Important sources for this post were books by Paul R. Woudenberg (here), and especially Henry Dominquez (here). The latter included numerous quotes from E.T. "Bob" Gregorie who headed Ford styling beginning in March of 1935, though he earlier designed the English Model Y Ford. The first American Ford under his leadership was the 1938 line.
Fords appearing model years 1935-1937 were styled at Briggs Manufacturing Company (coachbuilt.com link). Dominguez states: "These models were developed at Briggs Manufacturing under the direction of Ralph Roberts and his design group headed by John Tjaarda... Phil Wright, a designer in Tjaarda's group, designed the stylish 1935 Ford line... Holden Koto, another designer on Tjaarda's staff, eventually developed an appropriate facelift for the 1936 Ford." He does not cite who was most responsible at Briggs for 1937 styling.
Engineering and cost-related factors strongly influenced Ford designs in those days when Henry Ford himself was in charge of Ford Motor Company, but beginning to have serious health problems. Some of those factors are mentioned in the Gallery below.
Gregorie pointed out that chassis engineering boss Larry Sheldrick positioned the rear seat forward of the rear axle line in order to improve passenger riding comfort á la the '34 Chrysler Airflow. (In the photo above, the seat back seems to be aligned with the rear axle line, so the flat part is forward of that line. 1934 Ford sedan back seats were atop the axle line.) Retaining passenger compartment dimensions on the same 112-inch (2845 mm) wheelbase yielded a proportionally shorter hood, creating a stubbier-looking design. That wheelbase and passenger compartment location continued through model year 1940. This forced Gregorie to devote much creativity to visually lengthen the fronts of Ford designs in that restricted zone.
Briggs stylists were talented, and understood the problem as well as Gregorie. Note how the grille was pushed forward compared to the '35 design.
This qualifies as a major facelift, as much of the passenger compartment is carried over from 1935-36. Differences there include changing the windshield from single-pane glass to shallow V'd two-pane, and rounding the roof to accommodate "all-steel" coverage. Gregorie stated that manufacturing boss Charles Sorensen wanted to reduce the amount of sheet metal on Fords (possibly in conjunction with the increased roof metal, I suspect). There also were concerns regarding deep-draw stamping wastage on front fenders, yet another problem for stylists.
According to Woudenberg, Gregorie was in charge of '37 Ford styling, "but he later denied it, perhaps due to the unfortunately small following that the '37 Fords have today [1976] among Ford buffs." Also, this "might have been a genuinely beautiful car but for one problem. On direct orders from Mr. Ford, the car was shortened -- from its prototype." Dominguez does not mention that matter. Google's AI states there was such a prototype, but I checked the links it gave (early October 2026), and I noticed no such mention. If there's a definitive source regarding a prototype, let us know in Comments.
Also, it's likely that Gregorie did indeed have a major hand in 1937 Ford styling, if for no other reason that his front end design for the 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr contributed strongly to the frontal design of '37 Fords.
Grogorie in Dominquez's book does acknowledge the '38 Ford's design as coming from his styling group. The rear part of the passenger compartment was changed to a smooth curve that incorporated the trunk. Fenders were redesigned as were the hood and grille.
Most changes here were forwards of the cowl. Wider, longer hood. New grille. Headlights in the fenders, not in the catwalks.
Minor facelifting up front.
A redesign. And finally based on a slightly longer 114-inch (2896 mm) wheelbase. Note the taller window, for instance. Also, sides are curved outward more. Fender sculpting related to metal stamping changes. Gregorie thought its 1942 frontal facelift was an improvement.
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