Classic Cars with Bob Gelber

When it comes to automobile design, past and present, the devil is certainly in the details. Let’s start with post-war,-work our way to the present and see how design details have helped or ruined many automobile aesthetics.

Virtually all of the world’s car manufacturers introduced dramatic new car designs in 1949. All of GM’s cars had new and rather stylistically, safe architecture that year, but it was Buick that had radical portholes in their-front fenders. Though not original, the portholes were-copied from PininFarina’s groundbreaking Cisitalia coupe’s design. They were quite dramatic on the Buick and became a styling detail on the Buick line for almost a decade. An esoteric footnote-is that the entry-level Buick Special model had only three portholes and the more expensive Buick Roadmaster model had four portholes. Paying homage to the past, Buick-recently added portholes to its cars last year. However, they are poorly done and-actually look like two pairs of connected sunglasses. The new Maserati four-door also has three properly-designed portholes-in its front fenders.-

Many post-war sports cars had front fender cutout air vents, with-most of them-a quite handsome detail.-The great Italian trendsetter automobile design house of PininFarina put side vents on many early Ferrari models. Other Italian designers followed, resulting in sexy side vents on several-Maserati models.-Most side vents were indeed functional,-allowing hot engine and exhaust manifold air to exit from under the hood. The magnificent 1954 Mercedes Benz 300SL had very large vents and Aston Martin had small slit vents.-These vents-were all different shapes and sizes, a beautiful-design feature. By the way, the Buick air vents were not functional.

Most people don’t realize that exposing-the rear wheels of a car-is a detail that is-considered sporty. For many years, rear wheels of many conservative cars, like sedans and coupes, were partially covered because these wheels-did not have to steer. Many cars-had removable covers called fender skirts that were-a pain to remove when they became-old and rusty. Ninety-nine percent of sports cars had open wheels. What was most unusual was that-the 1949 Jaguar XK-120, long considered one of the most beautiful and sporty cars ever produced,-originally was offered with or without wire wheels. If one ordered plain, metal wheels, the rear tires were covered completely by what the British called wheel spats.-The spats-gave the car a completely different hunkered down look. Not ugly, just different. However, no early British sports car should be without wire wheels.

Speaking of Jaguars, in the early 1950s-and-1960s, Jaguar seemed to be hitting home runs with the design of all its products.-Probably the most beautiful mass produced sports car ever made, the 1963 Jaguar E-type was full of fresh details. One of my favorites is the large functional dual row of hood louvers that ran down the car’s long hood, or should I say snout. When sitting in the car, the driver and passenger could actually see the polished aluminum twin cam covers of the engine. Visually, the view out the front of a XK-E is worth the price of admission alone. Hood louvers were nothing new. American hot-rodders had been putting them on their cars for years. The racing Austin Healys had them and many prewar vintage cars used them. However, it was the Jaguar designer, Malcolm Sayers, who had the taste level to put them on a street machine. One caveat – when it rained, the engine could get wet.

Two American cars designed in the mid 1950s, as far as details go, stand out – the 1954 Chevrolet Corvette-and the 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Both of these cars are landmark vehicles and represent the best thinking of two of America’s largest automobile manufacturers. The Corvette was the most impressive because it was there first, plus-it was made with a new, rather experimental material called fiberglass. If you take away its protruding rocket ship tail lights and wrap around windshield, it bore a strange resemblance to a Porsche Speedster of the same period. It even had the same screen covered headlights-that were a Porsche option. The Ford T-Bird was a safer design with a family resemblance to the rest of the Ford-products of 1955. Undeniably handsome,-the T-Bird-was-just not-as sporty as the Corvette. That’s the way it’s been to this day. It’s unfortunate-that the-newly designed retro Ford Thunderbird, built and taken off the market three years ago, didn’t have quite the élan of the original-1955 T-Bird.-The new retro T-Bird was out of proportion and just too long.-The designers, probably because of budget restraints, were forced to build the car on a Lincoln chassis. Don’t get me wrong, the-big Bird is-still awfully handsome, but like I said, the devil is in the details.

This theme will be continued in my next article. Look for it next week. As car marketing executives-know, most people purchase a vehicle-because of its-looks. But it does make one wonder why some cars-over the last few decades-have-been so-beauty impaired.

Bob Gelber, an automotive journalist living in the Hamptons, appears regularly on television as an automotive expert. You can email him at bobgelber@aol.com