Chevrolet Hardtop Coupe Evolution, 1950-1958

Today's post deals with some of General Motors' early passenger compartment greenhouse designs for what were popularly called "hardtop convertibles."  Ordinary convertible coupes, lacking a canvas top, also lacked B-pillars projecting above the beltline.  But the addition of a metal top while retaining truncated B-pillars suggested convertibles having "hard" roofs or tops.

Given the fact of a greenhouse with all its components and ergonomic/functional requirements, stylists spent several years and product redesigns exploring styling possibilities.  That was coupled with technological advances, particularly those related to practical formation of curved automobile window glass.

In order to keep this post fairly simple, my focus is on the years GM started building hardtops, but before the corporation and the rest of the American auto industry added a variety of different sized body platforms to their brand sets.  I chose Chevrolet as the example case because it was key to GM's profits and used only GM's A-body platform.

Back in 2015, I posted "Design Classic: GMs Original Hardtops" here, supplementing it with "Non-GM First-Generation Hardtop Convertibles" here.  Read those for some context on today's subject.

Gallery

1950 Chevrolet Styleline Bel Air - car-for-sale photos
General Motors' first hardtops appeared on its C-body platform during model year 1949.  This body type was extended to GM's other platforms for 1950.  The greenhouse design used on Chevrolets, Pontiacs, and  Oldsmobile 76s and 88s closely resembled the initial design.  B-body and C-body 1950 GM hardtops featured different window designs.  I consider the original greenhouse design, as seen here, to be classic.  The side window profile and roofline suggest the canvas tops of convertibles, if the backlight window is disregarded.

1953 Chevrolet Bel Air Hardtop Coupe - car-for-sale photos
A-bodies were redesigned for 1953.  The backlight window shape was retained, while the C-pillar was given a dog-leg profile.  A likely reason was to improve exterior viewing for back-seat passengers.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe - Mecum Auctions photos
The next redesign included GM's panoramic/wraparound windshield.  The C-pillar became thin while overall glass area was enlarged.

1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe - car-for-sale photos
This was a one-year model, as GM drastically redesigned all its brands for 1959, upsetting previous brand identification to a great degree.  The C-pillar returns to 1953 form.  Wraparound windshield and backlight profiles complement one another, an industry fashion in the late 1950s.

Now for a set of rear-quarter views.  This shows what I consider the classic design.  Simple in concept, it strikes me as being "Right."  The three-segment backlight window had to do with the state of the art of window glass formation -- one-piece windows could not be mass-produced economically.

That limitation had been eliminated when the 1953-generation A-bodies appeared.

1955 backlight windows were taller than before.

The backlight is quite similar to that of 1953, though taller.  The roofline is thinner now, maintaining an airy feeling with few obstructions to exterior vision.