Re: DESIGN IMITATION?

Posted by bkazmer On 2010/11/10 9:47:48

I think the market dictated in the 30's that "juniors morphed into seniors". The surviving US luxury makers (Packard, Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial) all evolved into cars that were based on more "standard" corporate technology. Pierce Arrow didn't fare so well with the only luxury approach - there wasn't enough market left. I think you can make the case that Buick was actually making the best GM luxury car just before the war, and GM put a halt to that (except there's that nagging babbit thing - please, PeteH, don't say it again).

That said, I agree that the styling carried the family resemblance too far between juniors and seniors. An average old car person has difficulty telling models apart. Don't exempt the bathtubs - a 23rd series Super Deluxe looks a lot like a Custom. Any car maker with a "face" featuring a verticle grille had a styling challenge in the 40's - 50's as cars tried to look wider and lower. LaSalle's issue became moot. Alfa and Packard tried to make the grille smaller and narrower. Rolls Royce and Jaguar just went retro - it's handsome today but very dated in its era.

The bathtub (and Hudson, Lincoln, Merc) had a more streamlined and advanced style that the later GM designs (still have rear fenders). The compromise in those cars is using the narrower Clipper center section. Compare to a Hudson that was done "all at once."

The effort in 51 to incorporate the yoke shape as the top of a contempporary grille shape is a clever try - in my opinion the problem is that the overall shape is so much like other cars of the time.