Airflow Four-Window Town Sedans by Chrysler and DeSoto

A seldom-seen body style variant of Chryler and DeSoto Airflows was the Town Sedan.  Town Sedans were standard 4-door, six-window sedans with the aft side window on each side eliminated -- the areas covered over by sheet metal.

Although interesting to look at, Town Sedans sold poorly, even by the Airflow's underperforming standards (compared to expectations).  Only 354 were made during model years 1934 and 1935, 43 in the latter year.  There were 195 Chrysler Town Sedans total, and 159 DeSotos.  As noted below, very few seem to have survived.

Below are some images of Airflow Town Sedans.

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1934 Chrysler CU Airflow Sedan - publicity photo
A standard Chrysler Airflow 4-door sedan.

Another perspective, taken at an auto show.

1934 DeSoto SE Town Sedan - publicity
Apologies for the poor quality, but I had to scan this from a reference book.  I include it because the car is unobstructed.  DeSoto Airflows had comparatively short wheelbases that translated into stubby looking front ends.  That said, the broad C-pillar zone made for a curiously interesting design.

Publicity photo used perhaps for advertisements or brochures.

Brochure image: a flipped version of the photo shown in the previous image.  The steering wheel in the previous image looks like it was painted by a retouch artist.  So this is probably the original photo.

1934 Chrysler CU Airflow Town Sedan - car-for-sale photos
This is the only CU Town Sedan I found on the Internet.  I did see a 1935 DeSoto Town Sedan, but it had been customized.  The only other was a long '34 CX Imperial LeBaron.  It's possible that a very few other Town Sedans exist.

Despite the design's interesting appearance, the limited outside view for back seat passengers might have hindered sales.  Chrysler Town Sedans were priced the same as regular sedans, and DeSoto Town Sedans were trivially cheaper than six-window sedans for 1934 and trivially more expensive in 1935.  So price was not a sales volume factor.

Even on the longer (by 7.5 inches, 190 mm) than DeSoto wheelbase on the  Chrysler CU, the covered side window area makes the Town Sedan seem more stubby than mainline Airflow 4-door sedan.  Compare this car to the one in the image below.

1934 Chrysler CU Airflow Sedan - car-for-sale photo
This shows the aft side window that was blanked-over to create Town Sedans.

Daimler DS420 Limousine

Daimler DS420 - factory photo
When I first saw a photo similar to the one above, I was tempted to make this a "What Were They Thinking?" post.

On reflection, I'm still tempted, but decided not to pull that trigger.  That's because the Daimler DS420 Limousine came from an aristocratic English brand that continued its heritage of supplying cars to British and other royalty, governments, and various upper-crust species.  So the DS420 makes sense in those contexts, even though it's not an attractive automobile.

DS420s were marketed 1968-1992, and 4,141 limousines and 903 chassis (for later attachment of custom bodies) were made, a total of 5,044, or a bit more than 200 cars per year, on average.

They were large, having a wheelbase of 141.0 inches (3581 mm).  And luxurious, as some images below will show.

The DS420 was launched after Daimler was purchased by Jaguar (some background on the Daimler Motors firm is here).  Some Jaguar components were used, but its body design was unique, unlike Daimlers that usually were little more than Jaguars with Daimler grilles.  So to some extent, the DS420 has been considered the last of the real Daimlers.

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1990 Daimler DS420 - car-for-sale photos
An interesting overhead view featuring the tapered hood and Daimler grille.

From this angle we see that the DS420's rear is an elongated English "Razor Edge" design.  Classical versions were shorter, more upright.  Also note the subtle two-toning on this car.

1985 Daimler DS420 Limousine - photos via Park Ward Motors (Australia)
Now for a walkaround.  Again, the traditional Daimler grille with its fluting on the upper frame.

Each end of the car has its interesting features, but the long middle section is quite bland aside from the chrome window framing.

The fenderline and beltline fall off towards the rear, a British styling feature from years past, but out of date even for England in the late 1960s.

I think this is the most interesting aspect of the design.  Note the concave side sculpting contrasted by the convex trunk shape.

A plain rear end, but the upper license plate frame carries over the grille motif, a cute touch.

The trunk seems fairly small, though perhaps the size of the rest of the car makes that seem so.  On the other hand, how much trunk space do luxury limousines require?

The passenger compartment greenhouse is quite tall compared to the lower body, part of a general styling trend in those days.

The headlight frames seem a little droopy.

The cockpit is very nice, very English.  Better than typical historical chauffeur territory.

The passenger zone.  Jump seats are folded next to the chauffeur partition.

Photo via Ascot Limousine Services
View of a tricked-out interior of a DS420 used for special occasion rental.

Some Syd Mead Designs

Sydney Jay Mead (1933-2019) was an automobile stylist, industrial designer, illustrator, and film concept artist ("Blade Runner" is perhaps what he's best known for).  His Wikipedia entry is here.

I first learned of him many years ago while stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland.  One of my Army buddies had got hold of a U.S. Steel publication featuring Mead's illustrations and let me leaf through it.  Years later, I bought the book "Sentinel" by Strother MacMinn that contained much of Mead's work up to 1979.  I still have it in my library.

I find Mead's illustrations and designs interesting, though not always quite likable.  "Impressive" might be my best word for his work.  Other folks might disagree regarding likability.

Below are some examples of his car designs pictured in futuristic/fantasy settings.  Few of these designs are practical, but that's the nature of far-out thinking and styling.  Note the imaginary creatures found in some of the backgrounds.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Some preliminary drawings
Many Mead designs feature smooth frontal profiles.  Even those he made before aerodynamic efficiency became a prime design matter.

U.S. Steel Innovari project illustration
One of his most practical designs, this from circa 1966.

LeMans Street Coupe - version 1
I don't understand the reason for the huge rear fender zone.

LeMans Street Coupe - version 2
Interesting appearance, but impractical from the perspective of a driver or passenger.

Rolls-Royce
Impossibly low, given comparative size of the humans depicted.  Huge amounts of overhang, but other 1960's stylists were drawing dream cars with similar proportions.

Wedegnose Sports Wagon
Tiny wheels.  Must also have a tiny motor.  And tiny luggage space.

Sentinal 400
Now an extremely low and long limousine.  An interesting design that's impractical for ordinary needs.

Another, more practical, wedge design
Nice rendering, nice car shape.  But how is it powered?  Electric motors might do, but I don't see much room for batteries.

More About the Shared-Platform Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln LS

Today's post is a more systematic than my previous treatment of styling differences of the 1999 Jaguar S-Type and 2000 Lincoln LS that shared the same platform.

Some background on the S-Type is here, and on the LS is here.  Geof Lawson is credited for the Jaguar styling and Helmuth Schrader is cited regarding the Lincoln.   Not mentioned is whether the basic platform work was done in the USA or in the UK.  Or if shared, what input percentages were by each side.

The Jaguar example below is a 1999 S-Type, photos via Car and Classic Auctions in England.  The Lincoln is a 2003 LS, photos from Bring a Trailer Auctions.

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Side views generally best reveal structural similarities.  Above is the 1999 Jaguar S-Type.

Here is the 2003 Lincoln LS.  Both cars have the same 114.5-inch (2908 mm) wheelbase, and their lengths are virtually the same.  The most similar area is between the cowling and the after cutline of the front door, including the B-pillar. That is, the windshields are the same, the doors have nearly the same cutlines at the front and what looks like the same cutlines at the pillar.  Wheel openings seem to be the same shape.  The front bumper horizontal cutlines also look the same.  Other details differ to varying degrees.

Front comparisons.

No similarities here.  That's because frontal design is important for brand recognition.

Rear views.

Underlying rear bumper structure is probably the same, given the sizes of the impact areas.  Trunk shapes and cutlines differ.  The Jaguar's roof profile looks slightly more rounded from this perspective.

Rear quarter.

Most of Ford's tooling budget for differentiating these cars is seen here.  Nearly everything abaft of the B-pillars is unique.  Wheel openings were noted above.  Trunk lengths are about the same.  But even the gasoline filler doors don't match.

Front quarter.

That the windshields are the same is clear from this viewpoint.  The stylists did an excellent job of disguising the fact that these two cars shared the same platform.  Hardly a touch of "badge engineering" here.

1951 Buick XP-300 Concept

Around the turn of 1950-1951 General Motors announced two concept cars -- "Dream Cars" as they were popularly called at the time.  The much more famous one was the Le Sabre, the lesser-known was the Buick XP-300, today's subject.

The Le Sabre was the more sensational-looking one due to styling cues taken from the US Air Force F-86 Sabre jet fighter, rocketry, and other futuristic technology.  On the other hand, the XP-300 was more conventional in appearance, though it did share a jet-exhaust motif on its trunk lid with the Le Sabre.

An interesting point is that while the Le Sabre was a corporate design, the XP-300 was related to GM's Buick division and featured Buick style vertical grille bars and headlight assemblies that appeared on 1953 Buicks.

My opinion is that GM's styling supremo Harley Earl larded so many details onto the Le Sabre that several conflicted, making the design somewhat incoherent.  That was especially so for its front end.  The XP-300's styling lacked that profusion of details (aside from its rear end) and its basic shapes were less complicated.  This is why I mentioned above that it seems more conventional.  Still, it was futuristic for its time, and if the Le Sabre had never been built, the XP-300 would have been far more famous than it was.

All images below are via General Motors.

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Glamour publicity photo of the XP-300, showing how low it was compared to the model at the right.

Frontal design is very Buick -- the gunsight ornaments atop the fender fronts, the crest ensemble above the grille, the vertical grille bars, and those headlight assemblies that later appeared on production Buicks.  The panoramic (wraparound) windshields on the Le Sabre and XP-300 were avant-garde in 1951.

The fenderline did not appear on later GM cars, though the raised rear fender hints at the future tail fin fad.  That large swath of side trim has the function of helping draw the eye lower, counteracting the higher, curved, main body profile.  Abaft of the door, it conforms to the fender skirt that pivots from the doorpost to allow better access to the rear wheel.

The XP-300 does have a trunk lid, but little trunk carrying capacity.

The central jet exhaust motif and related boat tail shape contrast considerably from the clean hood area: too fussy.  A higher trunk lid mimicking the hood would have made for a more unified design.  But might have detracted from the Dream Car "Wow" factor.

Overhead view.

Frontal view taken at the Sloan museum in Flint, Michigan.

Rear view showing the complicated detailing.

1934 One-Year-Only Airflow Brougham

Aside from some very expensive Custom Imperial sedans, the rarest Chrysler Corporation Airflows of model years 1934-1937 were the 1934-only Broughams (2-door sedans).  Only 828 were made: 306 Chrysler CUs and 522 DeSoto SEs.

Before the 1934 model year was over, it became obvious to Chrysler management that Airflows were not selling nearly as well as expected.  So changes were made, mostly in the form of redesigned Airflow grilles and the addition of the conventionally styled Airstream line.

Another change was dropping Broughams from the model lines.   Coupes did better than Broughams in 2-door car sales, but not much better.  Nevertheless, Coupe production continued at low levels until the Airflow was abandoned even though killing that style after 1934 was probably economically justified.

Based on Internet searches at the time this post is being drafted (August 2023), only one Airflow Brougham appears to exist.  It is pictured below.

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1934 Chrysler CU Airflow Brougham - advertising art
This is the only image of a Chrysler Airflow Brougham in my database.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - factory photo
One of the DeSoto Airflow Brougham publicity images in my database.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - publicity
The other such image.  One of my reference books refers to DeSoto 2-door sedans as Broughams, though my publicity material, probably created in time for the Airflow's launch, uses "2-door Sedan" as shown here.  "Brougham" seems to have been applied later in the model year.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Coupe - Worldwide Auctioneers photo
Now to compare Airflow Broughams to other body types.  Here is a DeSoto Coupe with its fastback profile.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow 4-door sedan - publicity photo featuring actress Ida Lupino
This shows the 4-door sedan profile.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - Pat Durkin photo
The Brougham's profile is the same as the sedan's, but doors and windows differ.  The Brougham seems to share the Coupe's door.

1934 DeSoto SE Airflow Brougham - via AutoRestorer