Re: Romney's selective memory

Posted by Steve203 On 2015/8/30 17:00:36

We've all read how when benchmarking body dimensions for the '51 Contour series that engineering insisted the belt-line be raised to reduce glass area as glass was heavier and more costly. They cited the '49 Olds 88 cowl height, and apparently overall height (62"-63") as ideal. But another successful (at the time) benchmark existed in the Hudson step-down, which exampled that 60" was acceptable.

In the Langworth book about Hudson, the author talks about how Hudson designer Frank Spring was obsessed with Buicks and he pressed for the beltline to be raised to be more like the Buicks that he admired. Spring was delighted with the result in 48, but then tastes changed to favoring larger windows and the stepdown could not be revised, at least within Hudson's budget. to give it a taller greenhouse.