1952 Kaiser Overhead Views

Sometimes it can be interesting to view a fine design from unusual perspectives.  Today's post presents some high and near-overhead views of a 1952 Kaiser four-door sedan.  I wrote about the 1951 Kaiser redesign here.

The Kaiser brand had only one complete redesign -- for the 1951 model year, which accounts for the previous link.  A moderate facelift appeared for 1952 in the forms of a cleaner grille design and larger tail lights.  1953 Kaisers were nearly identical to '52s.

Below are images of a 1952 Kaiser as seen from high or near-overhead positions.  Such views are seldom seen in everyday settings.  But they provide some insight into the attention stylists had to pay in order to produce complete, production-ready exterior designs.

Images below are of '52 Kaiser Manhattan sedans listed for sale.

Gallery

Establishment shot of a two-door Kaiser -- how one might normally view it.  Compared to contemporary American sedans, Kaisers featured low basic bodies and tall passenger compartment "greenhouses."

Now for our subject car.  The hood is sculpted, of course, but flowing, not with hard folds and creases.  The most salient feature is the upper framing of the windshield, something basically unique to Kaiser.

Large (for the time) backlight window, again with the "heart" dip on the upper frame.

Beltline "shoulders" exist, but are not strongly defined.  The chrome strip enhances the fenderline flow.  The greenhouse has a curved planview perimeter, something not seen so much nowadays in the era of the SUV.

Showing the tapered raised part of the hood.  Something of an old-fashioned touch at a time when hoods were becoming wider and flatter (think 1952 Nash).

High side view of a very attractive design.

General Motors Four-Window Coupe Evolution 1935-1940

During the mid-through-late 1930s General Motors had the largest portfolio of car brands in the USA.  It also was the largest and most profitable firm.  As best I can tell, once GM had switched to expensive-to-tool all-steel bodies, it was still able to afford to produce more than one body platform while offering redesigns every two or so model years.

Styling was at the height of the great evolutionary transition from boxy cars with discrete elements such as fenders, running boards, headlight assemblies, non-integrated trunks and such to designs that blended those features with the appearance of streamlining.  Given the pathbreaking, it's not surprising that most designs of that era seem awkward to us because stylists were groping for attractive themes while constrained by the state of metal and glass shaping art of the time (that also was in a period of change).

Today's post deals with coupé styling by GM's Art and Colour group led by the famous Harley Earl.  Such cars might be expected to be stylish because coupes are intrinsically less massive than four-door sedans.  Yet it wasn't until the 1940 introduction of GM's C-body line that its coupes were really nice looking.

Gallery

1935 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
Chevrolet Master DeLuxe, Pontiac and Oldsmobile sported new, all-steel bodies for 1935, including this 4-window coupe.  Steel pressing technology at the time required the rounded passenger greenhouse seen here.  Probably stylists drew rounded window profiles as a continuation of the shaping theme.

1935 Oldsmobile Six - car-for-sale photo
However, many coupes with those bodies were two-window affairs such as this.

1937 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe - Mecum Auctions photo
GM introduced new bodies for 1937.  Chevrolet had its own body set, some cars from other brands sharing them.

1937 LaSalle Opera Coupe - Mecum
This is a coupe using the longer-wheelbase 1937 B-body.  Window framing is less rounded, but the curve transitioning the greenhouse to the trunk is similar.

1938 Oldsmobile Six Business Coupe - car-for-sale photo
Small Olds Six coupes looked like this with their 1937-1938 bodies.

1939 Oldsmobile 60 Series - car-for-sale photo
This new body was shared with 1939 Chevrolet and Pontiac's Quality Six series coupes, all with wheelbases in the 111 to 115 inch range.  The front door is similar to that in the previous photo.

1939 Pontiac DeLuxe Eight - Mecum
Coupes with longer wheelbase B-bodies such as this Pontiac got a passenger greenhouse with a horizontal beltline and other crisper, less rounded, details.

1939 LaSalle - car-for-sale photo
Now for a closer look at LaSalle.  Tis coupe has the same basic body as the Pontiac in the previous image.

1940 LaSalle 50 - car-for-sale photo
That body was carried over to Series 50 LaSalles for 1940.

1940 LaSalle 52 - Mecum
But LaSalle was also given GM's new C-series bodies for 1940 on the brand's new Series 52.  These were very attractive cars -- an interesting combination of massive and lean features.  Especially the passenger compartment greenhouse is larger, better-proportioned than previous GM four-window coupes.

Studebaker's 1956 Four Hawk Varieties

Studebaker's 1953 Starliner hardtop coupe is regarded by me and many others as a classic car design.  It was facelifted slightly for 1954, and then more drastically (and unfortunately) for 1955.  I wrote about that here.

During that period, the design was in the form of a coupe with a fixed B-pillar as well as the pillarless hardtop.  For 1953-1954 the basic coupe was named "Starlight" (a carryover name from 1947-52), and as mentioned, the hardtop was "Starliner" (carryover from the 1952 hardtop).  The 1955 facelift led to the respective renaming of "Regal" for those coupe types, along with some sedans.

Model year 1956 saw an even more drastic facelift and re-naming.  Here, consideration was given to Studebaker's primary models -- the six-cylinder engine Champion and eight-cylinder Commander.  Champion coupes became Flight Hawks, Commander V-8 coupes were Power Hawks.  Hardtops were the Sky Hawk (in Studebaker's top-level President line) with a Studebaker V-8 motor, and the Golden Hawk with a larger, more powerful Packard V-8 engine.  These four are this post's featured cars.

For more background, I wrote about early Studebaker Hawk verions here, and some Wikipedia information is here.

Gallery

1956 Studebaker Flight Hawk - car-for-sale photo
The newly named Hawk line differed from 1955 coupes, having a new grille-hood combination and a revised trunk lid.  Not all Flight Hawks had one-tone paint jobs like this one.

1956 Studebaker Power Hawk - BaT Auctions photo
Power Hawk coupes had the same exterior appearance as Flight Hawks.  The important difference was its V-8 motor of 170-185 horsepower compared to the Flight Hawk's 101-horsepower inline six.

1956 Studebaker Sky Hawk - Studebaker photo
A Sky Hawk hardtop coupe seen at Studebaker's proving ground a short way west of South Bend, Indiana.

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk - car-for sale photo
The line-topping Golden Hawk.  Its Packard engine had 275 horsepower compared to the 210-225 HP motors in Sky Hawks.  Goldens listed at $3,061 versus Sky Hawk's $2,477.

1956 Studebaker Flight Hawk - Mecum Auctions photo
Side views.  Besides the presence or absence of B-pillars, the main differences are in the side chrome trim and paint patterns.

1956 Studebaker Power Hawk - BaT
Again, no bodywork differences from Flight Hawks.

1956 Studebaker Sky Hawk - Mecum
The forward chrome trim is the same as seen in the previous two images.  Then there is that curious checkmark.  Its longer stem aligns with the after edge of the C-pillar, which is a professional touch.  My problem here is the checkmark itself.  A simple upkick linking the two horizontal strips / paint dividers would have been a cleaner, more sensible solution.

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk - car-for sale photo
Here the primary chrome strip continues after its checkmark interruption.  And there's another strip aligned with the lower cutline of the door.

1956 Studebaker Flight Hawk - unknown photo source
As mentioned, trunk lids were restyled for 1956.

1956 Studebaker Power Hawk - BaT

1956 Studebaker Sky Hawk - BaT
Same rear styling as on Flight and Power Hawks.

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk - car-for sale photo
Golden Hawks received small tail fins.  This is interesting, because Chrysler Corporation, famed for 1950s fins also modestly moved in that direction for model year 1956.  Note that two-toning extends to the aft panel the trunk lid.  The upper chrome frame of the backlight window is wider than found on the other Hawks.

1962 Plymouth Walkaround and Overheads

Chrysler Corporation's newly redesigned 1962 standard-size Plymouth was a sales disappointment, as were Dodges sharing the same body platform.

That said, the design is of interest from a styling standpoint because it was the final mass-production design created under the leadership of famed stylist Virgil Exner who was replaced as Chrysler's styling vice-president by Elwood Engel in 1961.  This Wikipedia link (as of January 2025) states:

"Unfortunately, a rumor that GM was reducing the size of their cars caused the president of Chrysler, Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert, to order Exner to do the same to his 1962 design–a change Exner disagreed with, thinking it would make his cars 'ugly'.  Exner with his associates had completed work on the second full-sized finless Plymouth since 1955, this one for 1962, described as a strikingly attractive automobile.  While he was still recovering from the heart attack, the 1962 models Exner took credit for were downsized by associates.  This downsizing drastically changed the cars' appearance.  This reduced the cars' appeal and caused a significant drop in sales.  It turned out that the Chevrolet rumor was false and consumers disliked the smaller Plymouth and Dodge cars introduced for 1962, the styling of which was bizarre compared to more sedate Ford and GM products."

Those original designs are:

As was fairly standard styling procedure, design proposals featured different themes on each side.  For example, the belt line hump seen in the upper photo was carried over in altered detail on production Plymouths.  The raised sculpting theme on the front and rear fender areas was also found on production cars.  Ditto the grille mesh concept.  So the design theme that went into production was Exner's, and the execution and detailing were simply modifications of the theme shown here.

Another design theme precursor to the 1962 Plymouth was the 1960 Valiant (soon renamed Plymouth Valiant), one of America's first-generation "compact" cars.  Some of its features are seen in the images above.  Valiant photos lead the Gallery images.  All photos there are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1960 Valiant
Those projecting sculpted elements on the fenders are part of the theme seen above and on the '62 Plymouth photos below.

1960 Valiant
Note the the horizontal creases of those element, front and rear, are aligned -- a professional styling touch to enhance visual integration.  They do not align in the styling models shown above.

1962 Plymouth Savoy
Savoy was the entry-level standard-size Plymouth model.  It's shown here because it has fewer chrome decorations than more upscale Plymouths.  The grille is interesting because it looks like a concave version of an electric shaver head.

That concavity is better seen here.

The creases on the front and rear sculpted elements align here, as on the '60 Valiant above.

The beltline hump by the after side window is a carryover from that in the design shown in the top image.  Here, it's not related to the after side sculpting.

Broad, flattened shapes are found front and rear.  What Exner came up with once tail fins had become unfashionable.

1962 Plymouth Belvedere
Now some views from overhead.  One marketing problem was that the body was too narrow for acceptance by early 1960s American car buyers.

Those sculpted extensions of the hood and trunk do provide some width ...

1962 Plymouth Belvedere
... but they also, by contrast, emphasize the narrowness of the body in the passenger comparment zone.  Presumably this is a different car from the previous example.  This photo depicts side sculpting and contrasting basic body width a bit better.

Sterling: a Car From Rover and Honda

In the early 1980s, Japan's Honda desired to enter the executive/luxury car market, following Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti brands.   The brand name selected was Acura.  The car itself was a joint effort with England's Rover Group -- the latter marketing its versions as the 800-series Rover and the Stirling (in North America, but also as a Rover model in the UK at times).

Background on Rover 800s is here, on the Acura Legend model here, and the Sterling here.  All featured a 107.8 inch (2760 mm) wheelbase and basic body structure, though some other details varied.

The first generation, featured here, was produced 1985-1990 by Honda, and 1986-1991 by Rover.

The Americanized Sterling sold fairly well in 1986, but quality control and other defects caused sales to fall off drastically thereafter.  The third link above (as of January 2025) contains annual sales data.  Acura sales were okay, as were non-Americanized Rover/Stirling cars in Europe.

Styling detail variations of the Acura Legend, Rover 800 and Stirling are discussed below.

Gallery

1987 Acura Legend - BaT Auctions photo
The Japanese version.

1987 Sterling 825 - car-for-sale photo
The Sterling for North America.  Most body panels are the same, the greatest difference seen here being in the area of the C-pillar and backlight window.

1986 Rover SD1 Vitesse - Iconic Auctioneers photo
The four-door hatchback version.  It was marketed as the Stirling 827 in North America, where hatchbacks of any kind almost never had strong sales for some reason.

1987 Acura Legend - BaT Auctions
Front quarter view.

1987 Rover 820SE via Car and Classic
Hoods (including cutlines) differ, but only slightly.  Other front end detailing is also similar for both brands.  Little tooling variation seen here.  

1987 Acura Legend - BaT Auctions
Rear quarter.

1986c. Rover Sterling - factory image
As noted above, the main difference is in the C-pillar zone and use of different backlight windows.  Otherwise, tail light and reflector panels differ in details, as well as license plate locations.  The aft crease on the Stirling's trunk lid seems crisper due to what looks to be a sharp fold above the type of fold seen on the Acura.

The Astonishing Morgan AeroMax

Cars by Morgan are seldom seen here in the USA because production levels were low, and around 20 years ago Morgans were ruled not in compliance with airbag regulations, so exports to the United States effectively ended.  That is my feeble excuse for not featuring Morgans on this blog.

But thanks to the Internet, I recently became aware of a 2008-vintage Morgan model with really interesting styling -- the AeroMax (some background here).  The design isn't beautiful: it's astonishing.

Morgan photos below are of for-sale cars.

Gallery

1955 Morgan +Four Roadster
This is a classic "golden age of British sports cars" Morgan.  When I think of Morgan, this is what comes to mind.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Sport Coupe - General Motors photo
But what if Morgan combined the general design of the car pictured above with the aft end theme of this classic Corvette?

2009 Morgan AeroMax

This is what Morgan Stylist Matt Humphries produced, first as a one-off for an important Morgan client, and later for a limited production run of around 100 cars.  Almost all post- World War 2 four-wheel Morgans retained the 1930-vintage front fender design and horseshoe shaped grille with vertical bars.  Other styling details evolved over time.  But the windshield remains 1930-flat.

That nice, long hood and front end take up about half the total length of the car.

Behold, the boat-tail, split backlight window Corvette-like touch.

Opened-up view.

Overhead view revealing how the old and new design themes were blended.