Re: Customised Bathtub

Posted by 55PackardGuy On 2011/12/4 15:06:34

Ozstatman,

No doubt the history is there, but IMO, with very few exceptions, factory or custom, the execution of using this styling "cue" of the old days (which, when done well, can be terrific) has been generally horrible since the 50s. One that looked rather OK, and was probably done for the space consideration you mentioned was Nash's little spare-on-the-back.

For my money, the best use of this visual cue was the Continental (which, of course, had dibs on that style like few if any other companies did) of several years back that had a graceful curve in the sheet metal on the top edge of the trunk lid. I liked that.

My old '65 Buick Electra had "running boards" of narrow, ribbed staneless that ran the entire length of the car a few inches above the hight of the rockers. It was cool. Took me a long time to recognize the "cue."

Some styling cues, quite a few, actually, were taken from aircraft designs, with many "jet exhaust" taillights ('61-63 T-bird in particular) and headlight doors on the early '60s Buicks that were very good replicas of the engine nacelles of the B-52 bomber.

If customizers would do some tricks like that instead of just grafting on parts of other cars, they would pique my interest a lot more, and have to do some real thinking about the designs. Something unique instead of "Oh yeah, those are tail lights from a '56 Clipper... cool."