and most of the 1950s General Motors cars were built using three basic platforms as their basis. These were the A-body, B-body and C-body: more about the latter here.

In this post, I referenced an article in Special-Interest Autos magazine issue #39 titled "Body Politics" by Richard Howard Stout.  It was fascinating to me because it showed the various length and style permutations General Motors was able to attain for its more expensive models.

But there was one potential problem.  Stout seems to have been dealing with what now can be seen as C-body variations, yet he calls them B and C bodies.  His B-body is a shorter one than what he calls the C-body.   Stout is referring to bodies introduced for the 1950 model year.  A 1941-vintage B-body was in production through the '49 model year, but its replacement did not appear until 1951, leaving a one-year gap.  For that reason it's possible that the base (or "lesser" as I'll call it) C-body was referred to as a B-body by GM staff working on C-bodies, not thinking much about the new B-body under development.  (Stout refers to the upcoming B-body as the OB-body, perhaps a term used in General Motors while it was gestating.) 

For the 1950 model year those lesser C-bodies are found on Oldsmobile 98s, Buick Specials, about half of Buick Supers, and on Series 61 Cadillacs.  At least 626,000 were built, about 54 percent of them Buick's entry-level Special models.  The appearance of the new B-body on 1951 Buick Specials meant that the need for lesser C-bodies was greatly reduced.  As it happened, around 92,000 (perhaps not counting some hardtop coupes and convertibles whose basis is difficult to identify) were made for the '51 model year.  The majority were Olds 98s.  No lesser C-body sedans were made thereafter, as best I can tell from the information I have at present.

Below are images of lesser C-body four-door bustle-back sedans.  Fastbacks (all were lesser C-bodies) were phased out after the 1950 model year -- an example is shown.  Most Gallery images are of for-sale cars.

Gallery

1950 Buick Special Sedanet - Mecum auction photo
A fastback lesser C-body.  There also were 4-door fastback lesser C-body cars.

1950 Buick Special
Lesser C-body sedans are easily identified because they were four-window, featuring a broad C-pillar.

1950 Oldsmobile 98
This is the Oldsmobile version.  Other views of this car are shown farther down.

1950 Cadillac 61 - BaT auction photo
Even some Cadillacs used the lesser C-body.  But only for Series 61 that was dropped the following model year.

Front quarter view of the Oldsmobile 98.

Rear quarter view.

Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow Coupe Walkaround

For most of the 1901-1938 period that Pierce-Arrow built luxury automobiles, design was secondary to quality engineering, materials, and assembly.  That is, Pierce-Arrows were seldom sporty and often appeared old-fashioned compared to cars from competitors such as Packard.

But there were exceptions.  Beginning in the 1929 model year, Pierce-Arrow cars became decent-looking and in line with current style expectations.  And then there appeared the sensationally futuristic Silver Arrow, only five of which were made.

The following year Pierce-Arrow launched another Silver Arrow, basically a coupe with a fastback aft body that echoed the original Silver Arrow's aft.  It shared body components with a Studebaker model that I wrote about here.

Featured below are walkaround images of a 1934 Pierce-Arrow 1240A Silver Arrow Coupe -- Bring a Trailer auction photos.

Gallery

1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow - Blackhawk Museum photo
This view shows the aspect of the Silver Arrow that was echoed in the later Silver Arrow Coupes.

Now for the walkaround.  The face is stock '34 pierce-Arrow.

The 1930s streamlining fashion was getting underway, so traditional Pierce-Arrow headlight assembly stalks are finally abandoned, the assemblies being blended into the fenders.  The grille is now V'd and slanted back.

The after body is not a pure fastback, but near enough that it little matters.

Note the two-tone paint scheme with red divider accents.

Compare the shaping to that seen in the '33 Silver Arrow in the top image.

The hood houses a V-12 motor.

1935 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow Coupe
Compare this model to the four-door Studebaker below.

1935 Studebaker Commander Land Cruiser - image via Hemmings
Studebaker divested Pierce-Arrow in 1933, but some cooperation between the firms continued, as can be seen in the shared body components evident in these two photos.  The Studebaker is a four-door sedan, so doors and side windows differ from the P-A coupe.