The Unfortunate 1958 Corvette Facelift

Not all facelifts are disappointing, though back in the 1950s American stylists had a rule-of-thumb that the initial design was the most "pure" and its facelifts were usually aesthetically less satisfying.

In my case, a particularly disappointing facelift was that of the 1958 Chevrolet Corvette.  As this Wikipedia entry mentions regarding what now is called the C1 Corvette, 1956 Corvettes received a new body with such amenities as rollup windows.  I liked the design, and still do.  Corvettes for 1957 were essentially identical so far as styling is concerned.

The came the 1958 facelift.  Its most distinctive feature was the addition of the now-de rigueur quad headlights.  That, along with some other details, ruined the design so far as I was (and am) concerned.  The car's feeling changed from comparatively lithe to wide and sluggish ... not a good thing for a sports car.  On the other hand, the '58s outsold the 1956 and '57 models, perhaps due to mechanical improvements.  Or maybe because of the facelift: General Motors cars were quite garish that model year, making the Corvette's design acceptable for potential buyers.

Corvette wheelbase was constant at 103 inches (2600 mm) over the period.  But length grew from 168 inches (4300 mm) in 1956-57 to 177.2 in. (4500 mm) for 1958, and width increased from 70.5 in. (1790 mm) to 72.8 in. (1850 mm).

For each viewpoint in the Gallery below, a 1956 Corvette is shown first, followed by an image of a 1958 model.  Photos are mostly via Mecum Auctions, but two are of cars advertised for sale.

Gallery

The 1956 design preserved the character of the original Corvette design, including the grille, fenderline curves, and windshield.  New details were the conventionally-mounted headlights and the concave side panel (that added interest).

The major change in the '58 facelift was the front end.  Its appearance is heavy and busy.

The front shown head-on.  Those dark side features and the grille outline merge to a broad, flattened-oval  shape.  This creates added visual width.  Also, their shapes are very close to the headlight assemblies and the sculpting aft of them.  The result is two small-zones of visual confusion.

The cars are nearly the same when viewed from the side.  The '58 had a wraparound rear bumper and what appears to be a fake air outlet in the forward area of the concave feature.

The 1958 car's rear sports a bolder, more functional bumper along with non-functional chrome strips on the trunk.

Ford Britain's First Postwar Designs

Post- World War 2 years were difficult for the British despite being a victor.  Its automobile industry had to deal with shortages of key materials and was under government pressure to focus on exports so as to bring cash into the country.  One result was that a carmaker such as Jaguar that had good American sales might have more easily obtained some of theose key materails, whereas makers focused on the domenstic market had to wait for matters to return more to normal.

Perhaps for that reason it wasn't until the 1951 model year that Ford's British subsidiary was able to launch postwar styling in for its key Consul and Zephyr brands. (I wrote about early postwar British Ford cars here.  They were simply carryovers of prewar designs.)

The link to the Wikipedia entry on the Consul mentiones that "Most cars were four-door saloons with body design by George Walker of the parent United States Ford Motor Company...."  That was with respect to the 1951 model.  Some background on Walker is here.  At the time the Consul and Zephyr were styled, Walker was a consultant to Ford, not a Vice President as he later bacame.  Moreover, I have yet to find corroberation for the stated comment.

That said, the 1951 Consuls and Zephyrs resemble...

...the 1949 Ford that was styled by Walker's group and some moonlighters from Studebaker.

Gallery

1951 Ford Consul
The roof, fenderline and bustle back trunk (boot) resemble the '49 Ford, as do the wheel openings.

The low hood is more "European" in the vein of the 1952 Nash that had some stying input from Pinin Farina.  The grille with vertical bars and a wider central band faintly suggests grilles on the 1949 Mercurys styled by Bob Gregorie.

Basically a simple design with the wraparound character line to reduce what visual bulk this small car had.

1951 Ford Zephyr
Zephyrs had a slightly longer (4 inches, 20 cms) wheelbase than Consuls and received a more traditionally English grille.

But the rear was the same apart from some script and ornamentation.

1952 Vauxhall Wyvern
This is a competing model from General Motors' Vauxhall brand.  Its styling seems to me busier and more awkward.

The 1957 Ford's Evolution (1957-1959)

As I posted here, Ford was able to preserve its basic 1952 body through model year 1956 thanks to a major 1955 facelift.  The next true redesign was for the 1957 model year.

The present post deals with that design's original styling and the facelifts imposed on it for model years 1958 and 1959.

Unless noted, images below are either factory sourced or of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Sedan - Mecum Auctions photo
Given the era of panoramic windshields and tailfins, I always thought the '57 Fords were nicely styled when compared to most competing brands.  Defects include the golden, anodized side strip and the fish-eye headlights.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Victoria
The canted tailfins were restrained for the times.  Traditional (also for the times) Ford round tail lights were included at the price of some slightly fussy metal shaping towards the rear of the fender.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Sedan - Mecum
Perhaps the design looks best from seen from the side.  Well-balanced aside from the stubby hood and front end.

1957 Ford Custom Tudor - Mecum
Entry-level Fords had a nearly meaningless chrome decoration on the rear fender.  I say "nearly" because the spiked dip recalls front fender chrome trim on 1955 and 1956 Fords.

1957 Ford Custom Tudor - Mecum
One structural difference was the shape of the tailfins.  Here they are simpler than on Fairlanes.

1958 Ford Fairline 500 Club Victoria
The 1958 facelift was an aesthetic step backward.  Those quad headlights were jammed into an assembly intended to house previous headlights in case some states failed to legalize quads.  The side trim has an arbitrary shape that no longer relates to the tailfins.

1958 Ford Fairline 500 Club Victoria
Quad headlight begat quad tail lights along with some sculpting on the trunk lid.  A busier, not better, design.

1959 Ford Custom 300 Business Coupe
1959 Fords received a major facelift.  Besides the obvious new grille on this entry-level model, new side sheet metal appeared.

1959 Ford Galaxie Club Victoria
The most drastic change was a flatter, Thunderbird-like roof and redesigned C-pillar and backlight window.

1959 Ford Galaxie Town Victoria
Almost gone were the tailfins.  Round tail lights reappeared, but in massive form.  The V chrome strip on the trunk lid detracts from the largely horizontal styling theme.

Cars of General Motors' Chuck Jordan Era

Charles Morrell "Chuck" Jordan (1927-2010) was General Motors' Vice President of Design from 1986 to 1992. His Wikipedia entry is here.  I wrote about GM's previous design chief, Irv Rybicki, here.

As described in Chapter 13 of the Michael Lamm and Dave Holls classic book A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design, it seems that Rybicki unexpectedly replaced Bill Mitchell, long-time (1958-77) GM Design VP.  Most GM folks assumed Chuck Jordan would be appointed, but his aggressive personality was too much for some GM leaders who were already tired of Mitchell's aggressive personality.  Jordan finally got the job when Rybicki retired.  Rybicki was not a firebrand.  He tended to avoid conflict and was much more willing than Mitchell to accede to the wishes of others in the corporation.  That is, he didn't fight nearly as hard for his staff's designs as Mitchell and Jordan did.  Also, Rybicki and Jordan hated each other, yet had to work together.

Because GM had a mandatory retirement age of 65, Jordan only had about six years to have an impact on GM car designs.  Given lead times to production, this meant that only new designs appearing in model years 1989-1994 were likely strongly influenced by Jordan's perfectionist taste.

Automobile styling during the Rybicki years (1977-1986) was dominated by angular, "three-box" forms where windows were large.  Rybicki's GM designs conformed to that fashion.  Jordan took control when government-mandated fuel efficiency requirements forced carmakers to make use of wind tunnel tested streamlining to improve gas mileage.  As a result, cars -- including most Jordan-led designs -- received softer, more curved shapes. 

Examples of Jordan era designs are presented below.  Images are GM-sourced unless noted.

Gallery

1992 Buick Roadmaster
GM's A and B bodies were redesigned for the 1991 model year.  This is a B-body '92 sedan -- only B-body Roadmaster station wagons were offered for the 1991 model year.

1992 Buick Roadmaster
The "three-box" large window areas are retained, but surfaces on lower bodies are more curved, as are transitions between planes.  Window outlines are crisp, preventing the design from seeming too soft.

1991 Chevrolet Caprice - Mecum Auction photo
The Caprice was Chevrolet's B-body car.  Jordan made brand appearance distinction a major concern because brands with the same basic bodies often looked pretty similar in the Rybicki era. 

1991 Chevrolet Caprice - Mecum
Clearly not like a Buick Roadmaster.  But the treatment abaft of the C-pillar gave the design a heavy, sluggish look that reminded me and some others of 1948 Hudsons.  Not a very successful design, as sales dropped drastically the following model years.

1991 Buick Park Avenue
General Motors' new 1985 C-body cars had slightly shorter wheelbases that their later B-body mates.  Buick's Park Avenue was given a major facelift for 1991 by Jordan's stylists, making it seem like a redesign.

1991 Buick Park Avenue - for sale photo
Radius curves by the beltline and abaft of the C-pillar were in line with Harley Earl's preferences, a possible throwback to pre- Bill Mitchell GM styling days.

1991 Buick Park Avenue - for sale photo
Aside perhaps from the front end, this is a competently-styled car.

1992 Buick Skylarks
Skylarks, along with Chevy Corsicas, Olds Achievas and Pontiac Grand Prix models were redesigned for 1992.  This image shows both front and rear aspects of the Buick version.  Low hoods helped suggest a wedge-shape profile.  Fairly large radius curves are seen too.

1992 Oldsmobile 88 Royale - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
Another new 1992 design.

1992 Oldsmobile 88 Royale - Barrett-Jackson
Oldsmobiles tended to be less-cluttered, more simplified that their GM stablemates with the same platform such as the Pontiacs in the following images.  To my mind, the car shown here is a pure example of a Jordan 4-door sedan design.

1992 Pontiac Bonneville
As suggested above, '92 Pontiac Bonnevilles are more cluttered-looking than Olds 88s.

1992 Pontiac Bonneville
This might be an instance where too much effort was made to establish visual brand distinction.

Opels with Panoramic Windshields

The fashion (fad?) of panoramic ("wraparound") windshields was launched in the 1954 model year on General Motors' Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac brands.  High-priced special convertible model Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs had such windshields in 1953, but fewer than a thousand of those cars were made.

General Motors' Opel brand in Germany finally got panoramic windshields several years later.  Opel's Rekord P1 was introduced in August of 1957 and the Kapitän P1 the following June.  A redesigned P2 was marketed starting August of 1959.  Panoramic windshields were eliminated on subsequent models.

Elsewhere in Europe the only significantly numerous cars with panoramic windshields were Vauxhalls, from GM's British subsidiary.

Images below are either factory publicity photos or are of cars listed for sale.

Gallery

On the left is an Opel Olympia Rekord, and on the right is an entry-level Opel Olympia.

Opel Rekord P1 (1957-59)
Most Rekords were two-door models such as this.  The grille and side trim are suggestive of similar features on Buicks.  Buick sold Opels in North America at that time, so similar brand identity features were considered useful marketing tools.

The A-pillar leans forward, similar to GM B-body Oldsmobiles and Buicks.  The C-pillar leans backwards, yielding a backlight window whose shape echoes, but does not quite match the windshield.  The chrome strip the fender is Buick's Sweepspear style.

The sharp tail light assemblies-cum-fender-tips added to the car's visual and actual length.

Side view of a four-door Opel Rekord P1.

Opel Kapitän P1 (2.5), 1958-59
This model was in production for only one year due to lack of market acceptance perhaps caused in part by the narrow rear door and possibly cramped rear seating.  Features including the front forward of the B-pillar and the backlight window seem similar to those of the Rekord.  As of the time this post was drafted, I do not know if there was true commonality.

The rounded crown of the passenger compartment is typical of mid-1950s General Motors styling.

As with the Rekord, the fenderline is lengthened by the tail lights.

Opel Kapitän P2 (2.6), 1959-63
The new P2 2.6-litre Kapitän's wheelbase is the same as the P1's, but the body is slightly longer.

The roof and the body abaft of the B-pillar are different, though it's possible that frontal components were shared with the P1.  Again, I don't know for sure.  But the front half has rounded features while the back half of the car is flatter, more angular.

Rear fenderline length is increased by mini-tailfins instead of tail lights.  Practicality matters aside, I prefer the design of the P1 Kapitän to the P2s.

First-Series Chevrolet Camaros -- Searching for a Theme

In my 2015 post about Camaro styling it was stressed that when General Motors decided to bring back Chevrolet's sporty model for the 2010 model year, styling boss Ed Welburn opted for the original 1967 design as the template for the new car's appearance.  That was despite the fact that the '67 design was from a crash project based on a platform not well-suited for a Ford Mustang competitor.

There were four Camaro generations to choose from for inspiration.  They are listed here in the Camaro's Wikipedia entry.

GM's design staff had a selection problem prior to Welburn's decision.  That was because there was little in the way of a consistent Camaro design theme across those four generations.  This post presents examples of Camaros from generations 1967, 1970, 1982 and 1993 for your consideration and my conjectures.

Gallery

1967-generation Camaro (an early-1970 model) - Chevrolet photo?
This late first-generation version was the one Welburn liked best.

1970 Camaro - BaT auctions photo
It was succeeded but this design.  Here, GM's stylists and engineers had more opportunities to create what they thought a Mustang-beater should look like.  I liked the styling when it first appeared, and I still do.  Though I must add that it seems a trifle too "feminine" for a potentially hairy Muscle Car.

1982 Camaro - Mecum Auctions photo
Third-generation styling was competently done, though it doesn't strike me as being memorable.  When it was designed, Irv Rybicki was GM's Design VP.

1993 Camaro - BaT auctions photo
Chuck Jordan was Design VP when this Camaro was styled.  Many GM cars of that time tended to have a "soft" look.  Note the large-radius curves on the fenderline that are unlike fender treatments of earlier Camaros.

1967-generation Camaro (an early-1970 model) - Chevrolet photo?
Rear quarter view.

1970 Camaro - BaT auctions photo
Another aspect of a fine, Bill Mitchell era design.

1982 Camaro - Barrett-Jackson auctions photo
The '82's rear is cleaner than that of the '70.

1993 Camaro - BaT auctions photo
More curves:  The aft fender transition to the trunk lid.  The zone around the tail lights and trunk lid cut.  The rear bumper cladding.

1967 Camaro - BaT
So where is there a consistently "Camaro" design theme.  I think we can disregard the '67's styling because it was an ad hoc effort where consideration of restyling possibilities was probably a minor matter at the time.

1971 Camaro - Mecum
One carryover from 1967 is the wide aft pillar.  But here it's a blending of B and C pillars.  Another retained concept is a flowing fenderline.  And a long hood.

1982 Camaro - Mecum
The long hood remains, but the flowing fenderline is gone.  The wide aft  pillar is retained, though the backlight rear window is enlarged.  

1993 Camaro - BaT
One carryover is the long hood.  Another is the fenderline high-point abaft of the rear wheel well.  This, in combination with the low hood, provides a fashionable "wedge" shape.  The only carryovers from 1970/1982 are the hood length and the wide B/C pillar.
My conclusion is that indeed there really wasn't consistent Camaro "design language" to work with when the 2010 model was conceived.  So while Welburn's decision was arbitrary, it was necessarily arbitrary.