Factors that brought this into play were the Great Depression that resulted in fewer sales and lesser income as well as the shift to all-steel bodies that required more expensive production tooling.
Platforms were designated by letter. The book states:
"Harley Earl showed Kaptur's conclusions to Fished Body and suggested that all GM cars share four basic body shells. He designeted these A-B-C-D. The A-body would be used by Chevrolet, standard Pontiac and small Oldsmobile. The large Pontiac, mid-size Oldsmobile and small Buick would use the B shell. The C-body accommodated the big Olds, big Buick, LaSalle and small Cadillac. And all Cadillac and Buick limousines used the D body."
That was the concept, but details varied over time.
Wikipedia has entries dealing with the bodies dealt with in this post: A platform here; B platform here. At this time I drafted this (February 2024), some early time details did not agree with Lamm and Holls, who I am more inclined to trust.
I lack charts of body dimensions, so the analysis below is simply based on study of photos. More precise information is greatly appreciated.
Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale.
Both A (seen here) and B bodies for 1935 had B-hinged "suicide" doors.
Hinging was shifted to the A-pillar for 1936. Aft passenger compartment profiles on A-body Chevys were nearly vertical.
The shortest A-body Chevrolet. This car lacks an attached trunk, so the spare tire is exposed.
A-bodies for other GM brands featured ogive-curved aft passenger compartment profiles, as seen here.
This model appears to have a unique rear profile -- less curved than other B-body two-door sedans as shown below.
This, and the other B-body 2-door sedan shown here seem nearly the same as the A-body cars.
So I wonder if two-door sedans all had essentially the same body, Chevrolets perhaps excluded. Note this Buick's rear side window profile differs slightly from those on the other cars shown.
No comments:
Post a Comment