1937-1938 General Motors A & B Body 2-Door Sedan Comparison

This is related to the previous post dealing with 4-door sedans and their bodies.  The repeat that post's introductory paragraphs ...

According to Michael Lamm and David Holls (here, page 97) General Motors' shift to multi-brand body platforms began in 1931 from an analysis of current production bodies by Vince Kaptur.  This took a while to implement, but was in force by the 1936 model year for all GM cars, perhaps aside from luxury vehicles.

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 link above 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 details did not agree with Lamm and Holls, who I am more inclined to trust regarding initial timing.

I lack charts of body dimensions, so the analysis below is simply based on study of photos.  More precise information is greatly appreciated.

Gallery

1938 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe - car-for-sale photo
All 1937-38 Chevys had A-bodies.

1937 Pontiac DeLuxe Six - Mecum Auctions photo
This is a fastback A-body that has a different aft side window profile.

1938 Oldsmobile F-38 Six - car-for-sale
A non-Chevrolet A-body with a slightly different rear.

1937 Buick Special - photo via Hemmings
Similar to the Pontiac above, though Wikipedia had this as a B-body.

1937 Buick Century - car-for-sale
A B-body car.  But are not these two-door sedans essentially the same body styles regardless of A and B category?  I discuss this problem in the previous post.

1937-1938 General Motors A & B Body 4-Door Sedan Comparison

According to Michael Lamm and David Holls (here, page 97) General Motors' shift to multi-brand body platforms began in 1931 from an analysis of current production bodies by Vince Kaptur.  This took a while to implement, but was in force by the 1936 model year for all GM cars, perhaps aside from luxury vehicles.

Factors that brought this into play were the Great Depression that resulted in fewer sales and less income as well as the shift to all-steel bodies that required more expensive production tooling.

Platforms were designated by letter.  The link above 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 details did not agree with Lamm and Holls, who I am more inclined to trust regarding certain dates.

I lack charts of body dimensions, so the analysis below is simply based on study of photos.  More precise information is greatly appreciated.

All but one of the images below are of for-sale cars.

Gallery

1937 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe
All 1937-38 Chevys had A-bodies.

1937 Pontiac DeLuxe Six
Another A-body, perhaps, but note that the C-pillar is vertical and not slanted, as seen on the Chevrolet in the previous image.

1937 Pontiac DeLuxe Eight
Wikipedia does not mention the body for Pontiac Eights, though theoretically this is a B-body.

1937 Oldsmobile F-37 Six
Another A-body, according to the plan mentioned above.

1937 Oldsmobile L-38 Eight
Eight cylinder Oldsmobiles had B-bodies.

1937 Buick Special
Fastback B-body variation.

1937 Buick Century - Mecum Auction photo
B-body on a longer wheelbase.  As you might have noticed, passenger compartments for B-bodies and non-Chevy A-bodies are quite similar.  They might even share a good deal of the structure and sheet metal stamping.

August 2024 note: That C-pillar difference starting with the Pontiac Six bothers me.  I have the nagging feeling that all cars with that feature are actually B-body examples.  Is there any source that explains strong visual similarities between non-Chevy A and B bodies?  Or was Chevrolet the only user of A-bodies in those days?

Chrysler Airflow Grille Evolution, 1934-1937

Chrysler's revoutionary 1934 Airflow was an engineering trendsetter.  But its windtunnel-tested body design was awkward appearing, too far from conventional designs of the time.  There were some initial production delays, criticisms from competing firms, and other factors, but its odd design was likely the prime reason sales were well below expectations.

Chrysler Corporation soon set a crash program in place to make Airflows look more conventional.  That was mainly in the form of redesinging grills and hoods.  I wrote about facelifting DeSoto Airflows here.

Today's post deals with Chrysler Airflow front end facelifts.

Gallery

1934 Chrysler CU Airflow Sedan - factory photo
The original Chrysler Airflow design.

1934 Chrysler CA 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
Not all 1934 Chryslers were Airflows.  The company also continued to make conventional (for the times) models such as this.

1934 Chrysler Airflow - factory photo
Because the Airflow represented a major engineering advance, including wind tunnel testing of body shapes, no attempt was made to link the grille's design to that of conventional CA and CB models.  As mentioned above, slow Airflow sales forced Chrysler to make Airflows seem less Airflow-like.  The easiest place to do that was the grille design.

1935 Chrysler Airstream
Airstream was Chrysler's name for its new 1935 conventional, non-Airflow line.  Shown here is its mildly streamlined grille.

1935 Chrysler C2 Imperial Airflow Coupe - RM Sotheby's Auctions image
And this is how that grille theme was carried over to 1935 Airflows.  Body shapes required a wider opening, but the theme of thin, vertical bars and fewer, thicker horizontal chrome bars and slightly V'd prow, was carried over.  Also note that Airstreams and Airflows had a similar theme for side air vents.  Although less "functionally pure," the '35 Airflow grille is more attractive than the '34 original.  Its crispness counterbalances what otherwise is a fairly "soft" body design.

1936 Chrysler Airstream 4-door sedan car-for-sale photo
Model year 1936 saw the "fencer's mask" grille fad that I wrote about here.  I mentioned that "Chrysler's fencer's mask fronts were extreme versions of the style."

1936 Chrysler C9 Airflow Sedan - Mecum Auctions photo
Like in 1935, the '36 Airflow version was a reshaped version of the Airstream theme.  The angularity is gone, changing the overall appearance to a more consistent softness.  Nothing necessarily wrong with that.  Besides, soft, rounded shapes were prevalent American designs of that era, so this helped Airflows seem somewhat in line with American automotive fashions.

1937 Chryler Royal 4-door sedan - car-for-sale photo
I wrote about the odd 1937 Chrysler front end design, and how it was restyled for 1938 here.

1937 Chrysler C17 Airflow Coupe - BaT Auctions photo
The final Airflow grille again carried over details from conventional Chryslers.  But this design is much better, even restoring some of the crispness of 1935.  The "whiskers" on the hood of the Royal in the previous image are drastically truncated here.  Note that the outer edge angle blends with the angle of the grille frame -- a nice, professional touch, but structurally influenced by the hood cutline.

2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

Cadillac had dethroned Packard as America's leading luxury car brand by 1950, and was only briefly domestically challenged by Lincoln in the late 1980s.  But sales declined by the mid-1990s with the advent of Toyota's new Lexus brand and the higher prestige of imported cars from Mercedes-Benz and BMW.  The latter had performance credentials foreign to Cadillac, so an effort was made to create some higher-performance Cadillac models.  As best I can tell, this effort has been at least marginally successful, so it continues.

A fairly recent example is the Cadillac CT4 Blackwing variant that features a design with aggressive-looking details.  The CT4 was launched for model year 2020 and the Blackwing appeared early in 2021.

CT4 and CT5 Blackwings are fairly rare birds.  I didn't really notice a CT4 Blackwing unil early August 2024 in Anacortes, Washington while sipping coffee at a Starbucks.

The CT4 has a wheelbase of 109.3 inches (2776 mm) and a length of 187.2 inches (4755 mm) with fairly short overhang.  This seems to help the design's chunky, aggressive-looking appearance.  I should note that its General Motors Alpha platform was shared with the final-generation sporty Chevrolet Camaro.

Photos below are of a 2022 Blackwing listed for sale.

Gallery

Slender, vertical running lights have been a Cadillac recognition feature in recent years, while slender, vertical tail lights have been on Cadillacs for decades.  The massive snout with its large upper and lower grille framing lacks chrome, giving a more purposeful, less-decorative appearance.

What appear to be air vents fore and aft of the forward wheelwell imply the capability for aggressive braking.  The after slot is echoed somewhat by the side sculpting.

The rear spoiler is a performance touch that might even be necessary as opposed by being evocative.  Of interest is the body sculpting that blends into the tail light assembly: nice touch.

Somewhat similar fenderline sculpting can be found towards the front of the car.  The vertical running light seems at odds with the rest of frontal styling.

Zagato's Quirky Lancia Flavia Sport Coupé

For some reason, I tend to remember the outstanding Italian car designs, forgetting all the inferior ones.  But while researching photos for blog posts, I sometimes encounter odd Italian designs that I can't ignore.  Such is the case with today's subject, the mid-1960s Lancia Flavia coupé by Zagato.  Its designer was Ercole Spada.

Accoring to the first link above, 626 Zagato Lancia Flavia Sports were made -- a surprisingly large number, considering the quirky design.

Gallery

1949 Alfa Romeo 2500 SS Panoramica by Zagato
I wrote about Panoramicas here.  More photos at the link, but note here the windows curving into the roof.  This was before Spada's time at Zagato, but there must have been something in Zagato's air that led to...

1966 Lancia Flavia 1800 Coupé by Zagato - Gallery Aaldering photos
...that strange side window curving into the roof.

The basic shape is smooth and rounded; note the large-radius curve atop the fender.

If that side window hadn't curved in the roof, the design would have been pleasant, though not striking.

Interesting use of a concave backlight window and its blending into the trunk lid.

Larger wheels would have looked nicer, but what you see here was what Spada had to work with.

The grille wapping over the frontal hood cutline is a non-functional echo of the wrapover side window concept.  And then there are those hated (by me) quad headlights.

For a little context on the Zagato design, this is a 1965 Lancia Flavia 1800 Coupé by Pininfarina - BaT Auctions photo.

1947 Nash Suburban "Woodie"

One thinks of "woodies" as 1940s-vintage American station wagons, convertibles and sedans with parts of their bodies made of visible wood components in place of sheet metal.  Regarding woodie convertibles and sedans, one usually thinks in terms of the Chrysler Town and Country and Ford Sportsman.  Those were "pure" woodies in that wood structural components were used.  Some background on woodies is here.

Then there are cars that can casually be called woodies due to their appearance, yet lack wooden structural items.  The wood is applied over metal or placed in non-structural areas.  Such was the case for 1946-1948 Nash Ambassador Suburbans.

RM Sotheby's auctioned a 1947 Nash Suburban, link here.

It mentions that, following World War 2: "Nash required something new and different, that may not, necessarily, sell in large quantities, but would serve as a “draw” for showrooms.

"That car was the Ambassador Suburban, a four-door fastback sedan with handsome “woodie” bodywork, in the fashion of the Chrysler Town and Country.  By far the costliest Nash product, it was always extraordinarily rare.  Estimates are that, in three years of production, fewer than 1,000 were produced, with the most scarce being the 1948 model, of which just 130 were made.  Of the entire Suburban run, about a dozen survivors remain in existence worldwide."

Nash was a unit-body pioneer in America, and those Suburbans used those bodies.  Structural requirements meant that wood could not be substituted for structural metal.  So much -- perhaps most -- woodwork on Suburbans is applied, not built-in.

Here is an image of a 1948 Suburban while under restoration by Hensler Furniture Restoration of Saginaw, Michigan.  It appears that some non-structural parts such as door panels and perhaps the trunk lid might be wooden.  Otherwise, wood appears to be applied over metal.

Suburban images below are via a source I cannot presently identify for certain.

Gallery

1948 Nash Ambassador - Hyman Ltd photo
Nash Ambassador 4-door sedan for 1946-1948 looked like this.

A 1947 Suburban seen from a similar perspective.

Lloyd's Auctions photo of a 1946 Nash Ambassador.  Note the widths of the door pillars on this car compared to those on the Suburban in the following image.

Trunk lid hinges are on the exterior, unlike regular Nash Ambassador sedans.

Early Postwar AC 2-Litre Line

The AC cars best known to us in America are the AC Cobra sports cars of the mid-1960s.  The company has gone through several name and management/ownership changes over the decades.  Since around 1960, AC has built sporty cars.  But AC's first post- World War 2 effort was a line of cars based on a prewar 1991 cc motor -- the 2-Litre AC (Wikipedia entry here).

Those 2-Litres were produced 1947-1956 or 1958 (sources vary).  The line comprised 2-door and 4-door saloons (sedans), drophead coupes (cabriolets), and tourers (4-passenger convertibles).  Based on the surviving mix found on Internet images, 4-door saloons were the most rare and 2-door saloons the most common cars.

I use the "What Were They Thinking" label for this post because those saloons were oddly proportioned.  Basic bodies below the beltline were low to the ground like sports cars, whereas passenger compartment greenhouses were proportionally unusually tall.  This should be made clear in the Gallery below.

Gallery

1948 AC 2-Litre Drophead Coupe - HandH Auctions photo
Like most postwar English cars, styling was an elaboration of prewar elements.  Whoever designed the 2-Litre line made an effort to have many of those elements recast in rounded, rather than typically British angular form.  Examples seen here are the fenders, hoodline and grille.  Headlights are blended into the catwalk, anticipating Jaguar XK120 styling.

1950 AC 2-Litre Tourer by Buckland Bodyworks - Hyman Ltd photo
Some AC convertibles featured cut-down doors, while horizontal beltlines at the doors such as this were more common and looked better.  Tourers such with their tops retracted were the most attractive models due to their lack of a too-tall greenhouse.

1947 AC 2-Litre 2-Door Saloon - Dore and Rees Auctions photo
The incompatibility of the low front and tall greenhouse is most apparent when seen from this viewpoint.

1955 AC 2-Litre 4-Door Saloon - car-for-sale photo
More than anything else, the large windshield contributes to the unfortunate proportion problem discussed here.

1952 AC 2-Litre 2-Door Saloon - Historics Auctioneers photos
Now for a three-view of a saloon.

This side view emphasizes another proportion problem -- the front fenders are too massive.  I suppose the designer wanted the 2-Litres to look "modern," so American 1942 fender-over-the-door styling was borrowed.  A slightly lower fender with a sharper fall-off abaft of the peak would have been much better.

Backlight windows are two-piece because flat glass panes were what was available in England in those days.  At least the ensemble is large, helping driver visibility to the rear.

Auburn's Overlooked 1935-36 Cabriolet

Errett Lobban Cord's Auburn Automobile Company was on shaky ground by the mid-1930s thanks to the Great Depression that extinguished other carmakers in America and elsewhere.  I wrote "Auburn's 1935 Facelift" here, dealing with the redesigned 1934 Auburns and the effort to make them more attractive for the 1935 model year.

As it happened, 1936 proved to be Auburn's last model year.  And as was sometimes the case, the final model years of dying brands saw that some of their cars were of great interest due to notable designs.  That was so for Auburn's 1935-1936 Speedsters with boattail styling by Gordon Buehrig, more famed for his design of 1936-1937 Cords.

Auburn made cars ranging from six cylinder lower-mid-level (priced like Pontiacs) to near-luxury V-12 powered cars at twice the price.  (The V-12s were dropped after 1934.)  Some models were quite sporty, and this was continued for 1935-36.  Besides the Speedster noted above, Auburn's line included a Cabriolet model that wasn't in the styling league of the Speedster, yet was still sporty-looking.

The Cabriolet has always been overshadowed by the Speedster.  Today's post is an attempt to give it more recognition.

Gallery

1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Speedster - BaT Auctions photo
Those teardrop fenders and boat tail make for a strong theme seldom equaled in the 1930s.  The car shown here has a supercharged inline eight cylinder motor.  Auburn indicated supercharged status by using the exhaust pipes sprouting from the left side of the engine compartment (the right side lacked them).

1936 Auburn 654 Cabriolet - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photos
Here are three views of a final-year six-cylinder Cabriolet.  Supercharging was only available on eight-cylinder motors, hence no visible exhaust pipes.

The fender- running board arrangement is the same as on other non-Speedster Auburns.

There's a rumble seat, making the car technically capable of housing four passengers.  The spare tire is mounted externally at the rear, though some Cabriolets had spares mounted on the front fenders.

1935 Auburn 851 Cabriolet - BaT Auctions photo
An eight-cylinder, non-supercharged Cabriolet.  Paint accents are on the raised sculpting.

1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Cabriolet - BaT Auctions photos
Now for three views of the sportiest Cabriolet.  Unlike the Speedster, its windshield is not V'd.  Side windows are rolled up in this photo.

The general shape is similar to a few roadsters from competing brands -- that is, in line with mid-30s American styling conventions, but nicely executed.  The long hood and those exhaust pipes provide the "sporty" factor.

The rear fenders are bolted to the body sculpting: note the cutline.