Seriously Long 1975-Vintage Chrysler/Imperial Coupes

Aside from eight-passenger sedans and limousines, the 1974-generation Imperials and Chrysler New Yorkers were the longest found on those marques.  Wheelbases and lengths were considerably reduced for the next redesign.

Imperial wheelbases were a not-excessive 124 inches (3150 mm) for 1974 and 1975.  Lengths for respective years were 231.1 inches (5870 mm) and 232.7 inches (5911 mm).  The latter being the same for the 1974-1978 generation New Yorkers, which also had 124-inch wheelbases.  The length relative to wheelbase was due to large overhang, 108.7 inches (2791 mm) -- 47 percent of that overall length.

The Imperial brand was dropped for model year 1976 and reinstated 1981-83.  In part because Imperials and New Yorkers shared the same basic bodies, 1976-78 New Yorkers received important styling details from the 1974-75 Imperials.  I suppose that was intended to enhance New Yorkers' prestige, making them replacement Imperials.

Gallery

1974 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham coupe - car-for-sale photo
This is the fancy coupe version with the fashionable vinyl top covering.  Some consider this a hardtop coupe due to its apparently thin, chromed B-pillar.  However, the after side windows are fixed in place, whereas true hardtop convertible side windows all can be rolled down.  Moreover, the chrome strip is slightly narrower than the actual B-pillar, making the latter seem narrower than actuality.

1975 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham St Regis Coupe - car-for-sale photo
The St. Regis trim package on New Yorker and Imperial coupes featured what seems to be padded vinyl covering that reduced the after side windows to opera-window status.  Compare this front end to that of the '75 Imperial in the next image.  New Yorkers for 1976 got that Imperial front end styling. 

1975 Imperial LaBaron Coupe - BaT Auctions photo
Besides different front ends, Imperials lacked the New Yorker's metal cladding along the lower edge of the body.

1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham St Regis Coupe - car-for-sale photos
As mentioned, starting with the 1976 model year, Chrysler News Yorkers looked like Imperials would have, had the Imperial brand not been dropped from Chrysler's lineup.

The Old Switcheroo with respect to vinyl tops was that the after part of the passenger compartment greenhouse lacked vinyl.  General Motors and Ford cars with partial vinyl cladding had the cladding abaft of the B-pillar.

Disregarding the vinyl, the design is attractive.  Body length helps the effect -- when viewed on small Internet images.  Facing an actual car, its large size would likely have been more noticeable than its visual grace.

1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham Coupe - BaT Auctions
A vinyl-free New Yorker coupe.  The C-pillar area is large, creating visual bulk that the side striping does little to cure.  Note the two-tone paint zone along the lower part of the body.  This replaced the cladding seen on the 1974 and 1975 New Yorkers in the first two images.

1965 (Rambler) and 1967 (AMC) Marlin

American Motors Corporation's 1965 Marlin (Wikipedia entry here) might have been a sucessful early follow-on to Ford's epic Mustang that was launched in the Spring of 1964.

The problem with the Marlin was its size.  AMC had two platforms available when the Marlin was developed.  The Rambler American was closer to the Mustang's size than the larger Rambler Classic, and in retrospect it would have been the better choice.  (The decision was made before the Mustang appeared, so perhaps its design and certainly its smash-hit popularity were not known to AMC at the time.)  The Ramble Classic platform made the Marlin a six-passenger-size rather than a true four-passenger car, clearly pushing it away from the emerging "pony-car" market segment.

I should note that when Marlins were new, I too thought they seemed too bulky, not really sporty.

Marlins were redesigned for the 1967 model year, being based on the even-larger new Ambassador platform.  Now it was essentially an attractive standard-size coupe, a placeholder for the much more successful Javelin that appeared for 1968.

Marlins never sold well, probably losing money for AMC.

Gallery

1964 Rambler Classic - Mecum Auctions photo
The basis for the initial Marlin.

1965 Rambler Marlin - car-for-sale photo
The door shape and A-pillar zone are those of the Rambler Classic, but the rest of the cladding is different.  Side-view Marlin features are the (slightly too-high) fastback, the aft side window shape, and the dab of two-tone paint framing those windows.

1968 AMC Ambassador - unknown source
The 1967 Ambassador, platform source for the '67 Marlin, was identical to this '68 model shown here, aside from the two side reflectors.

1967 AMC Marlin - BaT Auctions photo
For 1967 the "Rambler" tag was replaced by "AMC."  The fastback profile is more pleasing that the Classic-based design.  Plus, that fussy two-tone aft window framing is gone.

1965 Rambler Marlin - car-for-sale photo
The width of the passenger compartment is clear in this view.  Bulky-looking.

1967 AMC Marlin - BaT
Ambassadors were even wider than Rambler Classics, but the added width was mostly in the fenderline "shoulders."  The result was reduced visual bulkiness of the passenger compartment greenhouse.  Frontal styling was also improved,

1965 Rambler Marlin - car-for-sale photo
Another signature Marlin feature is the two-tone segment flowing downstream from the backlight window.

1967 AMC Marlin - car-for-sale photo
That was retained in the 1967 redesign.  Note the rear fender tips and taillight assemblies that seem to be carryovers from the previous design.  AMC stylists had to work with tighter budgets than those in Big Three carmakers, so it's possible that some tooling was reused here.

1935 Clément-Talbot 105 Airline Saloon

An interesting British 1930s body type was the Airline.  Typically, these were coupés with normal, production front ends with their rear profiles rounded down, giving the design an aerodynamic appearance.  Those front ends with items such as fenders and headlights detached from the main car body along with vertical or nearly-vertical grilles and windshields were not aerodynamically efficient at all, so the rear-end refinement was essentially functionally worthless.

That said, Airline style cars could be sportily attractive if they were long enough; stubby Airline cars usually weren't beautiful.

The subject of this post is a 1935 Talbot 105 Airline Saloon - a four-door car.   Clément-Talbot 105s for 1935 had a 120-inch (3048 mm) wheelbase, so were long enough to create an attractive Airline profile.   This car was one of 39 built, being sold in December 1935, nearly a year after Clément-Talbot was purchased by the Rootes Group.

I wrote about another fine Airline-style car here.  It was a retro- Triumph Gloria Airline Coupé.  Retro, in that no original ones exist, and this one was a new, carefully-researched, duplicate body placed on an available Triumph chassis.

Today's subject is a very attractive Airline, remarkable because it's a saloon and not a coupé -- saloons usually being inherently less sporting than coupés due to their need for rear-seat headroom and the added length required for rear-seat doors.

Images below are of a car listed for sale by The Classic Motor Hub in England.

Gallery

The front is classic 1930s British.

Airline style begins just forward of the cowling.

Doors are hinged on a slightly raked-back B-pillar.  The windshield slope is strong for 1935 and provides a dab of aerodynamic efficiency.  Note the fadeaway character line running across the doors.

The rear fender side fold is slightly concave, contrasting with the slightly convex trunk curve, a nice juxtaposition also seen on other English cars.

The backlight window is nice and large, though two panes were required in those non-curved car window glass days.

Spatted rear wheel openings were popular "streamlining" detail in the 1930s.  They are avoided here, and might have made the design seem heavier.

The beltline curves downward to the rear, a fairly common 1930s styling fashion, especially in France, but also in England.  Note the shape of the rear door -- cramped by the fastback roof and rear fender.

An exciting, sporty design, especially for a four-door car.

The cockpit has plenty of English wood and leather.  Instruments are in the center to make right or left steering wheel placement easier.

Triumph 1930s Dolomite Roadster

The Triumph Motor Company went into receivership in July 1939.  Then World War 2 intervened, soon halting car production.  In 1940 the Triumph works were destroyed by German bombing.  The Standard Motor Car Company acquired the Triumph name along with a few assets in 1944, leading to the postwar TR sports cars many of us are aware of.

Triumph's last major gasp while independent was the Dolomite line (Wikipedia entry here).  Technically, the line appeared in 1934, but consisted of only three cars.  Main production was 1937-1939, with a few leftovers sold in 1940.  There was a range of Dolomite types, including coupés, roadsters, drop-head coupés and even saloons (sedans).  Today's post features the Dolomite Roadster, or Roadster-Coupé, as it has also been called.

As for styling, Dolomites featured a flashy grille theme that was briefly in fashion in the USA around 1936, and was far from typical English design conservatism.  I posted "Triumph Dolomites Wearing a Hudson Fencer's Mask" here.  The grille design was by Walter Belgrove.

Gallery

1938 Triumph Dolomite Roadster - Brightwells Auction photos
Yes, it does remind one of a 1936 Hudson.


Behind the seat is what appears to be a high, generous-size trunk (boot), but isn't.  Note the arrow design of the hood air vents -- suggesting speed, I suppose, even though Dolomites could not reach 80 miles (130 km) per hour.


But the hight is what was needed for a rumble seat (dickey, in the UK).  Note the open fold-down dickey step abaft of the door.  Not very welcoming for women wearing dresses in those days.

1939 Triumph Dolomite Roadster - car-for-sale photos
Front end.  The grille design too complex for the space allowed for it.


The dashboard, cockpit and dickey seat.

All Dolomites were built on 110-inch (2794 mm) wheelbases.  A more serious sports car would have had a shorter wheelbase and no dickey seat -- therefore a shorter trunk zone.  Other British sporty cars such as the postwar Sunbeam Alpine had similarly inappropriate proportions due to being based on saloon chassis'.

The spare tire sits behind the dickey seat.  As best I can tell, trunk access is either via it or the dickey seat, there being no other obvious cutlines.

1938 Triumph Dolomite Roadster-Coupe - Bonhams Auctions photo

Here's a view of a Dolomite Roadster with its top attached -- not raised.

1935-1936 General Motors A & B Body 2-Door Sedan Comparison

According to Michael Lamm and David Holls (here, page 97) General Motors' shift to multi-brand body platforms began in 1931 from an analysis of current production bodies by Vince Kaptur.  This took a while to implement, but was in force by the 1936 model year for all GM cars, perhaps aside from luxury vehicles.

Factors that brought this into play were the Great Depression that resulted in fewer sales and lesser income as well as the shift to all-steel bodies that required more expensive production tooling.

Platforms were designated by letter.  The book states:

"Harley Earl showed Kaptur's conclusions to Fished Body and suggested that all GM cars share four basic body shells.  He designeted these A-B-C-D.  The A-body would be used by Chevrolet, standard Pontiac and small Oldsmobile.  The large Pontiac, mid-size Oldsmobile and small Buick would use the B shell.  The C-body accommodated the big Olds, big Buick, LaSalle and small Cadillac.  And all Cadillac and Buick limousines used the D body."

That was the concept, but details varied over time.

Wikipedia has entries dealing with the bodies dealt with in this post: A platform here; B platform here.  At this time I drafted this (February 2024), some early time details did not agree with Lamm and Holls, who I am more inclined to trust.

I lack charts of body dimensions, so the analysis below is simply based on study of photos.  More precise information is greatly appreciated.

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

Gallery

1935 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe
Both A (seen here) and B bodies for 1935 had B-hinged "suicide" doors.

1936 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe - BaT Auctions photo
Hinging was shifted to the A-pillar for 1936.  Aft passenger compartment profiles on A-body Chevys were nearly vertical.

1936 Chevrolet Standard
The shortest A-body Chevrolet.  This car lacks an attached trunk, so the spare tire is exposed.

1936 Pontiac Master Six
A-bodies for other GM brands featured ogive-curved aft passenger compartment profiles, as seen here.

1935 Pontiac Eight - GM photo
This model appears to have a unique rear profile -- less curved than other B-body two-door sedans as shown below.

1935 Oldsmobile Eight
This, and the other B-body 2-door sedan shown here seem nearly the same as the A-body cars.  

1936 Buick Special
So I wonder if two-door sedans all had essentially the same body, Chevrolets perhaps excluded.  Note this Buick's rear side window profile differs slightly from those on the other cars shown.

Triumph TR2 and TR3

By the mid-1950s, British sports cars were selling well in the USA.  As I recall it, the price/prestige hierarchy in ascending order was: MG, Triumph, Austin-Healey, Jaguar.

Triumph's first model was the TR2 produced 1953-1955, followed by the TR3 (1955-1962).  I previously wrote about the TR2 in 2014.  Today's post provides more analytical detail.

I never liked the styling of those cars, and was pleased when the redesigned (by Giovanni Michelotti) TR4 emerged in the early 1960s.  Even so, TR2s and 3s were popular thanks to their peppy performance.

In the images below I try to show why I wasn't a TR2/3 fan.

Gallery

1952 MG TD - car-for-sale photo
This was the most popular imported British sports car when the TR2 was designed by Walter Belgrove.  The roadster style featuring cut-down doors was sometimes seen on pre- World War 2 cars, but was mostly found on MG T-series sports cars from 1936 through 1955.

1954 Triumph TR2 - car-for-sale photo
TR2s also had cut-down doors, and the cut was more drastic than on MGs.  So drastic that TR2/3s seemed to be almost chopped in two.  Compare the low-points of the beltlines on this car and the one above to their cowling heights.  The ratio of this cut length to the cowling distance from the lower body edge on the MG is around one-third, whereas on the TR2 it's about one-half.  The rear fender's leading curve pushes close to the cut.  This and the trunk (boot) creates a massive element adjoining the deepest part of the cut, emphasizing the effect of the body being essentially separated front and rear parts.  That is, seemingly "chopped in two."

1953c. Triumph TR2 - publicity photo
Another styling problem is the frontal design, especially the radiator opening where the grille is a grid mounted far inboard.  I suppose functionality purists might defend this, but I think it's ugly.  Those bug-eye headlight assemblies don't enhance the car's appearance either, but were probably inescapable given the front fenderline curve and American headlight height regulations.

1954 Triumph TR2 - car-for-sale photo set
Now for a brief walkaround.  The top edge of the cut-down door is slightly padded, providing an armrest for the driver.  Disregarding that "functionality," a higher front fenderline or beltline would have improved the car's looks.

A final look at TR2 front end styling.

1959 Triumph TR3 - BaT Auctions photo
The TR3 front was mildly facelifted from the TR2.  The conventionally-placed grille is an improvement aided by slight reshaping of its sheetmetal framing.  This should have been used on TR2s.  I suspect it wasn't because the TR2 was a marketing gamble and its front was cheaper to build.