First-Generation American Panoramic Windshields

General Motors usually set the styling theme pace for American carmakers from the late 1920s through the 1960s.  Of course there were exceptions.  Other firms sometimes introduced features before GM -- an example is placing headlights in front fenders.  And GM sometimes designed cars that didn't sell well -- the late 1950s, for example.

One styling feature that briefly dominated American design was the panoramic (or "wraparound" as we usually termed it in those days) windshield.  It was a pet project of GM's design supremo Harley Earl.  They first appeared 1950-51 on the LeSabre and XP-300 "dream cars."  Model year 1953 saw them on Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Fiesta convertibles.  And for 1954, Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs were redesigned with panoramic windshields.

Model year 1955 saw most models from the other carmakers sporting such windshields, although it took until 1956 for a few other brands to catch up.  Some models such as Studebaker coupes and Nash Metropolitans never went panoramic.

Not all brands from each manufacturer are shown below.  Only examples of each new windshield design are presented in the interest of keeping this post from becoming too long.  The only major omission is the 1956 Lincoln whose windshield was similar to other vertical A-pillar designs.

Gallery

1954 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - BaT Auctions photos
Here is GM's C-body version.

Windshield is tall and framed by A-pillars that are essentially vertical.

1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 - RM Sotheby's photos
GM B-body windshield.

Also tall, but the A-pillar slants forward.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air - car-for-sale photos
C-body cars were redesigned for 1955.

A-pillars are essentially vertical, a common solution.

1955 Ford Customline - car-for-sale photos
Fords were massively facelifted for 1955.  Roofs were flatter and windshields became panoramic, but not as high as the GM versions.

Again, a vertical A-pillar.

1957 Continental Mark II - car-for-sale photos
The Mark II appeared for model year 1956.  Its panoramic windshield is unlike the others shown here.  It does not intrude into the roofline.

A-pillars slant to the rear.

1955 DeSoto Firedome - Barrett-Jackson photos
Windshields used for Chryslers and DeSotos.  Not as tall as General Motor's versions.

The main difference was the aft-slanting A-pillar.  Same sort of pillar as before, but anchored farther aft.  This gave Chrysler cars a more conventional appearance and seems to have reduced or eliminated the distortion found on GM cars.  In 1956 my father test-drove Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets, experiencing annoying distortion.  So he bought a DeSoto instead.

1955 Dodge Coronet - GAA Auction photos
The panoramic on CHhysler Corporation's entry brands.  Its upper frame is aligned with the upper side window framing.

Another aft-slanting A-pillar.

1955 Packard 400 - Daniel Schmitt photos
Packard's strong '55 facelift included a panoramic windshield.

It's pretty much like the GM vertical A-pillar designs.

1955 Studebaker Champion - car-for-sale photos
Studebaker added panoramics partway in to the 1955 model year.

Similar to Chrysler's solution.

1955 Nash Ambassador - photo via Hemmings
Another facelift, but not as strong as Ford's or Packard's -- changes were at the front end, plus the windshield.

1955 Nash Ambassador - car-for-sale photo
Again, a largely vertical A-pillar

1956 Nash Rambler - car-for-sale photos
Rambler was redesigned for 1956, so its panoramic windshield was probably intrinsic to the styling.

From this photo, the pillar is vertical.  But back in the day, I always felt that the A-pillar tilted slightly aft.

Grille "Whiskers" on 1937-1938 Hoods

While there is no doubt that automobile styling has a considerable fad/fashion component, often styling fashions are influenced by what is technically available at the time.

Consider the late 1930s American situation.  The Great Depression of the '30s stimulated visual innovation as a means of attracting buyers.  Then there was the concept of "streamlining" -- actual or simulated improved aerodynamic efficiency of body shapes.  This interacted with improvements in sheet metal stamping technology so that rounded body surfaces could be mass-produced.  So American cars of that era tended to have rounded, sometimes lumpy appearances.

Once a production body shape was established, stylists then had to come up with largely decorative items such as grille shapes and details.  Often, such details were similar for competing brands (as is true today).

Today's post deals with what I consider a curious trim similarity found on cars from five different companies for the 1937 model year.  Then for 1938, two more companies' cars used the same idea.

Especially interesting, there was no 1936 American car with that feature.  A quick look at '36 French designs revealed the same thing, though I can't rule out an example from another country or a custom body that might have inspired it.  

From what I've read about the American car industry, a source of that similarity might have been stylists changing jobs and passing along information.  Or it might have been information leaked by parts suppliers.

And it's quite possible that the idea occurred because the 1936 fad for "fencer's mask grilles" led some stylists to the idea that such grilles could be closely linked to the nearby hood sides.

Let's take a look.

Gallery

1937 Studebaker President - Hyman, Ltd photo
Here the chrome strips along the side of the hood overlap the top of the grille itself.  Visually, this is the sort of thing I was discussing above, even though the streaks are not strictly grille bar extensions.

1937 Chrysler Royal - car-for-sale photo
Again, the grille itself isn't quite involved, though the visual concept is there.

1937 DeSoto - car-for-sale photo
DeSoto's hood streaks do seem to be grille bar extensions.  However, the top of the actual grille opening is probably around the "O" of the "DESOTO" on the vertical grille divider.

1938 DeSoto - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
DeSoto the following model year.

1937 Pontiac DeLuxe - Barrett-Jackson
A bit hard to see in this photo, but streaks extend from the grille bar zone.

1937 Willys - publicity photo
A small car with small grille-hood streaks.

1937 Nash Ambassador Eight - car-for-sale photo
A borderline case.  The upper grille framing is extended along the hood, but not as chrome strips.

1938 Graham 96 - Shannon's Melbourne Auctions photo
For 1938, we see those streaks on the redesigned Graham.

1938 Ford Standard Tudor - Mecum Auctions photo
Also on the entry-level Fords.  Though no chrome here for that low-priced car.

Volvo's 1935 Chrysler Airflow-like PV36 Carioca

As I mentioned here in my post "Airflow and its Variations in 1936," an Airflow "look-similar" was the Volvo PV36 Carioca.  One is shown in the evocative photo above.

The nickname "Carioca" is Brazilian, not Swedish -- a mid-1930s thing noted in the Wikipedia link.

A more detailed account is here.  It mentions that "The design was heavily based on streamline styling from American vehicles.  How many influences the Swedish designer Ivan Örnberg brought back home from his former employer Hupmobile in Detroit in 1933 can only be guessed.  In any case, there are various optical parallels, for example to the Chrysler Airflow."

Clearly, Airflow influence was strong.  I see little 1934 Hupmobile influence aside from the very rear.  One  important Airflow detail was placement of the passenger compartment between the axle lines, with the motor mounted more forward than conventional at the time.  Side views of the Carioca suggest that it followed Chrysler practice.  Its body was "all steel" (aside from the fabric roof insert), but probably not quasi-unitized in Airflow fashion.

Gallery

1935 Volvo PV36 Carioca - factory photo
Likely a prototype or early production model.  The slightly raised grille and hood front is more conventional than the strongly rounded (and much criticized) early Airflow front ends.  Basically a decent, tidy design for its time.

1935 Volvo PV36 Carioca - factory photo
Publicity or advertising image.

Volvo PV36 Carioca - via Top Gear
The grille and body shaping above the headlights is different from that show in the top photos.  Perhaps this is later than a 1935 model.

The decoration on the rear wheel spats is similar to that on Chrysler Airflows.  However, that sort of thing was also found on other 1930s cars such as Nashes and Peugeots.

Volvo PV36 Carioca - Bilweb Auctions photos
Same car as on the previous images, but in a different setting.

Rear quarter view.  Compare to the Hupmobile in the following image.

1934 Hupmobile 421 - image via Automobile Quarterly, Vol. 16 No. 1
As mentioned above, Carioca's rear resembles this Hupp more than it does a '34 Airflow.  CU Airflow sedans lacked trunk lids, and the spare tire was not sunk into the aft sheet metal.

Volvo PV36 Carioca - via classicandsportscar.com
Again, a slightly different grille design.  License plate appears to be British.

Volvo PV36 Carioca - unknown photo source
Probably the same car as in the previous photo.  Compare its profile to the Airflow below.

1934 DeSoto Airflow - car-for-sale photo
Shown here is a DeSoto Airflow whose wheelbase (115.5 inches, 2934  mm) is closer than Chrysler's to that of the Carioca (116.1 inches, 2950 mm), making for a reasonable comparison.  The Carioca is a 4-window car, the Airflow has 6 windows.  Having fewer windows, the Carioca's aft profile curve is less abrupt than the DeSotos'.  Door hinging is reversed: "suicide" front on Carioca, rear on Airflow.  Airflows got some production cost savings by having major parts of door shapes reversed.  Note the symmetrical (but flipped) side window shapes.  The left front door and right rear door would used the same window shape tooling, ditto the right front door and left rear door.  Carioca seems to have done the same with respect to windows.

American Four-Door Hardtops: The First and The Last

Apologies to the late General Adolf Galland for borrowing the English title of his autobiography for part of this post's title.

Two-door "hardtop convertible" or "hardtop coupe" bodies with B-pillars truncated at the beltline entered mass-production on some 1949 model year Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs.  Four-door versions appeared on 1955 Oldsmobiles and B-body Buicks.  These were soon followed by 4-door hardtop sedans from other General Motors brands as well as from Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and (briefly) American Motors.

Federal regulations regarding rollover integrity in the early 1970s ended hardtops due to their lack of a B-pillar extending up to the roof framing.  The last American hardtops, 2-door and 4-door, appeared on 1978 Dodge Monacos and all Chrysler Newports and New Yorkers.

Some first-and-last examples are pictured below.

Gallery

1953 Cadillac Orleans Concept Car - General Motors photos
GM was testing the hardtop sedan body type on this Motorama show car.  Also panoramic windshields on cars with fixed tops.  (Convertibles with wraparound windshields were offered for 1953, as my post "1953 Oldsmobile Fiesta and Cousins" describes.)

The Orleans had absolutely no B-pillar.  Doors were hinged on the A and C pillars with latches down low on the frame.

1955 Buick Century Riviera Sedan - BaT Auctions photos
The first GM production hardtop sedans were on 1955 B-body cars such as this Buick Century.

The forward side window area included a Ventipane.  Rear door windows were once-piece for nearly all hardtop sedans ever built -- with an exception pictured a ways below.

Note the fashionable three-tone paint scheme.

1955 Oldsmonile Ninety-Eight Holiday Sedan - car-for-sale photos
Buick and Oldsmobile 88 hardtop sedans had 122-inch (3099 mm) wheelbases.  Olds Ninety-Eights such as show here had 124-inch (3150 mm) wheelbases.  The result was a better proportioned design.

1956 DeSoto Firedome Seville hardtop sedan - BaT Auctions
Chrysler Corporation redesigned its line for 1957, so its '56 hardtop sedans were the result of what appeared to be a crash project.  Note the awkward-retraction rear door window.  My family owned such a DeSoto because I pestered my father into ordering it rather than a conventional sedan.  In retrospect, I was wrong, the sedan being more practical.

1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham hardtop sedan - BaT Auctions
The end of the line.