1937 Ford Headlight Assembly Details

Who designed the front end of 1937 Ford cars?

The overall styling was sub-par.  So far as I've been able to find, no claims have been made regarding any aspect of the design.  Ford's styling chief Bob Gregorie said that he was busy getting the styling department organized at the time the '37 was designed, so he could not be blamed.  Credit is usually given to the styling staff of Briggs Manufacturing, a supplier of car bodies to Ford in those days.  The studio dealing with production car design was headed by Ralph Roberts, formerly of LeBaron coachbuilders.  Under him were Phillip O. Wright, Holden "Bob" Koto, Al Prance, and a few others.  These were very good designers.  Yet none seems to have claimed credit for the '37's front ends.

That said, I really like the design of the front end of 1937 Ford passenger cars.  But not the awkward-looking part aft of the firewall/cowling on the sedans.

What impresses me is the sculpting of the fenders and catwalks that are contrasted by the sharp frontal part of the hood and grille.  The especially nice feature is the design of the headlight assemblies and their blending into the catwalk zone.

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1937 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe - car-for-sale photo
Ford's main competition.  General Motors headlights were not blended into fenders until the 1940-41 model years.

1936 Pierce-Arrow - Mecum Auctions photo
Pierce-Arrow's design signature for decades was headlights placed atop fenders.  The car shown here represents the firm's final design.

1937 Willys - factory photo
The redesigned 1937 Willys featured fender-mounted headlights.  All other American cars save Lincoln-Zephyr and Cord had headlights mounted in the general mode of the Chevy pictured above.

1936 Lincoln-Zephyr - cropped factory image
The "streamlined style" 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr's frontal styling was borrowed to some degree by the 1937 Ford.  Gregorie was responsible for the Zephyr grille design.  And likely for the rest of the front, though I have no evidence.

1937 Ford DeLuxe Fordor Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Compare the front of this car to that of the Lincoln-Zephyr.  Hoods, grilles and front fenders are quite similar.  The main difference is in the Ford's catwalk placement of headlight assemblies, though the lens and chrome surround designs are essentially the same.

1937 Ford Standard - car-for-sale photo
Close-up view showing the sheet metal sculpting of the fenders/catwalk/headlight zone.

1937 Ford Standard - Vanguard Motor photo
Frontal view.  Note the crease atop the fender's form.  This crisp feature is echoed by the grille and the pointed bottoms of the headlight assemblies (that also echo the grille's plan-view shape).

1937 Ford Standard - Barnfinds photo
High frontal view showing the blending of the headlight assemblies into the catwalks.  Very nice sculpting.

1937 Ford Standard - Barnfinds photo
Another view of the same car.

1937 Ford Standard - BaT Auctions photo
The catwalk zone viewed from the rear.
Given all the similarities of the front ends of the Ford and Lincoln-Zephyr, I suspect Gregorie was responsible for the styling -- directly or indirectly.

1983 Lincoln Quicksilver Concept Car

The 1983 Lincoln Quicksilver is a little-known concept car that's noteworthy in that it still exists and escaped Ford Motor Company, being up for auction at least twice.

Ford previously used the Quicksilver name on a preliminary project for its 1960 redesign.   I showed two Quicksilver drawings in this post.

It seems that the concept car was designed as well as built by Ford's Carrozzeria Ghia subsidiary rather than at Dearborn, Michigan.  Besides that, it was based on components from an AC Cars vehicle, not Ford.

Yet another unusual detail is that the Quicksilver has been called a "mid-engine" car.  No, the motor isn't located between the front and rear seats.  It seems to be just in front of the rear axle line (and perhaps overlaps it).  A rear-engine car's motor is placed abaft of the axle line, so mid-engine seems to mean farther forward, but not at a car's front.  That said, by 1983 mid-engine cars were mostly sports cars or racing cars -- not passenger sedans.  And the rear weight bias usually makes for handling problems such as I encountered with my Porsche 914 on snowy roads in Upstate New York in the early '70s.

All this suggests that the Quicksilver, taken as a whole, was not a serious proposal for a production car.

Mecum Auction's Web page has more background regarding the Quicksilver.

Photos below are via Mecum and an undetermined site.

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The Quicksilver was designed when Ford was aggressively exploring aerodynamics, and it was once of several concept cars that were wind tunnel tested: its drag coefficient was 0.30, according to Mecum.

The wheelbase seems very long, though I don't have its length measurement.  On the other hand, the impression of length could well be due to the small wheels/tires.

Rear vision seems somewhat limited.

Given the motor's location, I wonder about the various openings at the front.  It could be that the radiator was there and long piping connected it to the motor.  The side air vents towards the rear seem to be intended for cooling the engine compartment.

Although the shape is aerodynamically efficient, the 1970s crisp, linear detailing found on three-box production sedans has been carried over to the Quicksilver.  Aside from its length and engine placement, the design is fairly attractive.

"Step-Down" Hudson Body Types, 1951

The Hudson Motor Car Company was an important American automobile maker from 1909 until near its 1954 end, when it "merged" with Nash to form American Motors Corporation that then soldiered on until 1988.

The last "true" Hudson cars were the post- World War 2 models launched for the 1948 model year.  (I'm not counting the flawed 1953-54 compact-size Hudson Jet that sold poorly and helped drag the company down.  Nor the 1955-1957 Hudsons based on Nash bodies.)  Standard-size Hudsons were in production from 1947 into 1954, a much longer run than the 3-4 year cycle that was common in those days.  This lack of redesigned standard size cars for 1952 was another reason for Hudson's failure.  Yet another was failure to develop a V-8 motor, given that V-8s were what the rest of the American car industry (aside from Kaiser) was doing.

Model year 1951 saw Hudson marketing the maximum number of body types based on its basic platform.  Examples are shown below.  That year, Hudson models were the Pacemaker, Super Six, Commodore, and Hornet -- the Commodore further designated as Commodore Six and Commodore Eight, based on engine cylinder count.  No '51 model used all six body types shown in the Gallery.

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1951 Hudson Hornet 4-door sedan - BaT Auctions photo
This is the high-performance Hudson model.

1951 Hudson sedan body structure
Unitized bodies have been the industry norm for decades.  But in America in the 1940s, only Nash, Hudson and Lincoln used unitized or partially-unitized body structures.  One disadvantage of such bodies is that they are resistant to facelifts requiring major structural changes due to the high tooling costs compared to body-on frame facelifting.  Besides the 4-door sedan structure shown here, there was a coupe variation with different above-the beltline details abaft of the A-pillar.  Also, the B-pillar was moved aft to create wider doors.

1951 Hudson Hornet 4-door sedan - BaT Auctions
Now for a set of side views for comparison.  Super Sixes, Commodores and Hornets had 124-inch (3150 mm) wheelbases.  Entry-level Pacemaker wheelbases were 119 inches (3023 mm).  The difference can be compared via the distance from the front wheel opening to the front door forward cutline.

1951 Hudson Pacemaker Brougham Coupe - BaT Auctons
Note the smaller distance from the door cutline to the wheel opening compared to that of the Hornet shown above.  The Brougham Coupe style has the same passenger compartment greenhouse profile as found on four-door sedans.  But the door is wider (B-pillar moved farther aft).  The aft side window appears to be fixed -- not enabled to roll down.  That seems to be why this model is styled "coupe" rather than 2-door sedan, though it otherwise is a 2-door sedan.  Moreover, other brands used the sedan name for cars with fixed side windows -- 1941 Pontiac's De Luxe "Torpedo" Two-Door Sedan model is an example.

1951 Hudson Hornet Club Coupe - for-sale photo
Hudson also had true coupes such as shown here.  The door is the same as that of the Brougham Coupe in the previous image.  Line-topping Hornets and Commodores were the only 1951 Hudsons with that long, chromed side spear.  The car seen here has modern tires, so sits lower than normal.

1951 Hudson Pacemaker 3-Passenger (Business) Coupe - for sale
This is the entry-level Hudson.  Its interior configuration allows for larger trunk space for salesmen to convey wares.

1951 Hudson Pacemaker Custom Convertible Brougham - RM Sotheby's photo
It seems that in order to create a convertible, Club Coupe bodies were chopped off at the beltline abaft of the A-pillar and their structured beefed up to replace the lost rigidity.  This was done in facilities located off the assembly lines.  As can be seen here (look at the door-wheel opening distance), this is indeed a Pacemaker.  But the chrome strip is the same as that on Commodores and Hornets aside from the area of the front tip.  I think the most likely explanation is that the strip was taken from a Commodore and the tip modified.  But I can't rule out that a few Pacemaker convertibles were given such a strip late in the model year to promote sales.

By the way, note Hudson's use of the word Brougham here.  Yet the convertible is Club Coupe-based, not based on the Brougham Coupe (2-door sedan) body shown earlier.

1951 Hudson Commodore Hollywood - Bonhams photo
Hardtop coupes were the rage in the American market by 1951, and this is Hudson's version that was named Hollywood.  These were produced off-line like the convertibles and used convertible side windows.  The windshield appears to differ from other Hudsons due to the flatter passenger compartment roof -- it seems slightly shorter.

1967 Mercury Cougar and Ford Mustang Compared

Ford's late, somewhat lamented Mecury brand seldom produced cars that I find interesting from a styling perspective.  The one true gem was "Bob" Gregorie's 1949 design.  Another that was quite good was the initial Mercury Cougar that I wrote about here in my post "Mercury Cougar: The First, Best Generation."

It was a brief post that I want to elaborate upon here with reference to its Ford Motor Company "Pony Car" stablemate, the Mustang.  Mustang was launched with great success during the 1964 model year, and Cougars appeared for 1967 and maintained its same design with minor detail changes for 1968.  Model year 1969 saw a lesser Cougar design that I might discuss another time.

Early Mustangs and Cougars shared key body structure elements despite having different wheelbases (108.0 inches, 2743 mm for Mustang, 111.0 inches 2819 mm for Cougar).  Much of the brands' sheetmetal differed, providing sufficiently unique identity for marketing purposes.

As mentioned in the post linked above, I prefer Cougar's styling to Mustang's.

Images below are of cars listed for sale.

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Mustangs were facelifted for 1967.  They received a restyled, slightly longer front end and different side sculpting.  These changes were in the spirit of the original design, so the average viewer in 1967 might have considered Mustang design as "freshened," but still very Mustang-like.

A 1967 Cougar.  Comparing this photo with the one above, I have trouble finding where the difference in wheelbase length appears.  Usually such differences are forward of the firewall/cowling, but here I wonder if some might be between the aft door cutline and the rear wheel opening.  Similarities are the A-pillars and door cutlines.  Otherwise, body cladding essentially differs.  The most distinctive '67 Cougar feature is the fenderline's "kickup" by the leading edge of the C-pillar: I always liked it.

The grille opening is larger and better integrated than that of the original Mustang, but maintains its character.

The Cougar's grille is less fussy than the Mustang's -- especially that of the original Mustang.  Grille bars are vertical, like those on 1946-1958 Mercurys.  Whereas the early Mustangs had a "sporty" character, the new Cougar seemed more refined.

The Cougar's rear, like its front, has greater overhang than Mustang's.  The vertical grille bars motif is echoed in the taillight assembly zone.  Both cars' trunk lids were nested between tops of fenders -- or in the Cougar's case, a minimal sail panel.

1938 BMW 327 Cabriolet Walkaround

BMW's 327 model (Wikipedia entry here) was produced 1937-1941 prewar, and 1946-1955 postwar in East Germany as the BMW 327 and EMW 327.

Before World War 2, BMW automobiles were built in Eisenach in central Germany, a city that fell into the Soviet occupation zone at the end of the war.  Prewar designs were back in production there fairly soon using the BMW brand name.  But following BMWs postwar start of car making in Munich, it was agreed that the East German BMW would be renamed EMW, the "E" referring to Eisenach.  No 327s were built in Munich, as BMW Munich lacked prewar car tooling, and had to create only postwar designs.

According to the link, 505 327s were built postwar, 1,965 prewar.  Initial models were cabriolets (convertible coupes in American parlance).  A coupé body style was introduced late 1938.  Also in 1938, a more powerful version of the 327 was introduced, having the motor of BMW's famed 328 sports/racing car series.  These are known as 327/28s, and their production numbers are included with those for basic 327s.

I could find no reference concerning who styled those attractive 327s, though Peter Schimanowski designed the BMW 326 that has several styling details similar to those on 327s because the latter is an engineering variant of the former.  So it might well be him.

Today's walkaround car is a for-sale in the Netherlands BMW 327 Cabriolet.  They looked good with their tops raised, so most images below show it in that configuration.

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Convertible top down.  German convertibly tops usually looked bulky when retracted, as is the case here.

Top raised: looks better.

Side view with top down.  That bulky package detracts from an otherwise attractive design.

When raised, the top has a nice, tidy appearance.  A fixed, metallic top with about the same shape would make for a fine, overall design.

However, the driver's view aft with the top raised is minimal.

There is no trunk lid as such.  Access to any storage space would have to be when the spare tire was lifted or, more likely, behind the carseats.

Wheelbase was a fairly long for a sporty car: 108 inches (2,750 mm).

Classic BMW frontal aspect.

Corvettes in Profile

I live next to an artsy-poo town in the north Puget Sound area of Washington State.  It attracts plenty of visitors from the Seattle area and British Columbia, some of whom drive Chevrolet Corvettes.

My wife often asks me about those Corvettes, and I usually can't tell her what vintage the car is we're looking at.  Put bluntly, I am not interested in Corvettes other than the earliest versions.  I don't really know why.  One possible reason is that for many years automobile magazines have been stressing Corvette performance -- for me a largely abstract matter because I never could afford to buy a high-performance car.

Anyway, I was becoming ashamed that I couldn't be sure that a parked Corvette was a C6 or some other generation model.  ("C" numbers are retrospective/current generation assignments for Corvettes.  The image captions below include the C number of each car shown.)  So I decided it was time to get more Corvette-savvy and write this post.

Given that there are eight Corvette generations plus important differences within the first generation, I'm limiting Gallery images to left-side profile photos.

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C1 - 1953 Corvette - Mecum Auctions photo
The original Corvette.

C1 - 1956 Corvette - Mecum photo
It was given a major facelift for '56.  This has always been my favorite Corvette design.

C1 - 1958 Corvette - for-sale car photo
Then for 1958 there was another major facelift featuring revised front end styling that included quad headlights (ugh!!).  Ruined the design, I've always thought.

C2 - 1963 Corvette - Bring a Trailer Auctions photo
A classic Corvette design.  Fussy, but intriguing -- especially the split rear window found on '63s only.

C3 - 1968 Corvette - Bring a Trailer Auctions photo
In some ways a cleaned-up C2.  Conventional fenders, for example.

C4 - 1984 Corvette - Mecum photo
Long front overhang plus the aft-of-center driver's position resulted in a hood too long for even a hood-fan like me.

C5 - 1997 Corvette - Bring a Trailer Auctions photo
Styled during Wayne Cherry's tenure as General Motors' design leader.  He seemed to favor softer, aerodynamic shapes for GM cars including Corvette.

C6 - 2005 Corvette - Bring a Trailer Auctions photo
Many similar details to the C5, but differently proportioned. 

C7 - 2014 Corvette - Bring a Trailer Auctions photo
Jazzy, slashy sculpting in line with the fad/fashion of the day (and now).  It does have an harsh, purposeful appearance.  Definite break from the cleaner C3-C6 generations.

C8 - 2020 Corvette - for-sale car photo
The basic shape dictated by the "mid"-engine layout.  Plenty of visual noise, screaming that the owner drives a truly hot car.  Good marketing, at least.

General Motors' Continuing Boat-Tail Interest

Boat Tail was a popular sporty style detail found on American roadsters in the late 1920s and early '30s.  Its general shape became impractical as cars became more streamlined-looking and body components more integrated as the 1930s wore on.  That shape also was impractical regarding trunk carrying capacity, another reason for its demise.

For some reason General Motors' styling boss Harley Earl and his successor Bill Mitchell occasionally used Boat Tail motifs on concept and production cars as late as 1971.

Images below are via General Motors unless noted otherwise.

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1933 Auburn Speedster - Mecum Auction photo
A pure example of Boat Tail.  Flipping the main body's aft end reveals a shape similar to the bow of a canoe.

1936 Auburn 852 Speedster - Mecum
By the mid-1930s Auburn's Boat Tail became more of a "streamline" detail.  As best I can tell, this '36 Auburn model was the last classic American Boat Tail design.

1938 Buick Y-Job
Harley Earl used the Boat Tail motif on this, his first concept car.  Note how integrated with the rest of the car it is.

1951 Le Sabre
Earl's sensational Le Sabre "Dream Car" also featured a Boat Tail on its trunk lid.

1951 Buick XP-300
So did the Le Sabre's sister Dream Car.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray
Bill Mitchell's initial Boat Tail interpretation.

1971 Buick Riviera
He tried the same thing a few years later on this Buick, but the car was too large to incorporate it aesthetically.