2022 Kia EV6 Walkaround

For some reason, I find the styling of many new battery-powered cars more interesting than that of many conventionally-powered cars.  Is this a marketing-based strategy to entice potential buyers to the government-demanded future?  At the time this post is being written (April, 2024), sales levels of all-electric cars have declined from a year previously.  So the distinctive styling does not seem to over-ride the clear limitations of the electric power trains.

Today's post features the strikingly styled Kia EV6 (Wikipedia entry here).  There's one in the town by where I live, and it looks better in person than some of the images in the Gallery suggest.

Images below are publicity photos from Kia.

Gallery

Whatever justifies the opening below the bumper has the happy result of suggesting the EV6 might have a radiator up front.  Better than those characterless front ends of some other electric cars.

Plenty of angularity up front.  But complemented by comparatively featureless sides.

The mid-side character fold is less obvious on the EV6 I am familiar with.  That apparent smooth curve from beltline to rocker panel is an important styling feature.  I wonder what the effect would be if that dark C-pillar area was silver like its surroundings.  Less fussy than the pinched zone seen here, but possibly it would have added a bit too much visual weight.

The interrupted curve from the rocker panel to the tail light assembly is bad aesthetics, but good brand identity.  Note how rounded the car's side appears in this photo.  Rear end details of this European EV6 differ slightly from those seen in the image below.

Interesting taillight package and related, lower sculpting.  The dark zone at the bottom to the rear has little obvious mechanical function.  But it nicely prevents the rear being dominated by a sculpted silver blob.  That said, its profile does not relate to the sculpting above it.

Another view of the European version.  The backlight window is short -- likely marginally adequate for driver's rearward visibility.

The passenger compartment greenhouse is quite low.  (Compare to proportions of many 1970s cars.)  Note the short overhang on both ends.  The wheelbase is 114.2 inches (2900 mm), quite long for a car of its 184.8 (4680 mm) length.

I think the spoke design of the wheels is silly.

1948 Hudson Sedan Walkaround

The last true standard-size Hudson design was launched for the 1948 model year, and continued in production into 1954.  Some Hudson Motor Company history is here.

Those '48 Hudsons were distinctly different from competing brands.  Besides a streamlined-appearing shape, they were lower than competing cars in part due to the use of unitized bodies rather than conventional body-on frame.  For example, 1947 Hudson height was 68 inches (1727 mm), the new, competing 1948 Oldsmobile 98's height was 63.8 inches (1621 mm), and the 1948 Hudson Commodore was only 60.375 inches (1534 mm) high.  All these cars had road clearances of approximately 8 inches (203 mm).

The Gallery below features walkaround views of a line-leader Hudson Commodore sedan along with images of other cars mentioned above.

Gallery

1947 Hudson Commodore Sedan - for-sale photo
The previous Hudson design.  At its core is a 1936 model year body that experienced many facelifts over the years.  Its grille design has some features that were carried over to the 1948 model (horizontal bars and the upper frame theme).  Otherwise, all was changed.

Factory photo of a 1948 Hudson Sedan
General view of a '48 Hudson.

1948 Oldsmobile 98 - factory photo
An example of styling leader General Motors' redesigned for 1948 C-body 4-door sedans.  This was the new postwar American industry norm.  The new Hudsons were quite different.

1948 Hudson Commodore sedan - for-sale photos
Now for the walkaround.  As mentioned, the grille theme retained some features from 1947 Hudsons.

Postwar American redesigns featured flow-through fenderlines.  The result sometimes resulted in a slab-sided appearance.  Hudson's low height eliminated that possibility.

Even so, stylists took a few steps to visually reduce a slab look.  The fenderline is slightly below the passenger compartment greenhouse beltline.  Also, there is a character line crease partway down the fender.  The result is that the side looks sleek.

Rear ends were simple in those days.

The backlight window has curved glass, but its area is not very large because curved glass technology was not quite ready for larger sizes.  Note the curved plan form of the passenger compartment roof.

The broad chrome strip along the base of the body might have helped to draw viewers' eyes downward, helping to give Hudsons a low appearance.

Again, glass forming limited the windshield to two sections and not a unrestricted panorama.  The Oldsmobile pictured above also had a two-piece windshield.

Early Austin-Healey Sprites and MG Midgets

I perviously wrote about the Austin-Healey Sprite that appeared in 1958.  In that post I mentioned that:

"When I was a young man I really, really wanted to buy a new sports car.  But being in the army and, later, graduate school, my income made that a marginal proposition.  As a grad student with teaching assistant and summer research pay, I could (barely) afford a later version of the Sprite.  I rejected getting one because I thought it was too small from a safety standpoint, not to mention its limited capacity for carrying things such as suitcases or even groceries.

"As for the first-generation Sprites, the bug-eye feature was an additional turn-off.  They made the car look cheap."

A facelifted Mark II Sprite was launched during the 1961 model year along with a badge-engineered vesion called the MG Midget.  The Wikipedia link for the Sprite is here and that for the Midget is here.

The small size I mentioned is indicated by the wheelbases of those cars throughout their production runs (1958-1971 for the Sprite, 1961-1980 for the Midget): 80 inches (2032 mm).

My thinking notwithstanding, those cars sold well.  From what I gather from the Wikipedia entries (as of December 2023), around 131,000 Sprites were built and Midget production was about 227,000 for an approximate total of 358,000.

Gallery

1958 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk. I - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
The original Sprite frontal styling with its "smile" grille and "Bugeye" headlights ("Frogeye" in the UK).  They were intended to be retractable, but it was decided that would add too much to the intended low price.  I think retractable headlights and a different grille would have made that design better.

1958 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk. I - BaT Auctions photo
A simple shape in profile (aside from those headlights) -- a good solution for such a small car.  Note the hood cutline.  The entire front end pivots upwards via hinges at the cowling to allow access to the motor.

1958 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk. I - BaT
Very simple.  So simple that there is no trunk lid.

1962 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk. II - Historics Auctioneers photo
The massive facelift.  Doors cutlines are retained along with the now nonfunctional one between the door and front wheel opening.  The fenderline is new and the frontal design is conventional.

MG Midget Mk. I - factory publicity photo
The Midget was marketed as an upscale Sprite.  Grille bars are vertical rather than a mesh, and that side chrome strip added some visual length to the design.

1963 MG Midget Mk. I - Hampsons Auctions photo
Hoods (bonnets) of Mk. I Sprites and Mk.I Midgets were conventional, rear-hinged.

1963 MG Midget Mk. I - Hampsons
Now there is a trunk lid.  Tail lights on Mk.II Sprites and Midgets are those also used on the new (in 1962) MGB sports car.

1963 MG Midget Mk. I - Hampsons
The facelift left the cockpit nearly untouched.  Compare this dashboard to the Mk. I Sprite's in the the following image.

1961 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk. I - Historics Auctioneers photo

Lincoln-Zephyr's 1938 Facelift

A styling rule-of-thumb is that facelift designs are usually inferior to original designs (that are held to be more "pure").  But there are exceptions, and I occasionally post about them.  Today's post deals with the 1938 Lincoln-Zephyr facelift that launched a new American styling fashion as well as improving the Zephyr's appearance.

Ford Motor Company styling was led by E.T. "Bob" Gregorie (brief biography here) who worked closely with Edsel Ford, who Henry Ford allowed a comparatively free hand with the Lincoln brand.

It seems that futuristic, aerodynamically influenced 1936 and 1937 Zephyrs suffered from overheating problems.  Gregory suggested that the radiator be repositioned from a vertical to a horizontal orientation, and some wind-tunnel testing indicated that this was the correct, simple solution to the problem.  The horizontal radiator required a horizontal grille for 1938, which Gregorie designed, along with related changes.  The result was a more attractive Lincoln-Zephyr.

All other American car brands featured vertical grilles, so the new Zephyr grille created a sensation of sorts that led to American cars having horizontal grilles by 1941 (aside from traditionalist Packard).

Images of the 1938 Zephyr are of a for-sale car.  Most 1936-37 Zephyr images are via BaT Auctions (for a 1936 car), the final photo is of a for-sale 1937 car.

Gallery

Frontal view of a 1936 Zephyr.  Its grille is fairly narrow on average, thus limiting the airflow to the radiator behind it.

The 1938 grille.  The radiator can be seen lurking behind the thin, horizontal grille bars.

The Zephyr design evolved from a prototype by John Tjaarda that I wrote about here.  Gregorie's main contribution was the front end that featured wedged, boat-prow shapes for the grille and headlights.  (Gregorie spent most of his career designing yachts, perhaps a factor in his initial Zephyr front end design.)

The 1938 hood remains tapered in plan-view, typical of the time.  The wider, horizontal grille required  smoothed-in catwalks next to the front fenders.  Headlight assemblies are tapered towards their bottoms, reflecting the hood's tapered shape -- a nice, subtle touch.  The general result is a smoother-looking, better-integrated design.

The major changes were forward of the cowling-A-pillar zone.  The hood is more rounded in profile.  Front fender were redesigned, being larger and conforming to the emerging "suitcase-fender" styling fashion launched by General Motors in the mid-1930s.

Rear quarter view of a 1937 Zephyr.

Almost no change at the rear.  The fenders are slightly higher and converge to tail light assemblies, harking to the converging shape to the trunk lid.  Interesting that whereas the frontal styling became more blended for 1938, the rear became slightly less so.

1957-1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham Walkaround

The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham (reference here) was regarded as General Motors' response to Ford's 1956 Continental Mark II.

The Mark II was priced $9,695 and the Brougham $13,074 -- extremely expensive at the time.  Both were mounted on 126 inch (3200 mm) wheelbases.  Neither sold well.  Only 3,005 1956-57 Mark IIs were built and sales of 1957-58 Broughams were even worse, at 704.  Clearly, both cars lost the carmakers' money.

I wrote about Mark II's styling here and here.

The Mark II was intended to evoke the original, classic 1940-48 Lincoln Continental, whereas the Brougham's design was not tied to the past.  Therefore, it conformed to GM's mid-1950s styling traits and Cadillac iconography.

Images below are via Mecum Auctions.

Gallery

Quad headlights were not legal in every US state until 1958, but the Brougham featured them anyway.

The sloped bumper guard theme appeared on Cadillacs as early as 1952, was revived for 1954, and continued though the '57 model year.

The fake side air vent is a variation of a Cadillac theme going back to 1950.

The shape of the top, including the backlight window and C-pillar evoke GM's original, 1949 hardtop coupes.

No Cadillac iconography on the car's rear.

Tail fin design is similar to that of non-Brougham '57 Eldorados, but not other '57 Cadillacs models.

Overall, the design is fairly restrained for its time.

Rear side doors are hinged on the C-pillar, and the B-pillar takes the form of a short, slanted, chromed post by the front seat side.  It carries an attachment point for the door handles.

Cockpit.