1955 Chrysler, Imperial and DeSoto Variations

Whereas General Motors' redesigned 1954 Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs with their panoramic (wraparound) windshields seemed flashy and futuristic when introduced, in retrospect I think the 1955 Desoto/Chrysler/Imperial body design was the most satisfying of the mid-1950s American models.

They were styled under the leadership of Chrysler's new Design Vice President Virgil Exner.  Work began apparently in 1952, a very short development timeline for a line of cars to be introduced towards the end of 1954.  It was fairly quickly decided to base the design on Exner's 1952 Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton -- of which three were built and all still exist (though extensively facelifted).

I posted on 1955 DeSotos here, Chryslers here, and Imperials here.  Today's post covers much of the same ground, but takes a slightly different perspective.  Here are featured exterior trim variations used on four-door sedan and hardtop coupé bodies for the three brands using the same basic bodies.  Differences in grille design are ignored in order to simplify the presentation.

Unless noted, image sources are of cars listed for sale or are factory publicity photos.

Gallery

1952 Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton
The basis for the 1955 basic body.

1955 Imperial Newport -- RM Sotheby's auction photo
Imperials featured restrained, dignified trim aside from their gunsight taillights.

1955 Imperial Sedan
Sedans and hardtops shared the same side chrome strip.

1955 Chrysler 300 - Mecum auction photo
Chryslers had odd, tacked-on looking taillights.  The sporty 300 model had a very simple side chrome strip.

1955 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Nassau - Mecum photo
Entry-level Windsor hardtops also featured simple side trim.

1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe St Regis
But the upscale New Yorker St Regis hardtops had a bold two-tone paint scheme.

1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Newport
More conservatively-inclined New Yorker hardtop buyers could opt for the Newport with its simpler two-toning.  Both models had about the same price, but the St Regis outsold the Newport by a 2:1 ratio.

1955 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Sedan
Again, simple side trim for some Windsor sedans.

1955 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe Sedan
But others received fancy lower-body two-toning.

1955 New Yorker Deluxe Sedan
New Yorker sedans and Newports shared the same side trim.

1955 Chrysler Deluxe Summer Special Sedan - Bonhams auction photo
But, in a mid- model year effort to boost sales, some New Yorkers received trim incorporating Windsor along with New Yorker two-tone areas.

1955 DeSoto Firedome Sportsman
Attractive side chrome trim that follows the fender shape.

1955 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman
Less attractive was DeSoto's two-tome scheme.  Taillights are a more logical design than Chrysler's.

1955 DeSoto Sedan

1955 DeSoto Firedome Sedan - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
DeSoto sedans featured the same trim schemes as the hardtops.

1955 DeSoto Fireflite Coronado - photo via Hemmings
However, a three-tone paint scheme was added during the model year.  Some 1955 Dodges also were three-toned.

1936 Buick Special Walk-Around

General Motors' Buick brand was in serious trouble during the early years of the 1930s Great Depression.  But it was saved when Harlow "Red" Curtice was put in charge.  Given the fact that it takes a few years to develop new automobile bodies, his early rebuilding efforts using body styles already in the pipeline were fairly effective.  Nevertheless, it was the 1936 model year's redesigned line that solidified his effort.

For example, model year 1935 production of Buick's entry-level Model 40 was around 38,000.  For 1936, Model 40 (now given the name "Special") production was about 122,000, a gain of more than three times.

The images below are of a 1936 Buick Special model 41 four-door sedan listed for sale on the Internet.

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"Fencer's mask" (strongly convex) grilles were all the rage in America in 1936, so Buick got one.

Bodies were "all-steel" including roofs: GM's Fisher Body division called them "Turret Tops."

Curves and roundness were everywhere, contrasting 1920's boxiness.

Bulged trunks were virtually common by '36, though they were small by later standards.

Plain rear end designs were the norm for 1936.   I wrote about that here.

This Buick had "suicide" rear doors, their hinges high on the exterior of the C-pillar.

The rounding theme was carried as far as window outlines.  This was a sign of thematic consistency.  But its defect was that it made the overall design seem soft -- too soft, in my opinion.

In the 1920s and early 30s radiators and grilles were close to the front axle line.  But the Chrysler Airflow's configuration placed the motor farther forward.  Other brands followed to one degree or another. This Buick's back seats remain over the rear axle, but the engine and radiator are farther towards the front, the grille nearly touching the bumper.  On the other hand, the position of the headlights did not change much.  Around 1930 they were usually in front of the radiator/grille, but on this Buick they are mounted on the grille assembly.

The Outrageous 1971 Buick Riviera and Its Siblings

The 1971 Buick Riviera was controversial in its day and remains so.  Essentially that had to do with its passenger compartment greenhouse the tapered towards the rear in "boat tail" fashion similar to that of the classic 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, one of General Motors' styling director Bill Mitchell's favorites.  The story seems to be that competent stylist Jerry Hirshberg, under orders from Mitchell, included that feature on the redesigned Riviera.  But his original work was intended for a smaller body and didn't translate well to the huge production version.

I wrote about 1963 and later Rivieras here and here.

Today's post compares '71 Rivieras with the cars that shared its body platform, the Cadillac Eldorado and the Oldsmobile Toronado.  General Motors was still a wealthy firm in those days, so the three cars shared little or no exterior sheet metal.  This was unusual indeed.

The image gallery below begins with two factory images of the Riviera.  Thereafter, the three cars are compared in Rivera - Eldorado - Toronado  order from various viewpoints.  Unless noted, images are of cars listed for sale or are factory-sourced.

Gallery

Frontal view of a 1971 Buick Riviera.

Rear quarter view of the same car, showing the "boat tail" feature.

Riviera side view, Mecum auction photo.

Eldorado side view.  The only shared items are the windshield, door, and forward part of the roof.

The same can be said for this Toronado.  Note that the Eldorado and Toronado have greater front overhang.  That's because they have front-wheel-drive, whereas the Riviera had the then-conventional rear-wheel drive.

Riviera front quarter view.

The Eldorado has fake air intakes at the leading edge of the rear fender area.  A similar detail was on 1950-1956 Cadillacs.

The Toronado has seemingly minimal front air intakes.

Rear quarter view of the Riviera.

The Eldorado seems almost totally different from the same perspective.

The same can be said for the Toronado with respect to the two other cars.

Were 1953 Chryslers Massively-Facelifted 1952s?

I always thought 1953 Chryslers, Chrysler Imperials, and DeSotos were total redesigns -- the Corporation's Plymouths and Dodges for that model year definitely were.  But Richard Langworth, a writer I greatly respect, stated otherwise in his 1996 book "Illustrated Chrysler Buyer's Guide," though he didn't mention a 1953 major facelift in his 1976 book "Chrysler and Imperial: The Postwar Years."

I would appreciate confirmation one way or the other in Comments.

Lacking that for now, let's take a look at some before-and-after photos and I'll discuss them in the captions.  Chrysler's 1949-52 Windsor and Saratoga bodies had wheelbases of 125.5 inches, as did 1953-54 Chrysler Windsors and New Yorkers.  1949-52 New Yorker wheelbases were longer.  Comparison photos here are of cars with the same wheelbase.  Photos of Chrysler Imperials are of cars with slightly different wheelbases: 131.5 inches for '49-52 and 133.5 for 1953-54.  Images are factory-sourced or are of cars for sale unless noted.

Gallery

1951 Chrysler Windsor
For these side views, focus on details such as door and window shapes, as these best reveal body structure.

1954 Chrysler Windsor
1953 Chryslers seem totally different from about the B-pillar to the aft.  The B-pillars differ in width, though the front doors look about the same aside from width.  Front end clips (from the A-pillar forward) also look very similar.  My conclusions based on these photos is that 1949-52 cowlings were retained for the 1953 major facelift aside perhaps for adjustments for replacing two-piece flat-grass windshields with curved, one-piece windshields.  Otherwise, structural and sheet-metal changes were considerable.

1952 Chrysler Saratoga - photo via Hemmings
Now for a look at the front clip of a '52 Saratoga.  Compare to the following photo.

1953 Chrysler Windsor - Mecum auction photo
Aside from minor details, the '52 and '53 front ends are the same.

1950 Chrysler Imperial
Again, focus on the doors and windows.

1953 Chrysler Imperial
As noted, Chrysler Imperial wheelbases (aside from Crown Imperials) increased two inches (about 4.8 cm).  The B-pillar remained wide, unlike on standard Chryslers.  The added length seems to be in the form of pushing the cowling forwards by that amount, though I might well be wrong.

1951 Chrysler Imperial
Front clip comparison images.

1953 Chrysler Imperial
The bodies forward of the A-pillar are essentially identical.

Three-Tone Paint Schemes - A Four-Year Fad

Mid-1950s American cars are a subject of fascination for many car buffs.  Their variety of shapes was far more interesting than today's near-identical wind tunnel tested versions.  Social critics at the time and later expressed disgust or perhaps even horror at what seemed to be styling excesses.  (In those days Consumer Reports magazine evaluated cars about the same way as they did refrigerators and toasters.  I suspect those social critics were of the same mind.)

One brief fad was that of the three-tone paint job.  Because it's difficult to coordinate three colors on an automobile, what stylists and color consultants fell back on was making at least one of those colors black or an off-white.  An alternative was to use black and off-white with one other hue.

Three-tone paint schemes first appeared on 1955 Dodges, DeSotos, Buicks and Packards.  Ford Motor Company was at the fad's tail end, offering that feature on 1958 Fords and Edsels.

Unless noted, the images below are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1955 Packard Caribbean - Barrett-Jackson auction photo
The Caribbean was strictly a convertible with unique side trim.  Besides the red shown here, most other '55 Caribbean stripes came in pale blue, light green, and pink.  Some Internet images show totally black cars and two-tone versions with black or off-white as the dominant hue.  A few had off-white uppers and light stripes of blue or green plus, below,  dark shades of the same hue.

1955 Buick Super Riviera - Mecum auction photo
A few Buicks that year could be had with three-tone paint.

1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer - Auctions America photo
Dodge was the only mass-market brand featuring three-tone paint on many of its cars for the entire 1955 model year.

1955 DeSoto Fireflite Coronado - image via Hemmings
The Coronado was introduced in the Spring of 1955 as a means of increasing the interest of potential DeSoto buyers.  That was a fairly common industry practice in those days.

1956 Chrysler New Yorker Newport - Mecum photo
Chrysler added three-tone paint the following model year.

1956 Nash Ambassador
So did American Motors.  Above is a Nash version.

1956 Nash Rambler Custom
AM's Rambler was redesigned for 1956 and the bold paint scheme was found on this top-of-the-line model.

1957 Hudson Hornet Hollywood - Mecum auction image
Final-year Hudsons as well as '56 models could be had in three-tone paint.  This is an example with two shades of blue offset by white.

1958 Ford Fairlane 500
As noted, Ford was late to the three-tone game.  Here we find two shades of green plus white.  The  gold anodized insert adds what might be considered a fourth color.

1958 Edsel Citation - Barrett-Jackson photo
Some Edsels also were three-toned.