Electel Blogspot

A fairly easy job for American automobile stylists around 1950 was the creation of a design for a convertible.  Mostly it required razing the top off a coupé or two-door sedan and replacing it with a retractible canvas top design.  And those designs were largely shaped by engineering requirements. That task became more difficult to a greater or lesser degree when the shape of the source of the derivation interfered.  Below are images of some American convertibles from that era whose canvas top (and related sheet metal) designs were more or less awkward.  Unless noted, the photos are of cars listed for sale. Gallery First, a 1949 Chevrolet (Mecum auction photo).  General Motors stylists were at the top of their game, and the raised convertible top is attractive.  This was in spite of the rounded trunk lid and the body shape falling off towards the rear, two elements that might have led to a less satisfactory result. This 1949 Hudson Commodore 8 convertible r...

America's Kaiser brand lasted less than ten model years (though production continued in South American a while longer).  During that time only two basic body designs were used, the original one plus a complete redesign launched for the 1951 model year.  To freshen the designs, grilles were restyled on occasion, the subject of this post.  I wrote about 1954 Kaiser styling here . Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale. Gallery 1947 Kaiser Here is an early Kaiser.  The grille opening is the rectangular element immediately above the bumper.  The raised ornamentation between it and the Kaiser name simply covers some hood sheet metal. 1949 Kaiser, RM Sotheby's auction photo The original grille was carried through the 1949 model year.  The 1950 redesign shown here is much more bold, featuring the kind of large, fat chrome bars that were fashionable on postwar American cars.  This design is much cleaner and more attractive than the rather fuss...