Saab Sonett II and Sonett III Evolution

The Saab Sonett (Wikipedia entry here) was one of the "popular price" sports cars available in the American marketplace in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Others included MGs, Fiat 124s, and beginning around 1970, Datsun 240Zs and Porsche 914s.

As the link mentions, there was a very low-production Sonett I competition car in the mid-1950s.  The Sonetts that concern us today are the Sonett II (1966-69) and Sonett III (1970-74).

The United States was the target Sonett market.  In addition to Wikipedia's entry content (as of early September 2026), I suspect a reason for Saab's dropping the Sonett line was the prospect of increasing costs required to deal with safety-related and other regulatory requirements in the USA.

All images below are via Bring a Trailer Auctions.

Gallery

1969 Saab Sonett II V4
Very early Sonett IIs were powered by Saab's two-stroke inline three motor.  Most had Ford V-4 engines.  The design has 1960s sports car coupé features such as a flowing fender line and "power bulge" on the hood, but the overall impression I get is that the appearance is rather crude.

1971 Saab Sonett III
Sonett IIIs received a more professional styling effort, mostly in the form of a refined front end.  The black horizontal lines under the grille opening are the front bumper sections.

1968 Saab Sonett II V4
Long hood line, with the driver's head positioned aft of center.

1973 Saab Sonett III
Besides the changed front end, a small side window was added abaft of the B-pillar, and the area behind it blanked off.

1969 Saab Sonett II V4
The latter point is more clear when seen from this perspective.  Here, the backlight window is large and panoramic.

1971 Saab Sonett III
Now the backlight is smaller, becoming a hatchback entry point.  Aft end detailing is more conventional and attractive, complementing the frontal changes.

1974 Saab Sonett III
American regulations required substantial bumpers, so final-year Sonetts got that large slab.  Also a 1973 grille design a little more in line with Saab 96 passenger cars.

1968 Saab Sonett II V4
The backlight window is fixed in place, so I don't know what those two bright round spots by its forward edge represennt.

1969 Saab Sonett II V4
A view of the Sonett II "chassis."

1968 Saab Sonett II V4
Sonett IIIs had a small, but more conventional hood design, unlike what you see here.

General Motors 1968 A-Body Hardtop Coupés

The 1960s decade was a good one, so far as General Motors styling is concerned.  Bill Mitchell, who took over design leadership from the legendary Harley Earl in 1958, was able to control designs for all those model years starting 1961 when he was at the peak of his abilities.  (By the mid-1970s Mitchell, like Earl in the mid-1950s, began to lose his touch.)

General Motors' redesigned model year 1968 A-body 2-door line was based on a reasonable (for America) 112-inch (2845 mm) wheelbase carried over from its initial 1961 "compact car" line.  Styling was pleasant, professionally done.  In those days, GM was prosperous and could afford to pay tooling costs for numerous brand-specific and even model-specific details.

The Gallery below presents comparative images of one hardtop coupé model from each of the brands using A-bodies for '68.  They are ordered in ascending price-prestige brand rank: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick.

Gallery

1968 Chevrolet Malibu (Chevelle) - car-for-sale photos
A particularly fancy Chevrolet version.  Of course, each brand's design had its own front end features.  That stripe flowing in front of the hood opening, then along the front fender leading edge, finally above the rocker panel, is interesting.  Might even be unique.

1968 Pontiac Tempest Custom - car-for-sale photos
Pontiacs had to have two-section grilles that, for 1968, were framed by bumper elements.  The more upscale GTO version had cladding over the chromed area shown here.

1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass - car-for-sale photos
Again, different hood, front fender leading edge and "facial" tooling used here.

1968 Buick Skylark Custom - car-for-sale photos
Like the Olds, front bumper protection is sketchy.

Side views are more interesting because brand identification is minimal or absent.  What matters for today's post are the shapes of window framing and the tooling expenses General Motors made to create not-absolutely-necessary-brand-variation when viewed from this perspective.  Here we see a strong aft convergence to a fairly sharply rounded point.

Window profile abaft of the B-pillar is squared off.  Pontiac A-body coupes had minimal side ornamentation and subtle side sculpting.

Rear side window framing is similar to the Chevy's, but more rounded.  Clean sides and no obvious rear fender treatment -- like Pontiac.

The side window converges to a sharp point.  The side sculpting echoes Buick's SweepSpear chrome trim that first appeared on some 1949 models.

All four cars had short rear fender area tops that nested the trunk lids.

They were blended into tiny sail panels framing backlight windows.

Here the sail panels transition to crisp framing atop the backlight.

The Buick's rear is more unique than the others.  The basic theme is a wedge shape.

Cadillac Grilles: 1934-1942

Over the years on this blog I've ranted about discussed grille design continuity or its lack.  In general, automobile brands that favor continuity are the upscale ones.  Major examples are Rolls-Royce and Packard.

Earlier this year I presented 1934-1940 grille designs used on General Motors' LaSalle brand, a lower-priced companion line of Cadillac.  Today's post deals with Cadillac grilles of the same era, starting when "streamlining" and external body components began being blended into more of a whole.  LaSalle was abandoned model year 1941, essentially becoming Cadillac's 61 series.  Cadillac grilles are shown as far as 1942, when production ceased due to the USA's entry into World War 2 -- a natural breaking point.

It seems the LaSalle's tall, narrow grille theme was consistent, while Cadillac's wasn't entirely so.
Gallery

1933 Cadillac V-12 - car-for-sale photo
Cadillac's pre-1934 design.

1934 Cadillac V-8 - Daniel Schmitt photo
The 1934 redesign retained the previous grille shape aside from the lower end with its starter hole plug and rounded shape.  Central vertical divider is new, as the grille becomes V'd in plan view.  The two-blade bumper proved to be too fragile and was replaced for '35.  Fenders have a frontal "wing" profile with a similar feeling as the '33's.

1935 Cadillac - Mecum Auctions photo
About the same as 1935, but with one less horizontal bar over the fine vertical strips.

1936 Cadillac Series 70 - Mecum
Redesigned car.  Grille seems less tapered and becomes more V'd in plan view.  All grille bars are now horizontal.

1937 Cadillac Series 70 - Mecum
The change is in the bars, now something close to a mesh.  The "egg crate" theme in various guises will become a Cadillac mainstay for many years.

1938 Cadillac Series 65 - car-for-sale photo
Wider grille, the horizontal-dominant egg crate retained, but bolder.  Another new body design.

1938 Cadillac Sixty Special - BaT Auctions photo
For 1938 only, Cadillac's entry-level 60 series had its own grille design.  A break from previous designs.

1939 Cadillac Series 61 - car-for-sale photo
This year Cadillac grilles were completely different.  Radically V'd, slender horizontal bars only.  Flanking panels with vertical bars of the same kind.

1940 Cadillac Series 62 - car-for-sale photo
New body.  A refinement of the '39 design with different bars.

1941 Cadillac Series 62 - Mecum
Model year 1941 brought a classic Cadillac design, including this comparatively flat, horizontal-shape grille with horizontally-dominating egg crate.  Variations on this theme continued, with some exceptions, until around ten years ago.

1942 Cadillac Series 62 - RM Sotheby's photo
New body.  Bolder grille bars, reshaped framing.  Less attractive.than 1941's.  At least continuity returns.

Figoni et Falaschi: From Delahaye 135 to Talbot-Lago "Goutte d'Eau"

In 1951, New York's Museum of Modern Art had an exhibit titled "8 Automobiles."  The concept was to present a variety of design approaches to cladding basic automotive functionalism.  Probably the most famous selection (to car design buffs, anyway) was Pinin Farina's Cisitalia 202 Coupé.  Another selected design was that of a Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Goutte d'Eau (Teardrop) Coupé designed by Giuseppe (Joseph) Figoni of the new (1935) Figoni et Falaschi Carrossiers firm.

MoMA's exhibition press release's statement regarding the Talbot-Lago:

"A third way to combine the essential elements of a car is illustrated at its most extreme by the Talbot, a French three-passenger sport and touring car lent by Carroll Bagley.  This car combines separate envelopes for each part in a composition of similar shapes, and, as a whole, forms an expressive symbol of streamlining."

Here are some links.  Wikipedia on Talbot-Lago is here.  Its entry on Figoni et Falaschi is here.  My post about the Cisitalia 202 is here.

Figoni's design ideas for the Talbot were tried out on a Delahaye 135 chassis in 1936.  The classic New York type Goutte d'Eau appeared in 1937, and versions were built as late as 1939.  All told, there were 11 such cars, plus four "Jeancart" variations along with at least three T23 coupés with similar styling and one T150-C-SS cabriolet.  As of 2002, ten of the 11 coupés were known to have survived (number 90102 seems missing).  That's a surprising large proportion surviving, given usual attrition rates, even for classic cars.

Images below compare the Figoni et Falaschi Delahaye 135 M Coupé to similarly posed Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Coupés.

Gallery

1936 Delahaye 135 M - Unidentified original source photo
I think Figoni tended to splash too much chrome on some of his designs, including this one.  But maybe that's what his customers wanted.

1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS (90117) - RM Sotheby's Auctions photo
Proportions are similar, as are the fender and hood shapes.  Note the "shovel" hood to windshield transition shape.  Also the V'd two-piece windshield compared to the flat windshield on the 135 M.

1936 Delahaye 135 M - Unidentified original source photo
This Delahaye 135 M short-chassis wheelbase is said by Google AI to be around 105 inches (2667 mm), and the length about 158 inches (4013 mm).

1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS (90107) - Gooding Christie's Auctions photo
Some Talbots also had spatted front fenders like the Delahaye's.  This T150's wheelbase is 104.3 inches (2650 mm) and its length is about 172 inches (4369 mm).  The added comparative length is found in the rear overhang and more graceful rear profile seen here.  The rounded window shape is in keeping with the generally rounded/streamlined design theme.

1936 Delahaye 135 M - Unidentified original source photo
An earlier photo, when the car sported a different paint scheme.

1938 ex-Rob Walker, Countess of Strafford, Talbot-Lago "Special" (90109) - Bonhams Auctions photo
Again, the added rear overhang is important in creating a more attractive design, as seen from this angle.  The backlight window is curved and one-piece, compared to the 135 M's two-segment, flat-paned backlight.  Also note that chrome trim is used much more sparingly here.

Lincoln's Transitioning from 1949 Design to 1952 Redesign

Back in 2015 I wrote "Squaring the Teardrops: Some Early 1950s American Facelifts."  An important change in car styling fashion was the switch from "streamlined," rounded, fastback shapes to the "three-box," more angular style that lasted from around 1950 to the wind tunnel tested shapes that emerged in the 1980s.

Today's post offers a more detailed look at how Lincoln dealt with that situation.  And, by implication, Mercury.  For model years 1949-1951, Ford Motor Company's Lincoln brand offered cars based on two different bodies.  Its upscale line was the Cosmopolitan.  The basic Lincoln line shared its bodies with Ford's Mercury brand.  All three Ford Motor Company brands were restyled for 1952, featuring similar three-box designs.  Fords were already largely into three-box styling, but company leadership decided that some money be spent on 1951 models to provide a whiff of transition for Mercury and Lincoln.

I might have used Mercury to illustrate the main 1951 facelift features.  Sadly (an opinion I've held since the early 1950s), many 1949/1950 Mercurys were butchered into hotrods with customized body modifications.  The result is that not many factory-design examples survived even into the 1960s.  Not so with Lincolns sharing that body.  Hence, my use of Lincoln here.

Finally, I need to note that the 1951 sheet metal changes from 1950 were essentially the same for both designs.  Also noted is that, aside from a grille facelift, 1949 and 1950 Lincolns looked about the same, so 1950 cars are pictured below due to better availability of useful photographs.

Gallery

1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
The larger, higher-priced Lincoln.

1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photo
It was mildly facelifted for 1951, being 5 inches (127 mm) longer than the initial 1949 models.  Some or most of the added length had to do with more massive bumpers.  No effort was made to transition to the 1952 redesign.

1950 Lincoln Sport Sedan - car-for-sale phhoto
The shorter, basic Lincoln that shared its body with Mercury.

1951 Lincoln Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photo
The facelifted design.  It's 1.8 inches (46 mm) longer than the original '49 design, again partly or mostly due to bumper design changes.  The transition feature is the raised fenderline at the rear.  This gave the design a slightly more three-box feeling.  Also changed was the shape of the backlight window.  Its increased width is more in line with 1952 Lincoln backlights, though the shapes differ.

1953 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Here's an example of the 1952 Lincoln redesign towards which the 1951 facelift hinted.  The two-bodies system of 1949-51 was eliminated, this being the only basic Lincoln body.  The car is a Cosmopolitan, but now Cosmos were entry-level Lincolns: line-leaders were Capris.

1950 Lincoln Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Ford spent a fair amount of money retooling rear ends of Mercurys and the smaller Lincolns.  Compare to the design in the following image.

1951 Lincoln Sport Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Changes include the backlight window already mentioned.  It looks like the aft end of the trunk lid might have been reshaped, creating a slightly shorter trunk.  The raised aft parts of the rear fenders are obvious, also their extension abaft of the trunk lid.  The result is a more interesting design, despite the added chrome.

It's possible that I am wrong because I've trusted the length data reported here by Wikipedia, or else attributed added length to bumpers, rather than fenders.  Corrections and amplifications are welcome in Comments.

What Were They Thinking?: Recent BMW Frontal Designs

Once upon a time, a BMW was "The Ultimate Driving Machine."  The company's product line was fairly understandable: 3-series, 5-series and 7-series models.  Happy days for the München knaben.

Nowadays, the moderate-sized carmaker spews a much larger set of models while letting the Driving Machine marketing concept wither.

Worse, from a styling perspective, BMW designs have become unattractive, especially where front end appearance is concerned.  I realize that there are car buyers who value other aspects of a vehicle more than its styling.  I fall into that category regarding my 2019 Toyota RAV4.  But that RAV's design isn't all that awful, so I could ignore it.  But BMWs launched since around the year 2020 are mostly so ugly up front that I would shun them if I were shopping for a new car.

As can be seen in the Gallery below, many recent BMW grilles (and faux-grilles on electric models) are large and heavy-looking -- adding unnecessary (in my judgment) visual weight up front.  Additionally, some internal grille "bar" designs are strange.

I wonder what BMW marketers, product planners, stylists and management were thinking when this new design direction was launch and continued.

All that said, let's take a look.

Unless noted, images below are BMW publicity photos.

Gallery

2027 BMW i7
This new design has what I consider an unnecessarily heavy looking front end.  And it doesn't relate well to the rest of the car.

Same car, frontal view.  Below are frontal views of other BMWs.

1958 BMW 503 Coupe - unidentified original photo source
This has the 2-nostril grille shape of 1950s BMWs, a strong brand identification feature.  Two-segment designs are continued up to the present.

1962 BMW 1500 Sedan
The firm's sales breakthrough model.  Again, simple front end styling.

2013 BMW 328i Cabriolet - BaT Auctions photo
My wife owns one of these.  Very attractive variation of the basic theme.

2021 BMW 4-series - unidentified original photo source
Now we're into the 2020 decade.  Massive BMW grilles began to appear a few years earlier on some models.

2013 BMW 8-series coupe
Compare to the front of the 2013 328i pictured above.  This is very bold, and pretty ugly.

2024 BMW iX2
Similar "grille" shape,  but different context and detailing.

2024 BMW X6 M60i
A functional grille of the same ilk.

2025 BMW X3
Every time I see one of these front ends I curse whoever approved that "bar" pattern for production.  Those diagonals mated to verticals in essentially equal proportions are a senseless design for an automobile.

2026 BMW iX
A recent electric car.  As usual, a too-huge "grille," but the diagonal "bars" are acceptable when used exclusively.

2026 BMW iX3
An electric SUV.  This design harkens to the early nostrils shown here, and might be useful on coupes.  Not as heavy as the other recent designs.  That more recent 2027 i7 frontal design at the top of the Gallery aside, I hope BMW styling begins to follow this concept.